Chapter 24: Two Flights

I woke up on the third floor with my left hand in a cast and Cal's arm across my ribs.

The sun was already through the curtains.

The bed had a new slat in it. Dad had put it in himself, on Saturday, without a word.

Downstairs, I could hear plates and voices and the radio.

I lay there for a minute, listening to my family make breakfast without me.

Then I slid out from under Cal's arm and went to the top of the stairs.

For six weeks he had slept on a cot across my door.

The cot was folded against the wall now.

I put my right hand in my pocket, so I wouldn't use the rail.

I went down the first flight on the balls of my feet.

At the landing, I did not stop to take my rest.

I went down the second flight into a hall that smelled of coffee and toast.

Then I walked into the kitchen on my own two feet.

Everyone was at the table.

Dev had the Hush poster flat in front of him, pinned down with a butter dish.

Finn had his notebook open and a stack of fives beside it.

Dad sat at the head, with a brown envelope under his hand.

All three of them looked up.

"She's down," Finn said. "Nobody touched her. Nobody carried her. I want it noted."

"It's noted," said Dev.

"I'm writing it in ink."

"Good morning," I said.

There was a bottle of water in the middle of the table, still sealed.

Nobody had put it there on purpose.