“I don’t know, bud. I hope not, maybe it’s a good visit this time.” I manage a weak smile. One I’ll never believe myself but while I’m not going to lie to my son, I am not opposed to giving him a bit of hope. “But still, please stay in the car until we know for sure, okay?”
Emett nods but his young eyes are filled with fury. Yeah, he’s not buying my crappy attempts at “hope.”
“I can’t wait until I grow up and can kick his butt.”
“Emett!”
“We should call Mr. Brick! I bet he could kick his butt!” Oh, Jesus…
“No, we shouldn’t.”
“Why is he such a bad person, Mommy?”
“I don’t know, baby.”
“But you’re good. You’re the bestest of them all, and he’s your brother…shouldn’t he be good too? If I have a brother, will he be bad too?”
My heart squeezes with an empty ache. A reminder of yet another one of my failures as a mother because I don’t see myself opening my beat up and battered heart to a possibility of a real family. Of more children. Something we already spoke about with Emett, but like I said earlier, he can be pretty relentless when he wants something.
“Remember how I told you there’s good and evil in this world?”
He nods. “Mm-hmm, you told me we get to choose who we want to be.”
“That’s right, we do. Unfortunately, your uncle chose the evil. He took one step into that dark side, and then another, and one more, and he kept going until it swallowed him whole.”
“Can he come out?”
“Yes, there’s always a way out, Emett. No matter how dark it seems, if you want to find the light, you will.”
Before he can respond, our old and battered, farm-style house appears down the long driveway. Before we even park, I noticed they’d moved inside already and spot the broken window in the living room. God, I hope Betsy, Dad’s nurse, is all right.
“He’s not here for a happy visit, is he?” Emett asks quietly, and I sigh.
“No, buddy, it doesn’t appear so. Please, do not come out, okay?” I turn around to look at him, and he gives me a wobbly nod.
“Sissy!” Aaron croons, walking out of the house as soon as I shut my door, locking it. “I’ve been waiting for you.” His jet-black hair he inherited from our mother slick with dirt and grease and only a thin circle of green is visible against his blown pupils.
“What for?” I desperately want to run in the house and make sure Dad and Betsy are all right, but I can’t—not while he’s blocking my way.
My brother is just four years older than me but the lifestyle he leads took its toll on his body that now resembles someone in his late fifties instead of the twenty-eight he just turned. He’s also clearly very intoxicated but at least he’s in good spirits.
I wonder what the mighty Severin would’ve thought of this when just my old car seemed to offend him greatly.
“Well, that didn’t sound too sisterly, did it?”
“What are you doing here, Aaron?”
“Fineee, straight to business it is. I need money.”
I take a deep, steadying breath, already knowing this will go down to shit in point two seconds.
Damn it, I should’ve called the cops before I got out of the car.
“Aaron, I just gave you some money last week.”
“Well, that was last week, and this week I need more.”
“Even if I’d want to give you some, I don’t have any.” His drunkenly playful features morph into a grimace.
