Chapter 24: Fifth Street

The house on Fifth Street was narrow and brick, with a front door I had painted yellow myself.

I had signed the lease in January, under the name Millicent Lang, in my own handwriting and my own voice.

By May the kitchen smelled of onions and burnt flour, and my mother was losing a fight with the gravy.

"It was fine a minute ago," she said.

"You turned the heat up."

"I run an emergency room."

"You run it. You don't cook in it."

She pointed the spoon at me and then, to my surprise, laughed, and went on stirring.

Heidi sat on the counter in her resident's badge, eating the rolls before they reached the table.

"I'm in the middle of a thirty-hour shift," she said, with her mouth full. "This is medical necessity."

Her dented hatchback was parked outside.

It had been parked outside every Sunday since January.

There were six chairs around the table, and I had counted them twice that morning.

Through the front window I saw a truck pull up at the curb.

My brother got out of the driver's side first, in his work jacket.

He walked around the back and took a canvas duffel from the bed, and then he stood on the sidewalk and didn't move.

The passenger door opened.

Seth stepped down onto Fifth Street.

He was thinner.

Keep reading free with an account. Start The Day My Family Left Me to Die from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.