Page 108 of I Can't Even Think Straight

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In the doorway,

I explain my lie

and Mum listens,

her face blank,

as if her emotions

are still loading.

“I don’t deserve this,” she says.

Her voice and face break.

Nostrils flare, lips twitch, eyes well up.

“I don’t deserve to be lied to.

Not by you.

I’m on your side, Malachi.

I was ready to go to war for you.”

“I know,” I say. “I’m sorry.”

I wait but Mum doesn’t respond.

“Do you forgive me?” I ask,

fearful and uncertain

of what Mum thinks of me.

She doesn’t answer

with words. She flings

her arms around me.

Squeezes me tight.

Wednesday: The Truth Will Set You Free—Before School

Matt laughs to himself

as he approaches me before school

at the gates of our weekday prison.

“There’s the boy who almost cried wolf!”

I shake my head at him.

We walk through the gates and out of earshot

of our prison-guard teachers

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