“Okay,” I said. But it was a lie. My brain was already preparing the show reel of horrors it liked to deliver in moments of crisis. Aunt Linda was already dead. Aunt Linda was alone in the hospital, crying for Uncle Raymond with no one around. Aunt Linda’s body was under the ground with bugs burrowing under her fingernails to lay eggs.
The drive to Linda and Roy’s house went by in a hazy fog. My body drove on autopilot while my mind floated somewhere near the car ceiling, chanting “doom, doom, doom” like it was in a trance. I guess I was. In a trance.
Mom and Dad stayed in their car, and I swapped batons with Uncle Raymond. Him to the hospital. Me with the kids. Team break.
I felt super weird sleeping in Aunt Linda and Uncle Raymond’s bed, so I dug through their linen closet until I fou
