“Doesn’t it though?” Marie taunted. “I was preparing for Mom to be crying all day about how you weren’t spending Christmas with us, but then I got a call saying,Ollie’s got a girlfriend, and you should be so happy for him.”
I flashed my eyes at the frames lining the wall, setting them rattling. “Because you would’ve missed me so much. I can tell by all these pictures I’m in.”
“Of course, you make this all about you,” she hissed.
“Itisabout me, Marie,” I growled. “It’s about what you hold over my head, but I didn’t see you with bruises or black eyes or belt marks.” Vibrating with fury, her upper lip twitched, but she didn’t speak. I scoffed. “Nothing to say as always. So much for protecting your little brother.”
I shouldered past her.
“He said you messed with his head.”
A deadly calm blanketed my mind in response to her blind belief in a man who lied to his wife about plans to sell his own son for a lump sum. A man who lied to that same son, saying if he was normal, he would’ve been loved. A man who scolded his little boy for not being human. Slowly, so slowly, I turned to look in my sister’s glassy eyes, full of accusation and denial.
“I could show you every moment of his brutality, convince your body to feel the pain I felt, replay his voice to haunt you too, but I’m not that cruel. You can believe what you want about me, but I won’t continue this conversation until you give me the decency of hearing my side.”
I forced myself to walk down the hall, my sister’s footsteps eventually following. I glanced around the open living room and kitchen. A tree lit in the corner, the table set for four-
It should’ve been six.
“Where are Conner and my nephew?” I demanded, rounding on Marie.
Shimmering tears remained on her lower lashes as she lifted her chin. “They’re with Conner’s family tonight.”
I blinked at her, eyes dropping to her left hand, missing an engagement ring. “You broke up?”
“Yes,” she admitted.
My head swiveled between Mom and my sister.
“Neither of you thought to tell me?” I asked.
“I didn’t think you gave a shit,” Marie scoffed.
A tremor started in my hands.
“You believe I care so little about our family?”
Furious tears in her eyes, “You’re the one who tore our family apart the day you took dad-”
“Enough,” Mom snapped.
I couldn’t breathe. Her words were a braided noose around my throat, suffocating, burning into my skin-
An angel stepped in front of me, demanding me to focus on the glorious steel wall behind lilac eyes.
“Time to go,” she murmured. Her voice was soft yet firm; an order I had to obey. The burning in my eyes continued to build, the rope around my neck digging into my flesh. She took my hand, and I squeezed my eyes shut, allowing her to lead me away.
“Ollie, wait-” Mom begged.
I swallowed against the tug of that invisible noose. Unable to force words past the pain, Courtney spoke for me.
“I’m sorry Ms. Wallis, but it’s better if we go. Merry Christmas.”
This time, Ididblow down the door.
27
Courtney
