“Go sit down, Patrick,”Dad told me as we walked into the kitchen.
I sat at my usual place and stared at the box of cereal on the table and the plate of toast. Today was Monday already. I stayed in my closet the rest of Saturday and Sunday. My stomach hurt, and I wasn’t hungry. Sebastian ignored me, which was good because I hated him.
“Where was he?” Raquel asked without turning around.
“He was asleep on the floor in his closet. Hangers were all around him, his clothes were askew, his arms were out of his sleeves and the shirt was twisted around his neck. Oh, and he’d had an accident,” Dad explained.
I jumped when Raquel slapped her hand on the counter. When I looked up, she was staring at me.
“For God’s sake, William! He’s wearing the same shirt that he had on this past Saturday!”
“Well, I made sure he changed his pants for school.”
“Look at him.” Raquel stormed over to the table and grabbed my chin to roughly turn my head to the side. “What the hell happened to your face?” she asked. I looked at Sebastian. Raquel smacked Sebastian on the shoulder. “What the hell happened to Patrick?”
“I don’t know,” Sebastian replied.
“You don’t know? Sebastian, William and I left you in charge to watch him Saturday. You know he can’t take care of himself. What happened to his face?”
“I don’t know! Damn!” Sebastian yelled.
“You watch that tone, Sebastian!”
“Fine! Then ask him what happened to his face!”
“Don’t be a smartass. I’ll have William beat that ass.”
“I don’t know what happened to him! He probably fell! He’s clumsy and falls all the time!”
“Is that what happened, Patrick?” Dad asked as he sat beside me. I started to swing my legs under the table. “Did you fall and bump your face and get all those scratches on your side and back?”
No!
I looked at Sebastian.
“What? Don’t look at me. You’re the dummy who fell,” Sebastian said.
“He has a lot of cuts and scratches on him,” Dad said and looked at Sebastian. Everyone was quiet for a few minutes, and I stared at the cereal box again.
“Maybe he fell while trying to reach the hangers in his closet,” Sebastian suggested.
What? No!
“Hmm?” Dad looked at me. “Is that what maybe happened?”No!“There was a crushed box in your closet. Did you maybe try to stand on the box to reach the hangers?”No!“Did you have your hands on some hangers before the box broke and you fell? Maybe the hangers are how you got the cuts and scratches.”No! That wasn’t true!“There were a lot of hangers on the floor.”
I looked at Sebastian, hoping he’d tell Dad the truth because it was his fault! But he ate his cereal and said nothing.
“I’m going to assume that’s what happened since that makes sense.” Dad sipped on his coffee and then looked at me. “Unless you want to tell me something.”
I swallowed hard and looked back at Sebastian.
“Yeah, tell us if something else happened,” Sebastian said.
I hate you.
“Well, hopefully climbing on boxes taught you a lesson, Patrick,” Raquel said. “You need to change your shirt for school. We need to leave in ten minutes, so hurry and eat and then go change and brush your teeth.”
I reached for a slice of toast and took a few bites, but each time I swallowed it, I felt like throwing up. I carried my plate and the clean bowl to the counter next to the dishwasher. I carefully put the plate between the slots on the lowest rack and went to get the chair from the table. My stomach hurt as I carried the chair back to the counter, but I made it. I lined up the chair by the cabinet where the bowls went and climbed up on it. I had the cabinet open and was about the put the bowl away when Raquel grabbed it out of my hands.
