Once they were gone, I walked to room 312. I reached for the door handle.
“Excuse me, ma’am.”
I turned. A nurse was standing behind me.
“Are you family?”
“I… yes. I’m his…”
“His what?”
Once they were gone, I walked to room 312.
I hesitated. “I don’t know who’s in there.”
The nurse frowned. “Then you can’t go in. Privacy regulations.”
“Please. My daughter was just in there. I need to know who…”
“I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
She walked away, leaving me standing in the hallway alone.
“I don’t know who’s in there.”
***
When I got home, Ryan and Avery were already there. Ryan was setting out pizza boxes on the counter.
“Hey! Where’d you go?” he asked casually.
“Just the store,” I lied. I didn’t confront them or mention the call from Avery’s school. “Get anything good?”
“No. Just looked around.”
Avery wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Get anything good?”
That night, I couldn’t sleep. I kept replaying everything in my head.
The whispered conversation.
The hospital. The flowers.
Avery’s red eyes. The school calling about absences.
Something was happening. Something big.
And my family was hiding it from me.
Something was happening. Something big.
***
The following day, Ryan made another excuse.
“I’m taking Avery to the library. She needs to work on that science project.”
I nodded. “Okay. Have fun.”
As soon as they left, I grabbed my keys again. This time, I wasn’t going to hide.
I wasn’t going to wait in the hallway. I was going to find out the truth.
I wasn’t going to hide
