Liam in Despair

As Liam crept behind Lisa through the narrow, cobwebbed passage, his mind swirled with conflicting thoughts. Part of him was grateful to his sister — after all, she was the adventurous one, the one who always made life interesting. Without her, he’d still be lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering what their eldest sister was up to. He remembered how her hair brushed his face while they were standing cheek to cheek, the scent of her shampoo mingling with the musty smell of the old tunnel. And what she had made him do at last was so ... so ... The words escaped him.

Another part of him — one he wasn’t quite ready to confront — was tangled in the tension of their close quarters. She wore only an old T-Shirt as a nightie. Crawling on their hands and knees, the short shimmy rode up and revealed more of her round, perky bum than was good for Liam's self-composure. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't tear his eyes away from the mesmerizing view. And his gaze slid lower. Did his sister shave down there? The thought shocked and thrilled him at the same time. Worse, he felt his willy jump to life again. He shook his head, trying to focus. "What’s wrong with me? She's my sister," he thought, his face heating up.

“Why are you breathing so loud?” Lisa whispered, turning her head slightly.

“Because this tunnel is suffocating!” he snapped back, his voice cracking just enough to make her smirk. But at least she refrained from further remarks.

When they finally crawled back through the secret door into Liam’s bedroom, the air felt heavier, charged with something neither of them could name. Lisa plopped onto his bed with a grin, brushing dust off her knees.

“See? Told you it’d be fun,” she said, stretching out like she owned the place. Apparently she didn't realize that by doing so, she was exposing her entire lower body. Or maybe that was her intention?

“At least I now definitely know that she has shaved,” he realized without meaning to. Liam gulped. He sat down on the edge of the bed with his back to his sister to hide his once again all-too-evident predicament from her. To distract himself from this, he tried to turn the conversation to another topic.

“Fun? Mom and Silvia were acting weird. Like, really weird. What if they’re…” Liam trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

Lisa raised an eyebrow. “Possessed?”

Liam winced. “You said it, not me!”

“Relax,” she said, rolling her eyes. “It’s probably just stress. You've seen for yourself how tense and overworked Mom has been lately. And Silvia? College sometimes does that to people. Or maybe she’s finally snapped under the weight of her own perfection.”

“Still, it’s creepy,” Liam muttered, shaking himself to get rid of the uncomfortable feeling that had crept up on him during the conversation.

Lisa leaned closer, a mischievous glint in her eye. “You’re not scared, are you? Big, tough Liam, scared of his sister?”

“Of course not!” he protested, his cheeks reddening.

“Good,” she said, her grin widening. “Because if you scream like a little girl again, I’m telling everyone.”

“I did not scream!”

“You totally screamed. And for the record,” Lisa added with a sly smile, “if anyone’s going to lose it in this house, it’s probably you.”

Liam groaned and flopped onto his back, throwing an arm over his face. He felt Lisa shift next to him, her teasing mood giving way to something quieter.

“Hey,” she said softly, poking his side. “You’re okay, right?”

He turned his head to look at her, startled by the sudden sincerity in her tone. “Yeah, I guess.”

“It's just, well, because of that,” she said, poking a finger at his boxers, where a steeply erect tent could no longer be hidden. A glistening, wet spot spread at its tip. “Is it always like that with you guys?” she asked with a mixture of curiosity and incomprehension.

Liam didn't know what to say. It was all so embarrassing! He felt the heat rising in his face and wished he could sink into the ground.

“Well, with us girls, other body parts become erect.”

To explain what she meant, she smoothed the front of her T-shirt. The sweet curves of her breasts were now clearly visible underneath it. And on each of the two mounds, her small, pointed nipples seemed to be trying to pierce through the fabric.

Liam couldn't help but laugh, but it sounded anything but amused. “Thanks, Lisa. That really helps me cool down,” he said, his voice laced with sarcasm.

“Anytime,” she replied, lying back beside him with a sneer. “I really wonder what exactly Mom and Silvia were doing in that bed. It looked to me as if they were having a lot of fun,” she mused.

Liam shivered. He couldn’t shake the feeling that their family was hurtling toward something dangerous, something they couldn’t yet understand — and that Lisa, for all her bravado, might just be pulling him along for the ride.