Finding Strength (The Searchers Book 5) by Ripley Proserpina

Author:Ripley Proserpina [Proserpina, Ripley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-08-14T18:30:00+00:00

20

Apollo

10 years old

Grandma dropped him off in the driveway. She said she was late and didn’t want to come in. All his cousins were still in the car, so it made sense. If Grandma got out, Anna, Victor, and Sasha would get out, and then they’d all run inside.

It would be awesome and so much fun, but fine.

Apollo ran inside, skittering to a stop when his mother’s incensed voice met his ears. “You can’t leave Mac! I need you!”

“You’ve been lying in this bed for months, Tessa. You haven’t done a single thing to take care of yourself. Not therapy. I’ve seen the medications. You’re not even taking them every day. I have a job, and I’ve taken as much time off as I can!”

“So take off more! I’m your wife! You were gone eighteen months; they can’t give you three?”

Apollo shivered, cold suddenly even though it was ninety degrees outside, and they didn’t have air conditioning. A warm breeze blew in through the open kitchen windows, and he crept forward, his flip-flops squishing against the linoleum.

“They can’t.” Dad’s voice was quieter. “I’ve done everything I can, Tess, but I’m doing all the heavy lifting here.”

“Don’t we matter to you?” Mom asked. She sounded like she was crying, but this time, Apollo didn’t want to run upstairs and stop his dad. For the first time, he understood why Dad got frustrated.

Mom wasn’t trying.

“Don’t we matter to you?” Dad countered. “Your little boy was starving. The only time he ate was at school, did you know that? This house smelled like garbage and it seeped into the fucking walls. Go into the kitchen, Tess. Take a breath. He went to bed hungry every night. And you couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed.”

Mom cried noisily, but he still stayed downstairs. He sat on the bottom step, leaning his back against the wall as Dad went on.

“Each weekend, he went days without food. He filled himself up with water. Water. And he had no one. And now you lie here, and you make excuses about why you can’t take your medication and why you can’t go to therapy. It’s so fucking selfish. I can’t even look at you.”

“So that’s it?” Mom asked. “You’re just leaving?”

Dad’s footsteps stomped across the floor, and Apollo looked at the ceiling, tracking his progress. He knew when his dad was near the closet and when he was in their bedroom doorway. “Your mom will be by later to pick up Apollo.”

“And what about me?” Mom asked.

“You’re a grown woman, you can take care of yourself.”

Mom laughed, and it was harsh. He winced. He’d never heard his mom laugh like that and it sounded nothing like her. “And you call me selfish.”

“Get help, please.” Dad set something down. It thumped softly. “Tess.” His voice had changed. It sounded off, and Apollo stood nervously. Why did his dad sound weird? “Tess. Put that down.”

It was the last thing he said. There were two sharp pops, and Apollo jumped. For a second, he thought that fireworks had gone off upstairs.

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