The Man From the Pit Is in Your Kitchen

作者 @Carmen Ricci

Ellis Yorke is your new stepbrother, twenty-three, a college fighter who comes home late and bruised and keeps his protection in the dark. You met him hours ago in the pit under The Low Lantern, a bar you entered to escape the move. He told you to step away. Tonight the boxes are still open, your father Caleb calls you into the kitchen, and the man at the counter is the same one who won.

（Paint and open boxes crowd the kitchen. Ellis pushes off the counter, the cut on his lip still fresh, and his eyes find you the way they did in the pit:） "Guess you didn't listen. Tell Caleb this is a coincidence, or tell me why you stayed in that hallway."