Page 94 of The Gathered Fragments of Us
Me:Just got a call from Jessica.
David:What do you mean? Like she's out? I would have been told if they released her.
Me:No, sorry—it was from her at the correctional facility. It was weird, I thought that calls in from jail came in collect, but it just asked if I wanted to accept or hang up.
David:Mass passed a rule a few years back that people who are incarcerated should be able to call family without charges. Helps them keep relationships with family. Still all recorded though. Did you answer?
Me:Hell no. Was I supposed to? I don’t feel like we owe her a conversation.
David:Totally up to you. Since I'm sure you are concerned about Macy's emotional wellbeing and have pending charges against her for the theft and child endangerment, I think avoiding conversations is wise. Probably a good idea to let the detective know.
Me:Okay good. Will do. It's a good idea.
The smell of burning hit my senses. "Shit!" I ran over to the stove and started scraping the remnants of what could have been breakfast, off the griddle.
As soon as I had everything cleaned up, I heard, "I'm baaaaaaaaack!"
I walked toward the front of the house and found Macy dragging an overstuffed duffel bag across the threshold. Her hair was piled in a messy ponytail, her whole face and shoulders were bright red and pink from whatever adventures she'd had with her cousins. Mom followed behind, carrying what looked like enough leftover food to feed us for a week.
"Hey, kiddo." I wrapped her in a hug, gently though, looking at my mom I said, "I see we had some beach time."
My mom responded, "don't look at me! I swear I covered her in sunblock!"
"Really," I responded doubtfully.
"Really! I swear. I had a bottle in the car from the last time we went down."
"Okay," I laughed. "Well, I'm guessing it went bad sitting in the hot car for like the last month, and it's probably even expired."
My mom's response told me everything I needed to know, "oh come on, that's not a thing."
I smirked, dropping, and shaking my head, "um, yeah ma, it's a thing." My poor kid—note to self, stick sunscreen in Macy's bag whenever she goes with mom.
"Can I use some of Felicity's cream?" Macy asked.
"Of course you can, honey," that came from Felicity as she walked into the room, appearing in one of my old college t-shirts and jeans, hair still damp from her shower. The sight of her still made my heart skip and breath catch, especially after yesterday's breakthrough for us.
"Ohhhh, that looks like it hurts!"
"Yeah, it's a little hot, but not too bad," responded Macy. Look what happens when I push on it! At that, Macy made finger spots on her shoulder so we could all see the white left behind in the indentation of her fingers. Just before her skin pinked back up right away.
Felicity shook her head and held her arm out for Macy to walk into it, "come on, love. Let's go upstairs and I'll see what I can do. You're going to have quite a lot of skin peeling soon enough.Maybe we can save you from too bad of a peel, but I'm not really sure."
As Macy and Felicity disappeared, I turned to my mom, "other than her sun exposure and future state of freckle constellations, how did everything go? I know you mentioned last night that she was having a good time with the cousins. Anything else?"
My mom sighed as we walked into the kitchen. "She seems completely unwilling to talk about her mom and everything that happened. I swear Caden, if I could slap that woman for what she did, I would. I'm just so angry with Jessica and I'm pissed on behalf of Macy."
I looked at my mom, understanding her frustration. "What do you mean she won't talk about it?"
"Okay, well—she's not completely silent, but when Angie asked her why she was living with you full-time now, she just said 'some stuff happened but I don’t think it's forever—just til my mom gets better.' That was it. Changed the subject immediately." Mom set the containers of food on the counter and turned to face me fully. "Caden, that child is processing something huge, and she's doing it all internally."
My God. She doesn't think it's forever with us. My stomach plummets. I need to talk to Felicity. Get her thoughts. I remember something Dr. Chen mentioned too though. "Her therapist said that this is normal. Something about how kids can often compartmentalize trauma. That they want to maintain some sense of normalcy." I ran my hand down my face. "We have another appointment with her this week."
"Good. Because I'm telling you—there were moments this weekend where my little grandbaby was like her old self, laughing and playing with everyone—giving us a run for ourmoney. But then she'd get this look, like she was somewhere else entirely. She'd stare off into space and then just disappear. Gladys and I were just brought to tears about it."
Before I could respond, my phone buzzed again. Same unknown number. My stomach dropped.
"Shit, that's probably her."
