Freeing Carter (9 page)

Sara nods so hard I
'
m
worried her head
might
fall off
.

Kira doesn
'
t flinch.
"
Orange it is.
"

The bell over the door rings. Mom slips around the counter.
"I'm so glad your mom came today. I'm excited to have you on board, Kira.
We
'
ll see you soon.
"

Mom walks over to help the customer and Kira with her purple hair and school girl skirt is right behind her.
"
Catch
ya
later
,
Sleepy
,"
she tosses over her shoulder and just like last time
,
she
'
s gone
,
leaving
me with the want to
catch up with her.

***

"
No! Mommy
,
Carter! Help!
"

I
'
m already scrambling out of my bed
,
tripping over a shoe in the dark before Sara can yell
again
. I tear my door open and jog down the hall to her room. Mom
'
s already there
,
rushing to Sara
'
s side.

"
Mommy! Carter!
"
she
yells again. I get a twinge in my chest
,
dropping to the floor by her bed. Mom has
Sara
pulled into her lap
,
shushing her
,
but I can
'
t help but touch her hair too
,
just so she knows I
'
m here. Even if she had her glasses on
,
her eyes are full of too many tears for her to see.

"
Hey
,
Twig. Shh
,
it
'
s okay. I
'
m here.
"

Sara's
had bad nightmares like this her whole life. We
'
re not sure why
.
T
hey take a lot out of her. She wakes up scared something
'
s after her
...
or something
'
s after
me
,
and it always takes half the night for us to calm her down.

"
Closet.
"
She grabs Mom
'
s neck tighter.

"
There
'
s nothing in there
,
Twig. You
'
re my little
sister;
no one will mess with you because they know I have your back.
"
Still
,
I
get
up
to investigate the
closet.
Sara
gets a little smile on her face
,
but has her death grip on Mom
,
who reaches for Sara
'
s glasses and puts them on her.

"
Here
,
I better grab this just in case.
"
I
grab
a purple blow-up bat
,
holding it in one hand like it
'
s a weapon
,
and then pulling the closet door open with the other.
"
See? Nothing there.
"

"
In the back.
"

With my air-bat at arm
'
s-length like I
'
m scared to get too close
,
I push the clothes around.
"
Nope
...
nothing there.
"

"
Just a bad dream
,
baby girl
,"
Mom whispers against Sara
'
s forehead.

She makes me look under the bed and behind the curtains just in case. Once my hunt for bad guys is over
,
Mom says
,
"
It
'
s late
,
Carter. Why don
'
t you go to bed? Sara
,
you want to sleep in Mommy
'
s room with me?
"

Bed sound
s
better than anything right now
.

"
No
,
no
,
no. Carter
,
Carter!
"
Sara says. I try not to groan because I really need a good night of sleep after the couple days I
'
ve had.

"
You want me to sleep with you
,
Twig?
"

I get one of her big
,
head-fall-off-her-shoulder
s
nods.

Her bed is a twin and it really sucks to try
to
share a twin bed with a little sister.
"
Scoot your butt over.
"

Mom looks up at me.
"
You can go to bed
,
Carter. We
'
ll be okay.
"

I shake my head. Mom gets up
,
bringing Sara to the bathroom while I crawl into her bed and pull a Barney blanket over myself. After they
'
re done
,
Mom tucks her into bed with me.
"
Straight to sleep
,
you two. There
'
s school tomorrow.
"
  Sounds good to me.

We
'
re quiet for a few minutes and I hope this will be a rare night
Sara
falls asleep quickly. My eyes won
'
t close though. I keep them on the door
,
seeing Mom in here with her
. This
is why
Mom
would never drink when Sara
'
s home. She
'
ll always be ready to take care of my little sister whenever she needs it
,
which is what really matters to me.

"
Story
,"
Sara whispers.

"
Can
'
t sleep?
"

Her head shakes against my shoulder. Another groan tries to crawl up my throat
,
but I push it down. I grab a few books out of the basket by her bed
,
along with
the flashlight she keeps on her table. There
'
s a nightlight
,
too
,
but it
'
s not bright enough for me to read.
"
Don
'
t tell Mom or we
'
ll get in trouble.
"
Which is a lie since Mom keeps a monitor in here
,
so I know she
'
ll hear us anyway.
Sara
tries to reply
,
but it
'
s one of her too-happy-to-speak-mumbles.

And
,
of course
,
it
'
s a Barney book
,
but I don
'
t care. I read her six of them until she finally falls asleep.

***

"
D
o you have plans after practice today?
"
Mom asks as I shovel a bite of Cookie Crunch into my mouth. Whoever the genius is who thought of turning chocolate chip cookies into cereal is my hero.

"
I don
'
t think so. What
'
s up?
"

"
I have to go see your grandfather tonight. I didn
'
t plan on it
,
but one of the nurses called me. She wants me to come in and talk to her.
"

Heat rolls over me.
"
Verbally abusing someone else
,
I
'
m sure. He doesn
'
t deserve
any favors from you
,
M
om
.
"
How much does she think she can put on her shoulders? She
'
s got enough to worry about
without having to deal with the abusive asshole
that
made her childhood hell.

"
He
’s
old and he
'
s lonely. He misses Mom. He doesn
'
t mean what he says.
"

"
His whole life? And if he cares enough to miss her
,
maybe he should have treated her better. What was his excuse when
—
"

"
Carter!
"
She holds up a hand
,
her voice shaking.
"
I don
'
t have time for this. He
'
s my
dad
. It
'
s my responsibility to take care of him. I
'
m going to need your help because I don
'
t want to leave Kira alone at the shop
when she's still learning the ropes
. I thought maybe you could go help her if she needs it.
"

It takes a couple minutes
for me to
calm down enough to think. Ignoring the fact that I really wish she
'
d tell the asshole
adios
,
my mind goes to what she asked.
T
his sounds like a terrible idea. Not that I don
'
t want to go—actually it
'
s that I
do
that makes me know I
shouldn
'
t
. First
,
Mel gets all grumpy when it comes to other girls and we
'
ve been fighting enough lately. Second
,
well
,
I kind of want to see this girl and I
'
m thinking a guy shouldn
'
t want to see another girl this much when he has a girlfriend. I have enough drama in my life already.

"
I don
'
t know
...
I should probably do some homework.
"
Actually
,
what I should do is take the
probably
out of that sentence because there
'
s no question—I
need
to do some homework. A lot of it. And I
'
m going to make myself this time
,
no matter what.

"
You can do it at the store. You
'
ve done it before. She might not even need you
,
but I don
'
t feel comfortable leaving her alone on her first day.
"

Ugh. I
'
m not feeling this
,
but it
'
s not like I
'
d ever tell her no.
"
Fine. Whatever
.
But
if I
flunk
out of high school
,
it
'
s your fault.
"

Mom stills.
"
You
'
re not really failing any of your classes
,
are you
,
Carter?
"