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“Are you guys all right for food?” I ask Becca, standing just outside their door. “You need me to go to the store?”
She shakes her head as she pulls on my shirt, wanting me closer. Over her shoulder, Martin stands with his arms crossed and I fight the urge to scream, to shout, to run like a baby and tell Becca everything he said and the way he treated me. Instead, I kiss her forehead and ignore the disappointment in her eyes when I tell her I’ll see her in the morning.
I take Tommy’s hand and lead him to the apartment where we pretend like everything is good and fine in the world, and that one of the most important people in our lives isn’t a few feet away surrounded by people she doesn’t know, lost in a mind that’s no longer hers.
Mom comes by with food, and we all sit at the table continuing to pretend.
“Eat your broccoli, Tommy.”
“Okay, Daddy.”
I don’t know if he actually does because I’m not looking at him. I’m staring down at my plate, my fork prodding my own broccoli.
“Remember when you used to call them little trees last time, Daddy?” Tommy asks.
I look up at him, my eyes tired. “Yeah.”
“Why would I like to eat trees?”
I smile. I can’t help it. Then I lean forward and push my plate aside, glancing at Mom quickly. “When I was little like you, I didn’t eat my vegetables, either. So your Pa—he used to sit with me at the table until I’d eaten every single one on the plate.” I point to Mom. “Nanni—she used to tell him to just let me go, that it was past my bedtime, but he wouldn’t. And then one day, he came up with this idea to make up an entire land made of vegetables.”
“And did you?” Tommy practically shouts.
“We did. We stayed up and made broccoli trees and carrot stick logs and a pea sea.”
“Pee sea!” He cackles with laughter. “And then what happened, Daddy?”
Mom giggles.
“And then…” I say, my eyes wide. “He said I was a T-Rex and T-Rexes destroy land. And so I opened my mouth wide, and I ate everything on that plate!”
Tommy laughs, loud and free, and I watch, letting the sound of his joy overpower the misery of the past few days. “I want to be a T-Rex, Daddy!”
I stand and move toward him, but the breaking of glass from somewhere outside stops me. Chaz’s screams fill my ears and dread kicks in. I look over at my mom. “Go!” she says.
I slip on my shoes and run to the house, cringing when I feel the glass crunching beneath my feet. The living room window’s smashed, so is a ceramic vase now in pieces on the porch steps. “Get outta my house!” Chaz screams. “Get out! Get out! Get out!”
I push the door open with so much force, it hits the wall behind it. “What’s going on?” I take a second and look around the room. I look at Chaz standing there with her hands to her mouth, at Becca crying in the corner, and at Martin standing between them, his hands in his hair.
“She can’t…” Martin mumbles.
Becca cowers even more.
“Joshua,” Chaz cries, moving toward me. “Why are these people in my house?”
“It’s okay.” I hug her to me, but my eyes are on Becca.
“Who are they? They broke into my house and they’re… they’re…”
“It’s okay,” I repeat, slowly guiding her back to her bed. I look over at Martin and point to Becca. He seems to come to, quickly moving to comfort her.
“They’re trying to make me take these damn pills, Joshua. They’re trying to kill me!”
I settle the covers around her and sit on the bed.
There are tears in her eyes, fear in her voice matching the fear in my heart. “What’s happening?”
Behind me, Mom says, “Is everything okay?”
I turn to her, hoping she doesn’t have Tommy because I don’t want him seeing this. She must sense my unasked question because she says, “I set him up on his iPad. I video called Blake and Chloe. He’ll be occupied for a while.”
“Who is she?” Chaz asks. “Who are all these people?”
I take a calming breath, my eyes drifting shut from the sudden weight of the world. Then “Ma’am.” I take her hands in mine, and I pray to a God she so strongly believes in that I say and do the right things. “These people are your family.”
She shakes her head, her dark eyes focused on mine. “You’re my only family, Joshua. I don’t…” Her gaze drops, her tears ripping my heart in two. “I don’t know them.”
