Page 11 of The Truth of Our Secrets

Once I left for school, I thought I’d never come back. And I’m proud it hasn’t swallowed me up yet. I come back for Mom, but I won’t live here again. There’s a whole world out there to see, and this place is the anchor dragging my life down. Someday, I’ll visit another country. Travel.

I’m being hard on my mom. She’s done the best she can, but it’s not enough. Not for her or me or my sister.

I search the galley kitchen for her pill container that I set up two days ago. I swear to fucking hell she hides it. Thinking the problems will go away if she can’t see them. She took one dose of meds since I was last here, which means she missed one.

After pouring a glass of water from the tap, I silently hand her the meds.

“Thank you, my sweet boy. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Mom, I have to work. I can’t be here to make sure you take these meds. If you don’t take them, you’ll wind up in the hospital again. You don’t like the hospital, do you?” I hate to threaten her, but my options are limited.

“I hate that place. They aren’t very nice and they won’t let me sleep.”

“They’re doing their job.” I sigh. This argument will get me nowhere. “But if you don’t want to go back, I need you to take your meds. I’ll video call you and watch you do it. You need to answer me or I’ll call Mrs. Smith to check on you.”

“That woman is a bitch.” She snarls and bangs her hand on the table.

“So you’ll answer my calls and take your meds?”

“Yes.” She sniffs. “But tell me more about you. You said you ran into Miss Rose. Have you seen her again?” Her eyes light up and I wish I hadn’t told her that last week. But she was hallucinating, and I wanted to bring her back to reality.

Fucking figures she would remember that fact in her state. She can’t remember things I tell her about her medication, but she remembers what I said about Miss Rose eight days ago.

“No, Ma, it was just a quick run-in. There are billions of people in the city. She’s been there for years and we haven’t run into each other. I doubt I’ll see her again.” Despite the fact I put my number in her phone and texted her.

I guess I got my hopes up that the last time she ghosted me was a fluke.

Nope.

I texted her I’d love to catch up more, but I had to leave early in the morning. For some reason, I expected her to text me back. Something. Even “Sorry, I don’t think that would be a good idea,” would be better than silence.

Silence is the biggest fuck you.

Silence means you care so little that a two-second text isn’t worth your time.

Silence means I’m nothing to her.

It shouldn’t hurt all over again, but it does.

I can’t make the same mistake again. There’s some saying about fooling me once or twice and I’m definitely a fool.

My phone buzzes with GIFs from Alec trying to convince me to do karaoke tonight. What the fuck, why not? We’ll ride together so he can’t stand me up. A night of fun is exactly what I need. I’ll smoke Alec singing. It’ll be a blast.

Chapter six

Madyson

I’m exhausted when I get in the rideshare with Jayce. He’s leaving on a scouting trip soon, and I hate it when he’s gone.

Also, convincing my new artist, Von, to do a solo show deserves a reward. He seemed bewildered, and that’s probably how I got him to agree to karaoke tonight. I can’t picture him singing, but he should get out and socialize. I should be a better hostess for him.

Alec hasn’t texted me back, and it’s killing me. My effort to help Alec blew up our friendship. I wanted to relieve his guilt from the past so he could move on and find love. Instead, he had a massive panic attack and is currently avoiding me. I’m desperate to make up for my mistake.

Dragging him to karaoke seemed reasonable when I came up with the idea.

Jayce’s expression changes when he realizes we’re stopping on the way to Pink Titanium.

“I’ll run in and get Alec. You can stay in the car.” I jump out and hurry into Unframed Art.

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