#dannah

Gabriel slipped out and into the warm summer night. 

A lonesome, flickering yellow light coalesced with the shadows of Caleb’s balcony. It was a lonesome thing, the only signs of life being a half-full watering pot and two potted plants Gabriel himself gifted Caleb. 

Beyond that, the only other source that proved a human lived here was the scatterings of cigarette butts, smoked blunts, and ash full of chemicals. 

Across from Gabriel, Dannah leaned against the metal railing of the balcony, her elbows planted on the thin beam. A cigarette dangling between her fingers as she sucked on it, twirling smoke dancing away from her and into the wind. 

Gabriel cleared his throat politely. “May I join you?” he asked. Despite the sounds of faraway, rushing cars and the insects chittering in the night, the silence between him and Caleb’s sister seemed insurmountable. 

Dannah glanced at him through her tangled mess of dark brown hair. Her lids were heavy over her brown eyes, bags of exhaustion hanging beneath them. 

In the low light, Gabriel could almost mistake Dannah for her brother. 

She shrugged one shoulder, popping the butt of the cigarette out of her mouth. Smoke unfurled from her lips and nose as she said “sure.” 

With quiet steps, Gabriel joined Dannah, leaning his lower back against the metal railing on her right side, away from where the light breeze carried her smoke. She puffed on her cigarette again, finishing it off, before tossing the butt to the ground and smashing it with her bare toe. In the same, fluid movement, she popped another cigarette from its box. She proffered the box to Gabriel. 

He shook his head. “No thank you.”

She shrugged again. “Suit yourself,” she muttered around the butt of her new cigarette as she lit it, cupping her hand around the little flame of her lighter as the wind chided her unhealthy habit. 

“It’s nice to finally meet you,” Gabriel said, unable to tolerate the distant silence. “Sariah is such a sweet girl.” 

Dannah nodded once. “That she is.” A flicker of a smile curled her lips. She puffed another mouthful of smoke into the night. “I suppose its good I finally have a name to a face. Caleb’s mentioned you.”

Gabriel could not stop a smile from tugging at his lips. He perked up at that, tilting his head to the side. “Really?” he said with a chirp. 

“Caleb don’t really talk to people much. So him mentioning someone new is… not typical,” she said. 

“You two seem close, despite him being an introvert,” Gabriel said after a pause. 

Another beat of silence passed between the two. Another cloud of smoke danced off into the night from between Dannah’s lips. 

Her second cigarette was half-gone now. 

“Guess so.” She pulled the cigarette from between her lips, pinching and spinning the filter between her index finger and thumb. She stared out into the night, toward the street.

The red light at the intersection changed, and a flurry of headlights rushed forward down the road with a faroff woosh. 

“We don’t see each other too much anymore. I work two jobs. That’s why he helps me out. Sariah needs someone else there, since her father is a piece of shit.” She stuck the cigarette back between her lips with a harsh jab. Her fingers tapped a mindless pattern against the metal, producing a dull sound. 

Shifting where he stood, Gabriel turned around to mirror Dannah’s position against the railing, dangling his own fingers down the side of the thin metal beam. “Sariah is lucky to have both of you in her life,” he finally decided to say. “There are too many shitty men in this world.” 

Dannah peered at Gabriel through her hair for a long moment after that, another bout of smoke seeping from between her chapped lips and nostrils. Gabriel could not make heads or tails of what emotion she could be feeling; like Caleb, her poker face was inscrutable. 

“We used to be close as kids,” she said. 

Gabriel blinked owlishly at the change in subject. Unsure if to interject, he kept quiet, allowing Dannah to gather her thoughts and take another puff of nicotine. 

“Our father was a piece of shit too. So was mom. She just left one day. Decided she loved injecting herself with drugs more than her kids, I guess.”

Dannah shook her head as she finished off her second cigarette. Despite her trembling fingers, she lit her third one with just as much ease as her second. 

“I thought I’d understand her reasoning more when I had Sariah. But I don’t. I understand her less now. Which means I won’t ever understand her.”

Another long stretch of silence sat between the two. 

“Is she still alive?” Gabriel asked, his voice a mere whisper. 

“No clue.”

“And- and your and Caleb’s father?” 

“Rotting in Hell like he belongs.” Her fingers shook more, the drumming of her short nails tattooing a faster staccato than before. She sighed, breathing in more sweet nicotine. 

“Despite mom leaving, I’d still choose her sorry ass over the man who fathered me and Caleb. That man, well, calling him a man is too nice for the bastard. 

Rather than respond, Gabriel elected to wait once more. The light down the road changed again. Cars came to a halt, a wall of headlights illuminating the dark road. The insects continued to chitter, and the breeze played with the leaves of the tree, ruffling them back and forth. 

Yet the silence prevailed. 

“Caleb ain’t just my brother. He’s my hero. He protected me when no one else would.” Another stream of smoke weeped from between her lips. 

The light changed. Cars rushed down the road yet again. And even from a distance, their headlights tossed weak beams of light across the two of them. 

Dannah’s eyes glistened with unshed tears. She blinked them away. 

“You think your dad is supposed to protect you. But the bastard me ‘nd Caleb got stuck didn’t have a single loving bone in his body. All he knew was how to hurt.”

This time, a sniffle crept through Dannah’s defenses. She sucked another aggressive puff of nicotine from her cigarette. 

“The bastard loved his mind games. Loved inflicting pain. He coulda gotten far with what he wanted to do. But after--” Dannah sniffled again. Took refuge in her nicotine again. “--after I told Caleb that the bastard touched me, that was it.”

Dannah only had a third of her cigarette left. She left it dangling from between her lips. She cast her faraway, darkened gaze at Gabriel. 

“It never happened again. Thanks to Caleb. He made sure it didn’t happen again.”

Dannah’s glistening eyes pierced Gabriel, pinning him in place. And despite the warmth of the night, Gabriel felt a chill running through him. Several tears fell from his bottom lashes as he silently wept. 

No tears clung to Dannah’s eyelashes despite her wet eyes.

“Since having Sariah we haven’t been able to see each other as often. And Caleb-- he’s never been a talker. But he’s still my brother and my hero. He protected me. And I’d do the same for him.”

Dannah finished her cigarette. She tossed the spent filter onto the ground and crushed it with her bare foot. 

“Before he met you, I only ever saw Caleb smile when seeing Sariah. So I’m telling you how it’s gonna be, Gabriel.”

Gabriel straightened out, peering at Dannah with wide eyes. Although they were about the same height, Gabriel could not help but feel small beneath her presence. She towered over him, her smokey breath like fire. 

“I’ll do anything to protect Caleb. And if you hurt him, you will regret it,” she said with a hiss. “Do you get me?”

Wide-eyed, Gabriel nodded slowly. 

“I need you to tell me you get me.”

“I understand,” Gabriel croaked. He cleared his throat quickly, straightening his shoulders out. “I- I understand. I would never hurt Caleb intentionally.”

Dannah stared at him, unperturbed and as inscrutable as before. 

“But you don’t know me,” Gabriel said when he realized she was not going to interrupt him. “We just met. And my words are only as good as how much you trust me. But I swear to you that I would never harm Caleb. And I’ll prove it to you in time as well.” 

The corners of Dannah’s lips twitched. “Good.” 

The sight of her barely-existent smile released the tension freezing Gabriel in place. His shoulders fell lax as relief flooded him. “For what its worth, you’re a good sister.” 

Gabriel glanced at the road yet again. “I wish my sister had the same attitude toward me as you do Caleb,” he said to himself, beneath his breath

If Dannah heard his admission, she did not comment on it. 

“Let’s go inside,” she said instead. “Before the mosquitos bite us up.”

She clapped a hand on Gabriel’s shoulder as she stepped by him. Her hand was heavy. Her palms and stubby fingers calloused. They were working hands. Just as Caleb’s were.