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“He’s mad at you, mister,” she said.
Really if not for her…it really would have been a dark new day.
“It’s okay. I’m used to his anger by now,” my father replied as we reached the basement floor, where a black minivan with a broken plate was parked and waiting.
The nurses glance at each other. They knew the owner of the car was not the woman who came out of it.
“A minivan?” my father asked her.
“It’s not like there are many options on short notice now, are there?” my mother shot back.
And again, I wondered, was all this talking out loud necessary?
I set Gigi on her feet. The moment she was free, she moved to her grandmother and raised her arms for her to carry her instead. My mother’s eyebrow rose as she glared down at the little girl below.
“Don’t be ridiculous. The door is right here, and you are a big girl, far too big to be carried by anyone,” she snapped sharply before looking to me as I moved the machine. “You are spoiling her.”
One again, I reconsidered this plan.
They could not fucking help themselves.
“It’s okay. You are old, so you are not strong anymore,” Gigi mocked. “Only strong people can pick me up, like Nana Evelyn.”
My father snorted and bit his lips closed as Gigi stuck out her tongue before going into the back with her mother. Gigi returned what she was given. If you were mean to her, she’d be mean right back…and she somehow knew exactly where to poke people.
My mother glared before muttering, “Like mother, like daughter.”
I frowned at that. I loved Calliope, but I didn’t want Gigi to be like her. I didn’t want my daughter to fight the same demons my wife battled. I didn’t even know the depth of it. But I knew without a doubt, from what I could piece together, Calliope had been born and raised in hell far worse than any of us.
11
“I see the Past, Present & Future
existing all at once before me.”
~William Blake
CALLIOPE—AGE 16
My heart raced so fast it felt like it was trying to escape my body. My mind was sharp, too, everything felt so much clearer, but I could see every flex of his muscle, the shift of his feet when he threw his fist. It was like it came at me in slow motion. I grabbed his fist, using the forward motion of his body, stepped on his thigh, twisting my legs around and up until I latched on his neck, flipping us down on to the mat. Squeezing as tightly as I could until he began to tap me for surrender.
I glanced at Siena outside the ring, in the shadows, waiting for her to tell me to let go. However, she just looked back even as I turned red
Oh…I’m killing him, aren’t I?
What was his name again?
He had said hi to me yesterday. I thought he was nice.
I guess it didn’t matter now.
I twisted his neck. There was a sick pop and I let go, rising from his body and waiting beside it.
“You are getting faster, Calliope,” she said.
“Thank you, Grandmother,” I said back, still waiting.
“Who wants to go next?” she asked, and no one around the ring moved.
