“Sorry!” by Lacey Martinez

We consider Monopoly and Candy Land, then decide to play Sorry!  Franny and Ben both want to be blue.  Gunshots and police sirens echo from Sean’s room.  Sean is Franny and Ben’s 12-year-old half-brother.  He resents me for being his babysitter.  I kind of resent it, too.

“You can’t both be blue,” I say.

A helicopter is circling in Sean’s room.

“Who wants to be green?”

Something shatters.  Sean is laughing.

“I’ll be green,” Franny says.

“I want to be green!” Ben says.

Sean passes by in the hallway, on his way to the bathroom.

“Hey Sean,” I say.

Sean pokes his head in the room, curious but aloof.

“How’s it going?” I ask.

Sean stares at my boobs for a moment, then looks me in the eyes and smiles.  “Good,” he says.  “I just killed a prostitute.”

“Oh.  Good job, I guess.  So, you want to take a break from killing people to play some Sorry!?”

Sean smirks.  “Sorry! sucks,” he says, and walks away.

Franny looks up at me, worried.  Her lips tremble.  The toilet flushes.

“I’m bored,” Ben says, and clambers to his feet, knocking over his Sorry! pieces.

“But we haven’t even started yet,” I say as Ben leaves the room.

“I don’t want to play Sorry! anymore,” Franny whispers, staring at a stain on the carpet.  A car crashes in Sean’s room.  Someone screams.  Something explodes.

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Lacey Martinez has been published in Word Riot, PANK, Used Furniture Review, Wigleaf, and elsewhere. Visit her online at www.laceymartinez.net.