Stay Crazy by Erica L. Satifka

Author:Erica L. Satifka
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: schizophrenia, multiverse, sf novel, big box stores
Publisher: Apex Book Company

Chapter Eighteen

"My parents called," Kevin said. He turned away from Em, toward her bedroom window latticed with frost from an early-February cold snap. "They're coming back on the eleventh."

"That's four days from now."

"I can do the math." Kevin flopped back over. He looked miserable.

"Sorry. I'm a little distracted." Escodex had programmed the stalling code into her phone at the end of her last shift. Now she had to figure out how to get the code into Agnes. Escodex had been a little vague on that point.

Maybe in his dimension, they have outlets in the backs of their heads, so you can stick machines in and feed them information that way. A society of living machines.

"Are you even listening to me?" Kevin asked.

"Of course. You have my full attention."

"I don't know how I'm going to face them. I won't be able to lie. Margery will tell them that I tried to kill myself and had to go to the hospital."

"Tell them she’s lying."

"I can’t. I'm no good at it."

"Come here," Em said, twining her fingers in his hair and pulling him toward her. "You know I'll be there for you. No matter what happens."

Kevin buried his face into Em's shoulder. Hot tears leaked through her thin blue sweater. "I know."

"What time are they coming home?"

"Two," he said, cupping Em's breast with his palm.

"Then call me at three. Or text or whatever. We'll get through this." She kissed him. "What are your parents like, Kevin? They must be pretty bad if you’re this scared of them."

"They're old. In their sixties. Kind of traditional. Always wanted me to buck up, be a man. They could tell pretty quick I wasn't going to ever be an athlete, so then they wanted me to succeed in school. Become a doctor or lawyer, get a wife, a family. American dream, right?" He unlocked himself from Em's shoulder and wiped the back of his hand across his face. "They just put a lot of faith in me, and I couldn't live up to it. Can't live up to it."

"They don't control you anymore. You're an adult. You don't have to live up to their expectations, you just have to live with yourself."

"Easier said than done, Em."

"I know." Don't I know.

Kevin unzipped his jeans and took off his shirt. Em pulled the light cord over her bed. The light from Em's bedroom windows fell across them in stripes, dust motes clinging to the air before them.

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