Chapter 3 - The First Night
Peter brought the children home in the evening with a trash bag of hospital supplies, a pain-medication schedule, and temporary placement papers that suddenly made his small duplex feel even smaller. He set Drew up on the couch because the boy could not manage the stairs. Lily stood in the kitchen staring at the open refrigerator as if it were a trick.
“You can have yogurt,” Peter told her. “Or a sandwich. Or both.”
She looked at Drew before touching anything.
“It’s okay,” Drew said softly. “He means it.”
That sentence sat in Peter’s chest like a stone.
After Lily fell asleep against a pile of clean towels, Drew refused to let Peter close the basement door all the way. He hid half a peanut-butter sandwich under the couch cushion before he remembered where he was and started to cry, not loudly, just with his face turned toward the wall.
A pediatric therapist came by later for a brief emergency assessment. Peter waited in the kitchen until she stepped out.
“He’s terrified of locked spaces,” she said. “He also believes he is responsible for keeping Lily alive.”
Peter rubbed his face hard. “How long does a kid have to live like that before it gets into him this deep?”
The therapist did not answer directly. “Long enough.”
Before she left, Drew called for Peter. His eyes were heavy with pain medicine.
“Dad said we were supposed to stay with you,” he mumbled. “But then she said you didn’t want us. She said you said we were too much trouble.”
Peter felt the room tilt. Aaron had never said any such thing to him, never even hinted it.
May you like
He sat there until Drew fell asleep, then he stood and called Detective Hanley back.
“I want to go to that house with you,” Peter said. “Tonight, if you can.”
