Page 137 of The Vanishing Place
Then he sprinted from the room.
—
The waiting room in the medical center smelled like soap and plasters.
Adam gripped the squeaky white cup that the nurse had given him. The liquid inside was purple, Ribena maybe, but he hadn’t touched it. He’d wanted to ask the nurse what it was, but she had run off. There was only one nurse and one doctor in the clean-smelling building, and both of them were in the room with his sister. Cameron was in there too.
Not a place for kids.
The waiting room was empty, apart from a reception lady with loose skin and hair on her face. Adam had looked at her once, but he wasn’t going to make that mistake again. The doctor’s door was closed, but Adam could still hear his sister moaning. He curled his legs to his chest and squeezed his shins. Dinah had never screamed like that before. It was a bad sound, and Adam wanted it to stop.
What if Dinah died? What if Dad locked Adam up as punishment?
He held his hands over his ears, dropping the cup and spilling the purple liquid across the floor, but the animal sounds still snuck through. He hummed and rocked back and forth. Dinah wasn’t meant to make those noises.
Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.
He bit into his tongue, the blades of his teeth sinking into the squishy flesh.
He had to do something.
—
“You can come in now, Adam.” The nurse was smiling. “Mum and baby are well.”
“The baby got out?” he said.
“Yes.” She took his hand. “The baby got out.”
Adam hesitated. “Is there a big hole in Dinah?” He shook his head. “I don’t want to see the hole.”
“No hole. Your sister looks just like your sister. She just needs to rest for a while.”
“Okay,” he muttered.
He followed the nurse in. Dinah was sitting in the bed, and Cameron was next to her. They were both grinning, lips stretched wide, staring at a tiny creature.
“Come on, Uncle Adam.” Dinah looked up and smiled at him. “Come say hello.”
Adam shuffled over to the bed and peered into the bundle of blankets. The thing wrapped up inside was super small and ugly.
“We’ll leave you in peace,” said the doctor as he walked toward the door. “Congratulations.”
The thing didn’t look right. It was purple and covered in white goop. Like an alien. And its eyes were all smooshed up.
“What’s wrong with its head?” Adam frowned. “It’s all squashed.”
“Nothing, mate.” Cameron patted Adam’s back. “It’s just a baby.”
“Babies are kind of ugly.”
Dinah squeezed Adam’s hand. “You can touch her,” she said.
He shook his head. No way was he touching it. He kept shaking his head as he reached out and pushed his finger against the baby’s tiny palm. The baby moved as Adam’s white skin touched purple, and a warmth filled him up. Then the baby twitched its little hand, squeezing his finger, and Adam smiled.
Maybe it wasn’t super ugly.
“She loves you already,” said Dinah.
