Before the Game

Havermouth, Five Years Before

Cameron had held it together all night at the drive-in, letting the distraction of beer, Rhett’s almost-fight with the university pledges, and sex push the memory of that plastic wrapped body from his mind. They’d f-ked themselves to sleep, and for a few hours, the alcohol and physical exertion had given him ease, but as the night turned to morning, the change of tone in the sounds of the wildlife around the house woke him, and he lay, looking up at the ceiling, and saw the little shoes in the darkness.

He was going to be sick, he thought, if he didn’t get some fresh air.

Heath was wrapped around Aislen, and Rhett had his back to Cameron, so Cameron eased off the mattress carefully. None of the three reacted, and he grabbed someone’s jeans and top off the floor, and a bottle of water, before making his way out of the bedroom.

The floorboards creaked underfoot as he made his way down the hallway, but the whole house creaked and groaned in the night, the ol