Read Shelter for Free Online

a red light, he flicked through his playlists and chose one he was sure I would like.
    The familiar sound of “Für Elise” began to play, and it instantly relaxed me. There was something about classical music that always comforted me, and I admit that I was more than a little surprised that Kai had a classical music playlist. Now I was curious about what else he liked to listen to.
    I eyeballed his MP3 player, longing to take a peek at his playlists, but I didn’t want to intrude. Admittedly, I would be rather annoyed if someone I just met started snooping through my music without asking.
    Suddenly, I blurted out, “Can I look at your playlists?”
    Kai glanced at me and gave me a crooked smile.
    “Be my guest,” he said.
    I picked up the player and started nosing around through his music. He had two different playlists with classical music. One was mostly classical piano – my personal favorite. The other had a lot of orchestral compositions, some of which I wasn’t even familiar with. I’d never really listened to symphonies much.
    He also had a playlist full of nineties hair metal. That was interesting. My brother had a thing for that stuff, too. I enjoyed some of it. I certainly didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t my favorite.
    Another playlist contained a bunch of love songs – mostly stuff from the seventies and eighties. I wasn’t too familiar with human males, obviously, but it did occur to me that it seemed unusual that a guy would have a bunch of romantic music on his MP3 player. Then again, Kai seemed anything but ordinary. He was nothing like the human guys I’d seen on television or in movies.
    That was it as far as playlists. It was a lot like my own. My computer at home had a grand total of six playlists. Five of them were classical piano playlists – each one created to fit a certain mood. The final playlist was mostly eighties music. I picked up a taste for it while watching those cheesy eighties movies. I don’t know why, but those movies really stuck a chord with me. Probably because they portray social awkwardness – a feeling I was painfully aware of.
    When Kai pulled up to the curb and parked, the party had broken up. It was only eleven-thirty, so it seemed unusual that everyone was gone. Kai suggested things got boring so people headed out, but something didn’t seem quite right about it. He didn’t bother pulling into the garage.
    “Oh, well,” Kai said. “At least we can get better food in the house.”
    The house was completely dark, but I could see paper cups and garbage everywhere. His house was completely trashed, and it smelled strongly of beer. I followed him through the back door and into the kitchen.
    Kai was bent over looking through the refrigerator when I heard a faint rustle behind me and suddenly smelled the nauseating scent of blood heavily laced with liquor. I turned just in time to see an angry looking woman breeze into the kitchen and storm over toward Kai. I suddenly became very uncomfortable, and I pressed myself against the wall to try to avoid detection.
    “Kai!” she screeched in a shrill voice. “What have you done to this house?”
    “Mom!” he shouted, slamming the refrigerator door and jumping backward.
    “Yeah, you didn’t expect me back until the weekend, did you?” she yelled at him, pointing her waggling finger directly in his face. “I should have known you’d pull some shit like this!”
    The woman viciously struck Kai across the face, and he recoiled. I jumped – startled. I wanted to say something, but I was afraid. I don’t know why I felt such fear. I could have ripped her to shreds. Somehow, though, I couldn’t move. I held my breath, and closed my eyes.
    “You’re a pathetic piece of shit!” she shouted, and I smelled the overwhelming scent of liquor emanating from her general direction. “You’re worthless! You can’t even keep the house straight for two goddamned weeks! You have a party as soon as my back is turned? Did you