The Under Review - Issue 4 | Summer 2021

44 BELDEN
My mother glanced over and said, “Where’ve you been, sweetie?”
“The library,” I told her, knowing she’d approve. She nodded and turned back to the TV.
Richie lay on the sofa. He laughed along with our dad and—very purposely, I felt—avoided looking at me. I
considered joining them, but then I’d have to ask Richie to make room for me. He knew that it would be
hard for me to ask, which was why he lay across the entire sofa.
I went upstairs and read The Hobbit, brushed my teeth, got into my pajamas, and climbed into bed. At nine
o’clock, my mother tucked me in and switched off the light. I lay wide awake listening to her and my father
turning the pages of their books. From next door I could hear the tinny thump of drums and bass from
Richie’s headphones. It seemed like I was now finally safe from my brother. Still, I couldn’t sleep. Not
because I felt afraid, but because I felt jazzed from the amazing sense of accomplishment: I had beaten
Richie at badminton! It was like a movie in which the underdog claws his way from certain defeat to
victory with a combination of athletic prowess and psychological strategy. That final, game-winning volley
over Richie’s prone body—I relived it over and over.
Then, just as I started to drift off, I felt a cold hand clutch my ankle. I shrieked, my heart almost stopping
cold. Richie had slowly, stealthily crept along the floor into my room, leaving the music playing in his room
as a decoy, and reached under the blankets to grab me. I sat up, and in the deep, black quiet that followed,
heard a cruel giggle recede in the darkness toward the open door.
THE UNDER REVIEW