Page 87 of Say You'll Stay

Lucy is fourteen when she’s bitten by a rotter in the woods.

Ran after one of the horses after they spooked on a windy day and broke through the flimsy fencing surrounding their paddock straight into the tree line. At this point, they trust her to be with the horses by herself, but never expected that spotted mare to blow right through the three board panels or for Lucy to chase her without a second thought.

She comes up the driveway leading the horse in one hand, tears streaming down her face, sobbing that she’d been bit and showing them a jagged, bloody wound on her forearm.

“Do you have to cut it off now?” she cries. “Oh my god. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone after her. I didn’t think…I just saw her heading for that ravine and I couldn’t let her fall in. I didn’t see the rotter. Am I gonna die now? Momma, what do I do? I don’t wanna die.”

“It’s okay,” Cole says calmly, walking her inside to wash the bite out at the sink. “You’re gonna be alright. Not losing the arm. Not dying.”

“What? Dad, what? Why are you taking so long to cut it off? It could already be spreading!” She holds out her arm, on the verge of hyperventilating.

Olivia sends him a look. The two of them are caught ina spot they knew would arrive eventually, but still aren’t prepared to handle. Her pulse already races with all the what-ifs that come with seeing someone she loves bit and how easily it could have been worse.

They’ve always been good at communicating without words and right now that skill comes in handy when Olivia easily translates his slight tip of the head. They have to tell her the truth. There’s no avoiding it anymore.

“The bite won’t kill you,” Olivia says gently. “I know what we said, but it’s more complicated than that.”

Lucy pulls back, one hand gripping her arm while betrayal and confusion flash in her eyes. “I don’t understand.”

“You have a resistance to the virus. You can fight it off. The rotters can still hurt you, though. That isn’t something that’ll ever change.”

“How? You lied to me?” she whispers sadly. “You both did? Why?”

“We were always going to tell you.” Olivia frowns. “We just needed to wait until you were old enough to understand and take it seriously. This is dangerous information.”

“Dangerous like the bite? Because that’s not so dangerous anymore.”

“We were trying to protect you,” Cole picks up. “If other people find out, they could hurt you. Can’t trust anyone out there and news travels.”

“Can’t trust anyone in here, either. I can’t believe you did this. All this time I thought one bite, and that’s it. How could you?” She glares at Cole through her tears as if she’d never seen him before. “I hate you.”

The room goes silent. Lucy stares at him like she can’t believe what came out of her own mouth, and Cole staresback like he’d been slapped across the face.

“Hey!” Olivia scolds, watching her daughter flee up the steps to her room. “Don’t talk to your father like that. Get back down here. Lucy!”

She’s already gone, the door slamming shut behind her.

“She doesn’t mean it.” Olivia watches him struggle not to break down right here in the kitchen.

“It’s okay. She’s a teenager now. They do that. I said a lot worse when I was her age. Gonna go finish the wood out back. Got a stack left.”

“Cole…”

“I’m fine. It’s fine.”

It is not fine. He’s as crushed as she’s ever seen him and in this moment she’s angry at her daughter for hurting someone who loves her without question, but then she remembers that Lucy is up in her room crying, thinking herself betrayed by her own parents and Olivia is pretty sure her heart might split in both directions.

She has to fix this somehow. Wipes the tears off her face and climbs the steps, finding Lucy curled up on the bed with red-rimmed eyes, holding her arm tight while it bleeds through the makeshift bandage.

“I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner. We were afraid,” Olivia admits, quietly taking up a spot on the bed. “We almost lost you once when someone found out.”

Lucy sniffles, sitting up straight. “You did?”

“Mhmm. You were only a few weeks old, and they wanted to use your blood for a cure. Stole you right out of my arms, and dragged your dad out of the room kicking and screaming. We don’t know exactly how it works. Why you’re resistant to the virus, just that you won’t turn. That’s both amazing anddangerous because the outside world would stop at nothing to use you. We got you back once, but we don’t want to test it a second time.”

“Wouldn’t it be a good thing if I can help people?”

“Maybe. But we aren’t willing to risk your life to find out. Never have been. All we’ve tried to do is keep you safe. Should have told you sooner but…the bite may not kill you, but the rotters still can. Other people still can. Wanted to wait until you understood you aren’t invincible.”

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