Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 97409 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97409 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 487(@200wpm)___ 390(@250wpm)___ 325(@300wpm)
“Your dad will be here soon,” my mother said from the floor beside me. We were in a new apartment, the biggest that we’d ever been in. The building had over six floors because we were on the sixth floor, and the stairs led to another level.
“Can we go to the park?” I asked as I sat down beside her on the floor. The only things in the apartment were the two bags of clothes we had, two yellowed plastic garden chairs that had once been white, and a small table. We had a lot more things in the last place, but we had to leave in the middle of the night because they wouldn’t let us go in anymore. Dad was able to bring out the two bags, but he had to sneak in through a window, and Mom and I had to hide in a nearby bush.
“If you are good and you do what Daddy tells you, then yes, we can go to the park.”
The door swung open. “Is she ready?” Sweat pooled on my father’s forehead.
“Yes.” Mom stood. “Did you get it?”
“Yeah.” He glanced over his shoulder. “We should get going.”
“Let’s go,” my mother ordered me. I got up and followed them out of the apartment and down the stairs. I recall the muggy heat when we stepped outside.
My mother walked quickly to keep up with Dad and turned to me to hiss, “Move your feet faster.” I started to jog. We turned a corner into an alley where a black wheelchair and a blanket sat.
“Get in,” Dad commanded. When I looked at my mother, she picked me up and plopped me down in the chair.
“She looks too healthy,” he sneered at my mother. “Did you put that makeup on her?” She nodded. “Okay, well, cover her and hope for the fucking best.”
He pushed the chair, and when we were close to the grocery store, he stopped and squatted down in front of me. “If anyone asks you, you’re sick.”
“But I’m not sick.” I didn’t understand. He gripped my face so hard that I whimpered. I looked at my mother, hoping she would save me, but she was more concerned with checking to make sure no one had seen anything.
“You’re sick.” He pushed away from me and then wheeled me to the entrance.
“Sorry, sir,” he said to a man pushing out a grocery cart full of food, “I’m wondering if you can help us out. My daughter is sick, and I have to take her to the emergency room, but we don’t have any money.”
Over and over, all day long, he stopped people. It went from “She’s not feeling well” to “She needs emergency surgery” to “She doesn’t have long to go, and we just want to take her to Disney.” I don’t know how much they collected that day, but I knew that it was enough for him to smile as he took me to the park.
I was running to the swings when one of the women who had given my father money that day saw me. When she confronted him, he told her to fuck off, right there in the middle of the park with children around. He then marched over and grabbed me by my arm, pulling me away before I even reached the swings.
That was only the first time he scammed people by using me. He kept doing it over and over, for years, until no one believed him anymore.
The memory vanishes when I hear the chair in front of me being pulled out. “Everleigh is going to bring me my coffee,” he says, intertwining his fingers on the table. My heart is beating so hard in my chest, it’s echoing in my ears.
“How is Sierra?” I ask, not ready to just jump into the conversation, in case Everleigh is going to come over. The last thing I need is gossip to spread.
“She woke up sometime during the night.” He sighs in relief.
“That’s good news,” I say as I catch sight of Everleigh walking to us, holding a tray in her hand.
“Hey, you two,” Everleigh says. “I know you said you didn’t want anything to eat.” She puts three plates on the table. “But I know you have a twelve-hour shift coming up, so anything you don’t eat I can wrap up.”
“Oh no.” The back of my neck starts to heat up as I calculate how much this is going to cost me. “Everleigh . . .” I try not to let my panic fill my voice.
“It’s fine,” she states, and quickly walks away from the table.
“She refused to let me pay for any of this.” Theo motions to the table. “We have to take at least a bite out of something, or else it’s rude.”
“That’s nice. You don’t want to be rude to someone who brings you a piece of pie, but you are more than okay with being rude to someone who you slept with?” The minute the words are out of my mouth, I close my eyes. Opening them back up, I see his face has gone pale. “I’m sorry, that was uncalled for.”