"Did you tell her what games you like?"
"Yeah, her son likes the same ones. Then I told her how I made my own, how I coded them and stuff."
"I bet she was impressed."
"I don't know. Maybe." His expression goes back to that scared serious look he had when he got here. "I never want to see him again."
"You don't have to. Dad's going to be locked away for a long time."
"I should've believed you. You tried to tell me he was like that but I didn't want to believe you."
He stares down at the floor. I keep quiet because it seems like he wants to tell me more.
"He wanted me to steal for him. He took me to a parking lot and told me to break into cars and take whatever he could get money for. I told him I didn't want to do it, that I'd get caught. He said they wouldn't do anything to me because I'm a minor. I still didn't want to do it, and when I refused, he said if I don't do it I'd end up like you." His eyes lift to mine. "That's when he told me what he did to you."
"So you did it? You broke into cars?"
"No. A cop showed up. He was just parking there but Dad freaked out and we left."
"Did he try again somewhere else?"
"Yeah, but he did it himself. He said he'd show me how, and after that I had to do it myself."
"But you didn't."
"No. I took off."
"When? How'd you get away?"
"We needed gas so Dad pulled off at a truck stop. It was one of those big ones off the interstate. The place was packed. While he was pumping gas, this woman walked by. She was hot and barely wearing any clothes. Dad smiled at her and they started talking. I figured that was my chance to get away. There was a pickup parked next to us that had all this shit in the back, like mattresses and furniture. I snuck out and crawled over there and got in the back. I hid under the mattress just as the lady took off."
"It was a woman in the truck?"
"A lady with kids. You always told me if I needed help to find a lady with kids."
He followed my advice. Maybe I'm not so bad at this parenting thing.
"I ended up on this farm out in the middle of nowhere. I hid in the barn for a couple days until one of the lady's kids found me."
"Did they get mad at you for being there?"
"No. They were really nice. The mom was all worried about me. She gave me food and let me take a shower and then she took me to the police station."
"You did good, Jake. A lot of kids your age wouldn't know what to do, or they'd be too afraid to do what you did."
"I had to get back to you. I had to know if you were still alive. I thought Dad might be lying just to scare me." He looks down at my wheelchair. "But he really did it. He tried to kill you."
"But he didn't. I'm still here." I look at him, wishing I could make him feel better, wishing I could erase the past week from his memories. "Jake, we're gonna get through this. It's gonna get better."
He doesn't say anything.
"What do you think about leaving here?"
He looks up. "They said you can't go yet."
"I don't mean the hospital. I mean Chicago. What do you think about moving?"
He shrugs. "I guess we could, but where would we go?"
