Mind Games

“I’m not sick, not the way you mean.” And now, she thought, just like for her, for Thea, there would always be a before and after. “My darling, your mama and daddy, they got hurt.”

“They got in an accident? Are they okay? They’re okay, right?”

His eyes begged her to say yes, yes, of course. And Lucy couldn’t find the words.

“It wasn’t an accident. It’s best saying it fast, Grammie. Somebody broke into the house and killed them. He killed them.”

“Don’t you say that.” The pleading went straight to fury as he tried to yank his hands free. “That’s mean. That’s a lie. You—you’re a lying bitch!”

Thea didn’t flinch, just kept her eyes on his face.

“It’s not a lie,” Lucy said, as gently as she could. “I hate telling you it’s truth. Thea’s hurting. I’m hurting, and I’m sorry that hurt’s in you now.”

“It’s not true!” He wailed it as tears popped out of his eyes. “They’re coming to take us home in a week. And later we’re all going to the beach.”

Saying nothing, Lucy got up. She lifted him out of the chair, and though he struggled at first, she sat with him in her lap. Rocked him as she had as a baby.

“It’s not true, Grammie.”

When he began to sob, Thea got up. She wrapped her arms around both of them and let her own tears come.

“I’m going to call them. I’m going to call them on the phone.”

“They’re not there, darling. They’re gone.”

“How do you know for sure? Did you call? Did you call them?”

“I saw it. I saw him.” Thea swiped away tears with the back of her arm. “I saw it all.”

“You’re not supposed to do that!” Outraged and desperate, Rem shoved at her. “Mom doesn’t like it.”

“I didn’t want to. I couldn’t help it.”

“That doesn’t make it true.”

“Rem. Rem.” Lucy shifted, took his face firmly in her hands. His angry, tear-streaked, terrified face. “I saw, too. We called the police, and what we saw is true. I’d give my life, I swear to you, if it wasn’t.”

“But why! They didn’t hurt anybody.”

“He hated them.” Thea sat again, gripped her hands tight together. “He didn’t know them, but he hated them anyway. He wanted Mom’s anniversary watch and money and her earrings, and Dad’s car. He just wanted things, but more than the things, he wanted to hurt them. Just because they had them.”

“Did the police find him and put him in jail?”

“Sheriff McKinnon will tell us as soon as they do.”

Now, through the tears, he stared at his sister. “Are they going to? Are they?”

“I don’t—”

“Don’t say you don’t know!” His fury slapped at her like angry hands. “If you can see stuff like a freak, why can’t you see that?”

As Thea laid her head on the table, weeping again, Lucy looked into her grandson’s eyes. She said nothing but his name.

“I’m sorry.” He slid off Lucy’s lap. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it.” With more tears, he sat on the floor and hugged Thea’s legs. “I didn’t mean it. I swear. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

When Thea got down on the floor with him, when they held each other, cried on each other’s shoulders, Lucy got up. She fetched the milk and eggs Will, in his kindness, had left on the back porch.

He’d fed the dogs, too, given them fresh water, she noted. Bless him.