Chapter 13June 27th
I didn’t start crying until my dad burst through the curtain, his black hair standing up on one side and his eyes wild with fear. He saw me, and his tense shoulders dropped with instant relief. “Oh, kitten,” he breathed. And that’s when the dam broke.
“Daddy,” I said like I hadn’t since I was a small child, reaching for him as my eyes welled up with tears. “Daddy.”
He was at my side in an instant, pulling me into one of those strange sideways-hugs that you can almost manage on a hospital bed. I clawed at him, my nails catching in his wool sweater, the ugly one that Mom and I couldn’t convince him to give to charity. And then I cried so hard my throat burned and my eyes stung, my tears acidic from grief and horror. He might have said something soothing, but all I hear
