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“Do they still hurt when you’re big?”
“Oh, yeah.”
She pats my hair with one hand and reaches for her floppy bunny Hugs with the other. “I hope you don’t get bit by any.”
That makes me chuckle. “Well, I’m sure I’ll get bitten by them again sometime before I die. I’m still young, you know.”
“And pretty! I bet the ants like biting pretty people, especially!”
I laugh outright now. “Nah, baby, that can’t be true. Otherwise, they’d have gottenyoutoday at school!” I dart my hands out and tickle her sides.
Even though she’s sleepy, she squeals and wiggles around, smacking me with Hugs. “Annie!”
“Rae!” I match her high-pitched tone. After another second of making her laugh, I withdraw my hands and kiss her on the forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” she says with her sweet little voice and cute little smile. She holds up her bunny. “Hugs loves you, too.”
I scratch the bunny’s head. “Love you, Hugs.” Then I turn my attention back to Rae. “I know you’re tired, so go to sleep. Don’t try to fight it so you can sneak out of bed and play after I leave.” She did that a few nights ago and was bleary-eyed and grumpy the next morning. “Okay?”
“Okaaaay.”
I lightly thump her arm. “Night-night.”
“Night-night.”
I turn on her nightlight and turn off the overhead light. Then I pull her door halfway closed and go to the kitchen.
It’s only about 8:30, so I have some time before I need to get in bed, too. Even though I usually get both of our lunches packed in the mornings before we leave, today being a rare slip-up, I decide to go ahead and fix tomorrow’s stuff now. Then I clean up the kitchen. Next, I make sure I’ve signed all of Rae’s homework and put it into her little backpack for tomorrow. I make a new pitcher of tea before I move on to my last chore: getting the wrinkles out of the clothes that have been sitting in the dryer for two days.
It’s a bit after 10 and I’m finishing folding the warmed clothes when a loud thud of a knock sounds at the front door.
My pulse spikes and I flash hot as hell.
Not Kelle. Not Kelle. Not Kelle.
It’s the first thing I think and it’sallI can think as I stand frozen by the dryer with two of Rae’s socks in my hands. In the otherwise silence of the apartment, I hear my startled lungs sucking in air and huffing it back out over and over.
I dread the day my sister resurfaces to contact me and Rae yet again.
If I’m not actively worrying about it, it’s sitting in the shadows of my mind, waiting to rear up later. Since I’m Rae’s legal guardian, Kelle usually wants nothing to do with her, but every now and then, she accosts us in a complete mockery of the restraining order and stays just long enough to wreak havoc.
Her reason for coming around is different every time. Sometimes she threatens us simply because she’s high and pissed off about something. Other times, she begs for money so she cangethigh. Sometimes she claims to want to‘get to know’her daughter, as if she has that option anymore.
The last time we saw her, she showed up drunk with scissors and tried like mad to cut some of Rae’s hair for reasons she wouldn’t divulge. I got my arm punctured before I managed to get things under control, and the kid was so scared that she couldn’t relax around a pair of scissors formonthsafterward. She still freaks out if whoever she’s around appears to be using scissors carelessly.
The time before that, Kelle tried to convince me to sleep with her drug dealer so he’d excuse some money she owed him. That was probably the visit that scaredmethe most. I worried for a long time that my refusal would result in her giving him my address so he could visit me himself.
And today has been chaotic already. Thiswouldbe the day Kelle—
Another thud sounds, and another quickly after. Then another.
But they don’t actually sound menacing, I realize. They sound…um…
…urgent?
Heart racing with fear and curiosity both, I hurry to the door and look out the peephole. I see a figure on the other side—a guy? He’s bent over oddly. One of his hands is grasping at my door, and I can’t really tell where the other is.
What’s he doing?
