Page 7 of Four Times Forever

She flashed a look my way.

"I'm sorry," I muttered.

She grimaced. "You're glad he's dead too, aren't you?!"

Well, um, obviously.

I didn't respond.

"They've got you convinced of all kinds of bullshit. You always were gullible." Excuse me, air, where art thou? I narrowed my eyes at her downcast head.

What did she just say?

My throat hollowed and I swallowed against my closing airway.

With a deep, forceful breath, I nodded. "Mm-hm. Mom, you know you should really eat something."

She raised her hand to slap the food away and I moved it just in time.

"No!" she screamed. "I said, I don't want it. They'll only try to poison me."

"What?" My brain rattled around in my head. I thought I'd like to take a step outside of her distorted reality please. My brain cells were crumbling away into powder. "Mom, what? Look." I sighed and raised the burger to my lips.

Her eyes bulged out of their sockets.

"Stupid girl." She grabbed my hand. "Can't you see? They'll kill us like how they killed Terry."

What a crock of horseshit. Biting down hard on the inside of my cheek, I managed to keep myself from screaming out laughing.

"Okay, mom. You've been under a lot of stress. Especially today." Heartburn crept up on me at the thought of Ryan's contribution to her stress. I was going to rip him a new one. With my words, of course. No matter how much I'd like to staple his mouth shut and prevent him from uttering a single word for the rest of his life. "Let's get you into bed. If you're not going to eat, you might as well get some rest and we'll take you in to see the doctor after. Just try to calm down."

"Bed? Rest? Here?!" My mother scoffed and launched to her feet, punishing her wiry legs as they struggled to take her out the door. "I am not staying under the same roof as these murderers and let them put a pillow over my head while I sleep. Get my shit. I'm leaving."

"Woah, woah, woah! Mom." I hurried after her.

"Mrs. Thornbread, it would be advised that you at least eat something." The nurse gestured to her stick-thin body.

A fan breeze was all it would take to set her off flying. She'd be sore afterwards, putting that much pressure on her legs. To be fair, she should have been sore now, after holding her body in such an uncomfortable position for so long. But she was too caught up in her delusions for any of it to matter.

"Mom, that's just the stress talking. Think about it. They have helped me feed you, lived with us for a while, combed your hair, took you on walks, and you're still here, aren't you?" I stroked her lower back.

She pondered.

"No one is going to hurt you. Certainly not them. I promise you, mom. They're the sweetest men I have ever met. I didn't know men like them existed." I smiled at her.

She didn't smile back. "Listen to you. Singing their praises. Yes, I'm alive because I wasn't a bother to anyone. I kept my mouth shut. You could leave me alone and forget about me while you got up to all sorts of nastiness." She curled her lips.

My cheeks flushed and a smidgen of guilt festered. We weren't always careful and now I could die at the thought that she heard everything.

I shifted on my feet.

"But now, I will not keep my mouth shut. Not until the world knows the truth. That they're wolves in sheep's clothing, and they took my sweet Terry away." She broke down, sobbing.

Okay, now she was testing my patience. "Sweet? Sweet Terry? What are you talking about? Didn't you hear anything Ryan said?"

I couldn't believe I was defending his actions and even referencing him, but he wasn't lying. She had to know that. There was no way she could go out there spreading lies about my men, when Terry was the bastard. Why was she refusing to see that? It was one thing if she wrapped herself in her delusions to help her readjust to real life, but when her delusions threatened the life of someone else, that's when I had to take a stand.

"Terry and his accomplice kidnapped me! Mom, they could've killed me for money. How can you defend him?!"

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