“He’s dead,” I said curtly.
“Oh, that’s unfortunate. How did he die?”
I swallowed hard, turning my face to the side. The answer was never easy to verbalize, not without remembering the image all over again. I was holding onto my composure the best I could, but the cracks were there. A shock pulsed from the back of my head forward. It was twice the strength of any headache I’d ever experienced.
I clutched onto the sides of my head and whimpered. I was just about to scream when it faded. It had only lasted a few seconds at most, but it had been agonizing. My brain felt rattled, and I had a bit of difficulty refocusing my eyes upon Adina.
She was holding the remote, and not an ounce of remorse shone on her face.
“How did he die?” she repeated.
“He ended his own life.”
I rubbed my temples, trying to clear the fog that clouded me and wipe away the residual pain.
“Did you find his body?”
“No, my mother did.” I paused and looked at the floor, seeing my reflection peering back. When I glanced upward, I saw Adina moving her hand toward the remote.
“I saw him, though,” the words spewed out. “My mother refused to remove his body for three days after his death. On the third day, several townspeople came and took his body.”
“My condolences for your loss, and the depth of tragedy it surely brought to your family. The lack of a father figure during such pivotal developmental years can be detrimental, especially when the death is traumatic. Did having your brother there with you during all of this help?”
“My brother was taken in the Culling of our village a year before our father passed.”
“I apologize for the misunderstanding.” She furrowed her brow briefly before smoothing it out once more. “You spoke of him as if he were still with us.”
“I have hope that he is.”
“Hmm.” Adina looked down and scribbled something on her notepad before looking up once more. “What about your mother? How did she handle the loss of both your brother and father?”
“It broke her.”
“Did it breakyou, Mavis?”
“What?”
“Did the loss of both your brother and father, and the inadequacy of your mother’s ability to parent you through such important and difficult times, break you?”
The harshness of her words hit like a slap to the face. They were blunt and apathetic.
“I’m fine.”
Pain laced through my head once more, but this time, I did scream. I fell out of the chair and landed on my knees, cradling my head.
“Now we both know that’s not true. Tell me, do you feel guilty?”
The pain slowly increased until tears were streaming down my cheeks involuntarily.
The voice in my head yelled,Don’t give in! Fight!
But I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t handle a second more of the pain, and so I cried out.
“I could have stopped it!”
Adina scooted to the front of her chair and cocked her head. I had one hand on the back of my neck and the other gripping my knees to my chest.
“What could you have stopped, Mavis?” She pressed.
