114 Near Disasters
My mother wasn't much of a mother. Sophia. She was beautiful. Tired. Bitter. Alcoholic. She slept with a monster for money. It was always money with her. Which carnival, which trailer park, which desperate little hole in the wall could she go to next, where no one knew her and where she could hypnotize them into believing? She was a gypsy. That and her voice were enough to draw people in. Let the seer tell you your future, contact your loved ones, feed you whatever lies you want to hear. She never wasted her money on doctors, not for Cal and not for me.
I contracted pneumonia when I was eleven. I probably should have seen someone, but I didn't want to go. Sophia wouldn't take me. I couldn't take myself. I didn't want my little brother to try. He was the one who pulled the blankets up when I pushed them away, who tried to get soup into me and who sat with me while I coughed until I didn't think I would ever catch my breath again. He knew what would happen if he asked for help, because I told him, over and over again, probably more times than I can remember.
Do you know what he did? He set the trailer park on fire. He didn't know which bottle to take, so he took all of them. Seven years old, and all he could think about was what would happen if his brother died.
He's thought of that so many times. Abbagor, the Auphe, Hobgoblin ... Darkling came closer to killing me than I want Cal to know. Losing him came closer to killing me than I'll ever tell him.
I have to go home to him. The Auphe are waiting. They're going to kill us if they can, and we can't run anymore. They're going to take me first, because they want him to watch, and because the only way they're going to get near my little brother again is over my dead body.
I contracted pneumonia when I was eleven. I probably should have seen someone, but I didn't want to go. Sophia wouldn't take me. I couldn't take myself. I didn't want my little brother to try. He was the one who pulled the blankets up when I pushed them away, who tried to get soup into me and who sat with me while I coughed until I didn't think I would ever catch my breath again. He knew what would happen if he asked for help, because I told him, over and over again, probably more times than I can remember.
Do you know what he did? He set the trailer park on fire. He didn't know which bottle to take, so he took all of them. Seven years old, and all he could think about was what would happen if his brother died.
He's thought of that so many times. Abbagor, the Auphe, Hobgoblin ... Darkling came closer to killing me than I want Cal to know. Losing him came closer to killing me than I'll ever tell him.
I have to go home to him. The Auphe are waiting. They're going to kill us if they can, and we can't run anymore. They're going to take me first, because they want him to watch, and because the only way they're going to get near my little brother again is over my dead body.