They Gave My Sister My Room, Now They've Lost Everything novel · Chapter 15 of 24

Chapter 15: The Discharge Sheet

Franco texted again at four.

He said Dad had come to the job site in the truck and stood at the edge of the slab, waving a paper.

He said he had walked over, in front of the whole crew, and told Dad he would not sign anything else without a lawyer.

He said the foreman had handed him a Gatorade and said nothing.

Then he said: I'm okay. Don't call. He's watching my phone.

I read it three times on the floor of my real room.

It was a double on the third floor, with a roommate who would not arrive until Wednesday, and a window onto the same brick wall and the same one tree.

Luca had put the key in my hand that afternoon and said, "Yours. Nobody can take it off the app, because there isn't an app."

I had laughed until I had to sit down.

At seven he knocked with two paper bags.

"Eggs," I said, taking one.

"Eggplant parm from the place on a hundred and fifth. I checked every label myself. I asked the guy twice."

We ate on the floor with our backs against the bed.

He had changed out of the lanyard and the rolled sleeves, and he looked younger without them.

I kept looking at his hands.

"You're staring at me," he said.

"I'm thinking."

"About what?"

"About a form."

I had not meant to say it.

He put down his fork.

"Which form?"

"The ER discharge sheet. It was in the folder you carried to the aid office, in the plastic sleeve."

"Elena."

"You read it."

"The aid officer told me to check it was all in there," he said. "I checked."

"What did it say?"

He looked at the carpet.

"It said the reaction was severe. It said you were close to needing an auto-injector, and you should have had one since you were a kid. The doctor had written it in capital letters. Twice."

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