Page 18 of Yolo

“Asshole,” I grumbled.

I dialed in my mom’s number, and she answered on her first ring.

“You’re early today,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m fine, Mom,” I said to her as I made my way through the apartment. “It’s a learning curve, but I’m fine.”

“Have you looked into that app?” Mom asked.

I sighed. “Yes. I have. I downloaded it. Well, I got the guy at the phone store to download it for me. He also taught me how to use the phone. It’s pretty cool and has a lot of features that I never knew that iPhone had for blind people.”

“Cool,” Mom said excitedly. “You know you can always call me if you need help, right?”

“I know, Mom,” I said softly. “I love you, you know that, right?”

“I know,” she said. “I just wish that you would let us help more.”

“It’s a given that you would help me,” I said. “But this is my life now, Mom. You have to let me start to navigate it without you.”

She sighed. “What are you going to do there?”

I hadn’t thought that far ahead.

“I guess start looking for jobs where I can use my languages, since I can’t very well go apply for a paramedic job.” I sighed.

“You could probably do something with it. Teach,” she suggested.

I doubted it.

“I’ll start searching online,” she said. “Send you anything that I find.”

“Thanks,” I hesitated with what I had to tell her next but then decided to just rip the Band-Aid off and get it over with. “Joseph came by for his check.”

She inhaled sharply. “You told him you would send it to him via mail.”

“I know,” I grumbled.

She’d been part of the group text with him.

I didn’t respond to anything without having my mom or dad in the text thread with me, just in case.

“Did he leave?”

“Yeah,” I confirmed.

“Good,” she grumbled darkly. “I hate him.”

“You and me both,” I sighed.

My phone beeped, indicating an incoming call. “Gotta go, Mom. Love you.”

Luckily, the other call wasn’t important, and I was able to hang up relatively quickly.

I sat down on my couch, then pulled my computer into my lap. “Let’s do this.”

It was later that night when I felt around on my bed and didn’t find my stuffed animal.

I knew, without a doubt, that my stuffed animal was gone because Joseph had done something with it.

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