Mom laughed. “He likes the money he’s earning.”
I nodded. Maybe I would get a summer job too. Something to keep me occupied before I started classes in the fall. Thanks to Dr. Marshall’s help, I had taken the appropriate exit exams from high school and would be starting classes at the community college in the fall. Mom told me that Dewy High had been more than willing to help make it happen. No surprise there. I bet my meltdown in the cafeteria would be the talk of the school for years. They wouldn’t get a gripe from me. I’d had enough high school experience to last me a lifetime.
Jacob and Kevin were waiting with two pizzas when we got home. As soon as I walked in the door, Jacob stood up and slung an arm around my shoulder.
“Hey, Mia,” Kevin greeted me, standing up and giving me a hug. I blushed slightly as my arms wove around his waist. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting. Jacob told me on our last visit that Kevin had been asking about me. I figured he was just being nice, but the hug felt genuine.
“Hey, Kevin,” I returned. It had been almost three months since I’d last seen him and the feelings that had just begun to form now sprung into high gear. It was silly. He was Jacob’s friend and I was Jacob’s sister, but the look he gave me didn’t make me feel that way at all.
“Let’s eat,” Jacob said, saving me from my embarrassment.
Kevin winked at me, sending a warm feeling spreading through my body. It was good to be home.
Dinner bled into a game of cards and then Monopoly. Laughter and teasing filled the room with happiness. It all felt so very normal and right. For the first time in years, I felt in control. I was going to be okay. My family was going to be okay. We’d lived through the unthinkable and were stronger for it. My brain may have fault lines, but with Dr. Marshall’s help those fault lines were now invisible from sight.
Kevin gave me another hug before he left, which earned him a razzing from Jacob, asking for a kiss for himself. Kevin responded by giving him a sock in the arm. I climbed the steps to my room, happier than I could remember. Nothing could take this feeling away from me.
I made a beeline for the bathroom so I could brush my teeth. Peering into the mirror, I was surprised to see that my eyes were bright and shiny. They looked as happy as I felt. Practically skipping to my bedroom to dress for bed, I switched on my television for some background noise as I dressed. The weatherman giving the seven-day forecast sounded a little too enthusiastic about the record high temperatures. His chipper tone would have given Trisha a run for her money. I climbed up on my bed with the remote to find a sitcom I could watch before I went to sleep.
Before I could change the station though, a familiar face filled the screen just as I was settling against my pillows.
I sat up abruptly and scooted to the edge of my bed. I hadn’t seen Judy in almost six months, but she looked exactly as I remembered. Without giving conscious thought to it, I turned the volume up. I hadn’t realized her court case was coming up. No one had mentioned it. Between Dr. Marshall and Mom and Jacob, I had been kept inside a cocoon of protection. I understood their reasoning for shielding me, but Judy was a part of my past that will never be forgotten. Seeing her face on the screen sapped away all the contentment from the day in one gigantic rush. I picked up my pillow and hugged it against my chest as the newscaster talked about the impending case. Though I should have been expecting it, I was surprised when my picture flashed across the screen, making me flinch.
I barely recognized the girl staring back at me. The girl on the screen looked sick with her sunken-in cheeks and limp hair hanging around her face in clumps. It was her eyes though that looked most shocking. They were lifeless and dead. Those were not my eyes. My eyes were bright and shiny and happy.
They were Leah’s eyes, not mine.
“Of course they’re my eyes,” Leah said from the chair by my window.
“Leah?” I gasped, knowing it couldn’t really be her.
“Hey, Mia,” she replied, tucking a limp cluster of hair behind her ear.
I closed my eyes. “She’s not real, she’s not real,” I muttered, rubbing my eyes hard. I opened them again, relieved to find the chair empty. It was just my imagination. I scooted up on my bed and lay back against my pillows, ignoring the churning in my stomach. Part of it was sadness, which made no sense. Leah was a part of me that no longer existed, I shouldn’t be grieving her.
Sick of hearing the voices drone on from my television, I switched it off, along with my bedroom lamp. Darkness filled my room and the grief inside me slowly began to unravel. Even in the darkness though, I knew she was still there. I could feel her before the edge of my bed dipped down, her shallow breaths tickling my ear from the pillow next to me. A warm blanket of relief covered my body. She would always be there for me when I needed her the most. Why wouldn’t she be? Leah was the strong one after all. Maybe one day I would be able to let the bad memories of Judy go, but for now this was enough.
I smiled as her hand moved toward mine, linking our fingers together. “I missed you, Mia,” she whispered.
“I missed you too, Leah.”