Page 122 of Disgrace

“Giulia, get something frozen from the freezer for her head,” Greta barked.

“Okay!”

“I’m fine,” Siena said.

Then, she promptly vomited all over the floor.

Yeah, that wasn’t good.

Greta made Siena look her in the eyes. “She kicked you really hard in the head. A lot. Maybe you should go to the—”

No.

She had to stay.

What if John came?

What if …

“It’s fine,” Siena repeated.

She was becoming a broken record.

Greta frowned. “I’m sorry you don’t have a good ma, either.”

Yeah.

Siena was sorry for that, too.

“There’s a phone under my bed in a box,” Siena said, struggling with every word. “A shoebox—it’s black, like the phone. There’s a contact. John. Just … call until he answers.”

“John?”

“John,” Siena echoed.

And then everything went black.

• • •

Siena was alternating between icing the lump on the side of her head, and pressing the frozen bag of mixed vegetables to her cheek where Coraline had scratched her viciously. The scratches felt like they were on fire whenever something cold wasn’t being pressed against them to level out the heat.

At least, her vision had cleared and her head had stopped pounding. That only took a good six hours. She probably should have listened to Greta, and took the young girl’s advice to go to the hospital.

Siena likely had a concussion, and needed to be looked at. Still, she stayed at her apartment. Neither Greta, nor Giulia left, either. In fact, they stayed right by Siena’s side the entire time to make sure she was okay. They wouldn’t let her sleep, or even close her eyes for more than a couple of seconds at a time.

They were sweet girls.

Good girls.

They did not deserve the hell that had been brought down on their lives by their half-brothers. Siena was never more aware of that fact than now.

“Greta?”

“Hmm?”

The girl looked over at Siena with worry creasing her brow. Siena instantly wanted to take that away. Greta was only seventeen. She didn’t need to be worrying herself with the problems of the adults around her.

This life made girls grow up too early.