Empty by K. M. Walton

Author:K. M. Walton [Walton, K. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: C429, Extratorrents, Kat, Contemporary, Young Adult
ISBN: 9781442453593
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Published: 2013-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

This Moment Is Officially Smeared

BACK AT THE APARTMENT, I POP A PEANUT BUTTER cookie in my mouth and chew as quietly as I can. I don’t want my mother to emerge from her bedroom in a cloud of “What the hell are you eating now, Adele?” rage. I absentmindedly reach for another one and come up empty-handed. I’ve eaten the entire box. Every damn cookie is gone.

Day one of my diet is ruined.

I stare at the cookie crumbs. Cookies make me feel . . . I don’t know how cookies make me feel. I press down on the crumbs, making them stick to my finger. Cookies make me feel un-hungry. I scrape the crumbs from my fingertip with my bottom teeth and think—I guess I’ll have to fess up about softball soon. My mother probably won’t give a damn about that. She’ll hyperfocus on the money wasted on my special-order uniform.

I haven’t told my mother about the talent show, either. Apparently I’m not telling my mother anything anymore. I don’t think she’s capable of producing any normal motherly reactions: concern, empathy, pride. And I can’t handle her dead stare.

If my sister were older, I would talk to her. Meggie was so cute when I picked her up from day care. She said, “I miss you, Dehwy, when you go.” Then she kissed me right on the lips. She tasted like strawberries. I held her the whole walk home and breathed her in. By the time we got back, I swear I felt better. I don’t know what it is about her smell, but I’m pretty sure it’s what heaven smells like.

I grab the cookie packaging, roll it up tight, fish the empty bag of chips from the bottom of the trash can, and tuck it inside. My mother will go ballistic if she finds out that I’ve polished off the chips and the cookies. She just bought them.

Mom hasn’t emerged from her bedroom since we got home ten minutes ago.

I change Meggie’s diaper and have a brainstorm. I know how I can get my mother some money. It comes to me all at once, like a lightning strike to the brain. I do a quick online search, pack five plastic grocery bags full of clothes, tell my mom I’m taking Meggie for a walk, and head out. I’m struggling to push my sister and control the overflowing basket underneath her stroller. One bag keeps falling out every time we hit a bump.

The basket is stuffed with my clothes. I’m going to sell the tagged clothes from my closet that are too small for me to the resale shop in town. The money will take some pressure off my mother. In my estimation, I have about eight hundred to a thousand bucks worth of new clothes. I’m figuring I can walk out with around two hundred dollars—maybe even more if the stars align.

As I walk, I stare down at my sister. Meggie loves me. The way her little face lights up when I pick her up at day care makes me happier than anything on this planet.

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