Last Night On Earth by Maddie Kopecki

Author:Maddie Kopecki [Kopecki, Maddie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Independent
Published: 2021-07-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

“Hey, Andi?”

I looked over at Kit, raising my head from where it was tucked into the palm of my hand. I’d been leaning against the arm of the chair, staring out at nothing for several minutes now, lost in guilt and shame and sadness and confusion and every other emotion in the book.

“Want to talk about it?” he asked.

“Talk about what?”

He rubbed his eyes sleepily, and I could see how tired he was getting just by examining him. Stubbornly, he was staying awake for me. That alone made the ache in my chest worse. As he frowned, I knew he was trying to think of a way to approach things delicately. I wondered if he was thinking about us, or Siobhan, or both.

“You want to know why we’re here, don’t you?” I finally dared to ask.

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I know you’ve got a secret, Andi. I know you’ve got a ton of secrets, actually. I also know that something really bad happened last night and I’m worried about you.”

I looked away from him. “A lot of bad things happened last night.”

“Andi—”

“She’s on heroin,” I confessed. My voice was so quiet when the words came out, but I knew he must’ve heard me because he didn’t ask me to repeat it.

He said nothing. I didn’t think there was much he could’ve said at that moment.

I went on, letting it all out. “She’s been hooked for years. I never told anyone because I couldn’t let CPS get involved. Dustin and Callie aren’t made to be in the system. It would devastate us, and I didn’t want us to be separated. So I covered it up, said she was sick, did whatever I had to do to hide it. I took care of them, she paid the bills somehow, and it worked. I had it under control. It should’ve been fine.”

“Andi, you never should’ve had it under control. That’s not your problem. She never should’ve put you in that position.”

I knew it was true. Deep down, I knew that Kit was right. I’d been holding it together for so long, just letting everything pile up on top of me until I couldn’t take it anymore.

I was breaking.

First Kit.

Then Brent.

Now Siobhan.

Everything was unraveling at the seams.

“Look at me,” he said fiercely, as the first of fresh tears started to fall.

I didn’t. I couldn’t.

“Andi, look at me.”

I kept my gaze fixed forward as my bottom lip quivered and a sob built up in the back of my throat.

“Andi, please.”

Finally, I did.

He stared at me, his face a mix of admiration and worry. “You’re the strongest, most beautiful girl I’ve ever met. And whatever you want to do, I’ll get behind. My mom can foster you guys or something so you can get away from her—”

“That would tear them apart, Kit,” I told him. “I couldn’t do that.”

“But this is tearing you apart,” he shot back.

“I can handle it.”

“You shouldn’t have to.”

“Please, Kit, you don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t even know if CPS would let us stay with you.

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