Chapter 17

I roll my eyes as Evie pushes a plate towards me with Lisa and Queen Alice standing behind her.

“Danny, you haven’t eaten all week. I only let it go because you said you had a stomach virus, but our nurse confirmed you lied.” I sigh and push it away. “You have to eat something. For your health.”

“I’m not hungry,” I say.

“You’ve been saying that the past week, Daniel Alexander,” Lisa says. Cringing at my full first and middle name, I gulp down a bottle of water and crush the empty bottle with an angelic smile.

They think I’m starving because of the pressure of the competition, but that’s not the case. The competition is easy. You do your schoolwork, practice the talent you’re nominated for, follow the rules, don’t murder the paparazzi, and you’re good. My reasoning isn’t exactly rocket science. I’m stressed about what Jack could do to the ones I love to the point of puking if I eat anything, and I’ve tried.Late last night, I grabbed an apple, took a few bites, and puked ten minutes later. I refuse to throw up in front of three girls. This has been happening for a week.

When I first realize how stressed out I was, it was the day after the palace party. I was eating lunch and threw up. From that point, my stomach always gave me the hint that if I eat anything, we’re puking up everything that’s somewhat solid. So I stopped eating for a few days and attempted it again last night. Didn’t end too well. Not that I intend to starve myself this time, but I think we had it right years ago where if you didn’t eat, you went to bed hungry.

I cross my arms. “I really can’t eat, guys, and it’s not because of the contest. That’s the easiest thing I’ve endured this year.”

“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Evie says, referring to me speaking for once this week. I’ve barely left my room to avoid people trying to talk to me. This is the first time I’ve had coffee in three days. Needless to say, my head’s pounding. I’ve lost four days of schooling and practice. That’s when Evie had to contact the Queen and Lisa for assistance. Lisa’s very first assumption was that I was under stressed from the talent contest and that it’s causing me to go back to old habits.

Part of me desperately wants to tell Lisa, Evie, and Queen Alice of Jack’s speech and threats to the ones I care about, but I could put them in danger. Jack doesn’t play around. If he threatens someone, they’re pretty much dead unless they do as he wishes, but I refuse to murder of innocent children for “salvation”, as they like to word it. They can call it whatever they want, “Purifying”, “salvation”. Whatever. It’s wrong and everyone knows it. Whether they’re willing to accept it or not is a different story.

“Child, what has you so stressed that you’re not eating and barely leave your room?” Queen Alice asks “Whatever is troubling you, I assure you, it will be solved and fixed.”

“With all due respect, Your Majesty, you can’t fix everything. Sometimes I just… stress and break like glass and there’s no fixing that,” I say. You can’t just fix me like a broken bicycle.”

Evie glances at Lisa and then back at me.

“I have a daughter and she breaks, so I understand how you feel. As a queen, I recognize that under my husband and I’s rulership, it is our responsibility to make sure the kingdoms are safe, but as a mother, I’ll let this kingdom burn to ashes before I let my daughters hurt themselves and not tell me why they feel like this. This applies to you too, Daniel.”

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty?” I ask.

“Don’t think just because you’re not my child that I don’t care about you. I’ll destroy this kingdom myself if it means you, Sydney, and Riley are okay. And of course, I care about your fellow contestants, but your health and safety along with those of my daughters are my priority, and the king feels the same way. After what you’ve done for Riley, we owe you big time.”

I sigh softly. “With all due respect, Your Majesty… That’s insane!”

Lisa and Queen Alice go back to the question, but Lisa is the one to ask it. “What’s the matter, baby? You have to talk to us or we can’t help you.”

I’m on the brink of crying and I won’t be able to control it I have to get away from them before I completely break down and they think I’m crazy.

“I don’t need your help!” I snap, shouting louder than I had intended, and take off running to my room. The door slams behind me. My body plops on my bed. Tears leak from my eyes to my pillow, turning it damp.

After crying myself empty, I lay on my bed numb until Evie knocks on my door, starting my tear cycle back up again. Hearing my cries, she opens the door and stares at me in shock and concern. I tell her to go away. Three times actually. Instead of leaving me alone, she closes the door, sits next to me and pats my back, playing with my hair with her other hand, trying to soothe me, and whispers that I’ll be okay. All I can do is cry. Why not? She’s already looking dead at me and knows I’m crying like a baby. Might as well accept it.

By now, It’s long past lunch. I had been crying and laying down feeling numb for four hours. That’s a long time to cry and sit around, not doing anything. I’m pretty sure it’s at least six or seven. Evie might have already started dinner and her plan to make me eat something. I wonder what tactic she’ll use this time. Bringing the queen into the picture didn’t turn out like she hoped, did it?

I spend the next thirty minutes laying in the spot I’m in, emotionless. Evie attempts to get me to open up. “How was your birthday?” Evie asks. I sit up and stare at her, my tear stained cheeks. “I didn’t realize it was your birthday until Lisa said you were acting funny the night after your birthday, the palace party.”

My birthday. It started off good. Everyone was nice to me. Blake and Lisa called me and talked to me for hours. Caleb too. I felt loved. Until Jack ruined it. After that point, everything pretty much wentdownhill.

“It was okay,” I lie.

“And you’re fifteen, right?” I nod. “That’s awesome. Marybeth will be sixteen the night they announce the winners.”

Odd. “So I turned fifteen at the king’s palace party and she turns sixteen on award night?”

She nods. “It’s why she gets a lot of hate.”

“For what?” I ask. Now I’m just curious.

“Other contestants and the public believe because it’s her birthday, she’ll get an award as a gift just because she was born on the night of the Talent Hall Award show fifteen years ago. They’ve never done it before, and I’ve known Marybeth for a while. She was in the show last year too, and I hate that this is happening to her. She’s very sweet.”

This is weird. Since I’ve been here, all I’ve seen is the fun loving side of contestants who always get along and adore each other. Hearing Marybeth gets bullied by contestants surprises me. On a different note, it proves that this school isn’t as perfect as everyone says it is.

“That’s… different.”

“Not our dancers, if that’s what you’re thinking,” she says. “Other talents. The singers. A few cheerleaders. Not all, but a few ignorant ones.” I guess she knows I stereotype cheerleaders as evil or cruel. “It’s everywhere. A few yars ago, Queen Alice told the world that no matter what happens, contestants with the same talent will always stick together, even if they can’t stand each other, and failure to do so resulted in punishment. Not cruel punishment, but they made sure it won’t happen again. The contestants the year of that statement took that as an okay to bully other talents together. That’s not how it’s supposed to be, but it’s how it is now.”

“That’s horrible,” I say. “Have the king and queen ever taken action?”

“Only if it got out of control. See, there’s this big principle in both United Kingdom and America regarding freedom of speech. If they just said words, they wouldn’t take action, but offered support and warned the bullies to watch it. If someone got hurt or died, then the bullies were kicked out, and freedom of speech wouldn’t stop that because a human being died. It doesn’t get out of control often, and Marybeth is almost never alone. She always has her friends and Liam, especially when out in public. Trying to convince Liam not to kill someone for bullying Marybeth is a challenge.”

“You knew him last year too?”

“I had both of them last year.” She pauses for a moment and then continues with a question. The question I’ve been dreading all day. “How are you feeling?”

That immediately reminds me of earlier and how I acted. Loud and obnoxious. God, how am I going to take that back? Not only did I shout and cause a scene at and in front of Evie, but Lisa, And the queen of four freaking nations? I’m lucky she’s not bloodthirsty or I’d be as dead as like Winston, and he’s pretty dead now.

I facepalm myself and sigh. “Look, I’m really sorry about how I acted earlier. Really, it was uncalled for, and I really wish I could take it back.”

She chuckles and helps me stand up. “Danny, you’re talking to someone who deals with nine other kids, half of them being as dramatic as the accusers of the Salem Witch Trials. You didn’t hurt me, honey, and Queen Alice has two daughters of her own, a crazy husband, four kingdoms, and plenty of criminals who hate her. She wasn’t offended, and like she said, her daughter breaks too, so she understands your outburst. We just wanted you to tell us what had you so stressed out that you’re not eating.”

“When I do eat, I end up puking ten minutes later. It got to the point where I couldn’t take it, and now, I know that if I eat,and it’s coming up, and puking scares the daylights out of me.”

“Do you feel like you’ll puke today?”

“I did earlier when you were trying to force me to eat.”

“I have something that might help you eat without puking from stress. But you have to be willing to try.”

I nod. “But first, I need to apologize to my aunt and Her Majesty.”

She holds my hand and pulls me out of my comfort zone and to the kitchen with Marybeth, Emily, and Liam arguing over a chocolate bar. I smile and eye Evie in amusement.

“This is one of the many things I deal with on a regular basis, Danny.” The three of them stop and straighten up, chuckling nervously about getting caught. “If I can deal this every single day, you’re really not a problem like you think you are.”

“You make it seem like you have kids all the time,” Liam says. “You only have us for a month. No, not even a month. More like sixteen days. Besides, you love us.”

“Don’t push your luck,” Evie says and then messes around in the cabinets. “What do we want for dinner, guys?”

Soon enough everyone agrees on steak with veggies and ice cream. Evie tries to object, using my eating style as an excuse until I say I’ll eat some veggies if she makes them. That shuts her up and gets her to go with everyone’s demands, but she still grabs me some crackers because I could faint at any given time. Marybeth snatches the chocolate bar and takes off running with Liam and Emily behind her, shouting about how she’s mean.

With fear in my throat and a knots in my stomach, I eat a cracker slowly. Evie hands me a something in a small glass. At first I hesitate, but she explains it’s medicine to help me keep my food down. No longer hesitating, I drink the blue liquid. The medicine is definitely working. At least for now.

Evie pats my head and stands by the stove. “Guess I better start dinner. Did you still want to go to the palace to see the queen?”

“If I may.”

“Of course. Take the crackers with you, and your dagger.”

The queen is dressed in a long, black party gown and her crown tilted on her head. One of her maids fix her dress and show her how beautiful she looks. She steps off the altar and hugs her maid. As she pulls away, Queen Alice and her maid meet my eyes and both smile before they thank and dismiss the guard and asks the maid to them us a minute. She zealously obeys and vanishes, closing the door behind her.

“Is everything okay, Danny?”

I smile. “I just came to tell you I’m really sorry about the way I acted earlier today. It was unnecessary and uncalled for, Your Majesty.”

She giggles, twirls in her dress, and pinches my cheek. “You’re so adorable. You thinka queen of a mess of four kingdoms, mother of two daughter with demons of their own, wife of an abnormal husband, and co manager of over four hundred servants, assistants, and maids who need serious therapy is hurt by a fit of anger? Nothing you could possibly say would hurt me, sweetheart. But thank you for your generous apology, Danny. How are you feeling now?”

“Well, I cried for a few hours. Evie gave me some crackers and I was able to keep them down. I couldn’t eat because I kept puking. My food wouldn’t stay down.”

“Why didn’t you tell Evie? She’s very good with sick children.”

I think back to the night all the stress started. Kayiah, Jack, and in the garden with my dagger as my only defense against a monster like himself. The beautiful flowers, sun, and terror in my throat. The terror that remained with me for an entire week.

“The night of palace party, Kayiah Ross and I were observing your beautiful garden, and my dad appeared out of what seemed to be nowhere and things could have been worse, but I prefer him not having any contact with me or my family. He threatened to harm my family if I didn’t chose him over them. He gave me a choice. To stay and suffer consequences with my family or to join him and his… people.”

“What does that mean, Danny? Do I need to be worried or have guard posted outside your door in Miss Evie’s mansion?”

“Like it would work,” I sigh. “He’s a member of The Elimination.”

A guard enters and drops into a bow, telling us of a meeting the king has called, requesting her and me, but the guard doesn’t recognize I’m already here.

“Thank you. We’ll be there shortly. Actually, you can escort Danny there now, and I will be there in a moment.”

His eyes widen as he stares at me and then he nods his head and bows. “Yes, My Queen. Come, child.”

The meeting room isn’t what I expected. True, it belongs to the king and queen, but something just told me it would be a little modest. I was wrong. The meeting room consists of a round, black table with a chandelierhanging from the ceiling. Portraits of the king and queen with their thrones, and Princess Sydney hang on the walls along with jewels, and vows to govern the kingdoms with mercy and kindness. The king smiles and thanks the guard for escorting me and asks about his wife.

“She said she’ll be down in a moment, Your Majesty,” he says. “And asks that I escort Daniel down.”

“Thank you. Your shift is over now.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” he says and exits the meeting room. I always knew servants had shifts and schedules, but hearing the king dismiss him for the rest of the evening sounds weird.

King Henry invites me to sit and snaps his fingers. A female servant places bowls of fruit on the table. Not long after, Princess Sydney, Riley, and Queen Alice step in and close the door behind them. Riley squeezes her arms around my waist and smiles. King Henry invites us all to sit and tells the maid she isn’t needed for now. As soon as she leaves, the meeting starts.

“Now I’ve called you guys here because we have some things to discuss about The Elimination, but first, Danny. Let’s talk about you. What’s going on in your life that’s stressing you out?”

Way to put me on the spot.

“The Elimination, Your Majesty,” I say. And then I explain the situation.

After a moment of silence, Princess Sydney clears her throat. “Did you have your dagger on you?” I nod. “I don’t know if you noticed, but we had to imprison some of the kids sent by The Elimination because the angst they carry is out of control, and the rest of the kingdom deserve to be safe. What we believe is happening to them is cruel. See, for a few days, they relaxed a little bit, and then yesterday morning, they went ballistic. If you saw your father and he’s with The Elimination, then surely, the other kids know this too.”

King Henry slides the bowl of fruit over to me. I accept an apple.

“Can I say something?” Riley whispers. The king and queen nod and wait for Riley to express her thoughts. “I was in town yesterday, and-Don’t be mad. Please.” King Henry sighs deeply and smiles for Riley to continue. “I… had two guards with me and I was disguised. Anyways, all the kids have seen a member of The Elimination on the streets or in their dreams, and that caused them to act, like Princess Sydney said, ballistic. Because they haven’t accomplished what they were sent to do, they are standing on the brink of death, and trust me, if they told us nothing else at all, it’s that deaths will not be merciful.”

“Why didn’t he kill me then?” I ask. Riley’slight green eyes meet mine. “I mean, he does that for everyone else, why not me?”

Riley takes a drink of her ice cold water. Queen Alice grabs the remote and turns on the air conditioner from above while Princess Sydney plays with Riley’s hair, and in a way, it relaxes Riley. She’s gotten better at hiding it, but she is prone to anxiety just like I am.

“I don’t know for sure, but after being trapped with them and only them, I might have a couple of theories.”

“Which are?”

“Well, one of my favorite theories is that if they kill you, you won’t suffer. No, that I think about it, it isn’t much of a theory because that’s how they think. If you die, then your family will be fine, and you can deal with that. Hm, let’s see, it’s rare, but a theory every child share with another is something about members giving their kids a chance to become like them. If this theory is true, then you’re not the first to be the son of a member of Elimination. The difference is you are one of the first few to refuse.” She shrugs. “Not sure there it came from, but it’s a well known theory in Savadonia and it somewhat explains why he didn’t as you said, kill you then and there.” She thinks for a minute and then continues. “Jack might not have been prepared. They aren’t always prepared to kill. According to them, it takes time to plan and to prepare. Every murder is planned.”

The theories- They all connect! The man who murdered my mother. He told me one day I’ll understand. He didn’t threaten my life. He didn’t kill me. He killed the person I love the most. My mother.

Years earlier, Jack beat my mother to a pulp. That was the night she found out he had been raping me for the past two years in cruel silence. Yes, her tortured me for two years, but he made sure he didn’t kill me. He beat my Mom and that mentally killed me for sure, but physically, I was still living, although I begged Mom, myself, and even God to die. My question for him is how did he know I wouldn’t actually kill myself?

“That actually makes sense,” I say after a minute of not saying anything. “What do I do?”

“Nothing,” King Henry says. “Because you’ve missed a lot of practice and need to catch up. You don’t need to be worried about a grown man who’s messed up in the head. Take me for example. I’m not exactly normal, but my daughter doesn’t worry about it, right, Sydney?”

Princess Sydney rolls her eyes and finishes Riley’s hair, which is now braided to the one side of her head, Elsa style. “Bad example, but he’s right.”

“So you don’t worry about your father?” I ask in a delighted tone.

“Of course I do, but you don’t have to. And you shouldn’t. I shouldn’t, but he loves me, my mother, Riley, you, and the kingdom. Your father, sorry to bring this up again, but is selfish, cruel, unl-”

“He’s not my father,” I say. “And he never will be. I might be forced to call him that from time to time to describe him, but don’t believe I see him a dad for a second.

“It’s sad when a child says that,” Princess Sydney says, nodding her head. “But I do understand why you feel that way.”

To be honest, it’s not killing me to not think of Jack as my father. Sure, he made me, and was… around for the first three years, maybe two and a half of my life, but being a father is more than just being present. You have to love your child, let them know that, and I’m pretty sure harming your child over and over again for years isn’t in the parenting guide. He was a better husband to my mother for those six years than he was a father to me for those few years.

“He made me this way,” I whisper.

She gently touches my hand. “Don’t let him get to you. You’re better than him, and you’ve proven that already. We have something else that may help.”

Princess Sydney opens the second drawer of her brown desk and pulls out a black bag with a golden string attached. I stare at the bag in curiosity. She opens it and holds it closer to me so I can see it. Dust. Sparkly dust. Or glitter. King Henry decided it’s best for Princess Sydney give me what she calls her “secret weapon” and for me to take care of myself, and focus on my schoolwork and dance practice. His plan for him and his loyal subjects to is keep the kids going crazy inside a hospital with no sharp objects, policemen and nurses who can care for them and try to bring them out of their fear and psychosis. Another group of guards are on a mission to find any members of The Elimination, eighteen and over. Then if they refuse to give up their plans or even repent, it means execution for them.

“This is sleep dust. It knocks out anyone who tries to threaten you.” She rummages through the drawers again and this time, pulls out some black mini bottles clipped onto a chain, designed like a necklace. “It may look fake, but it’s worked for us in the past.”

“Let me guess… Tinkerbell gave it to you, right?” I tease.

“Well, her name was Belle and her favorite color was green, but I’m pretty sure she wasn’t a fairy. I’ve known her since infancy. She’s one of the best healers we have in England. She’s always willing to travel a long way and she gave this to my family. It was an exchange with my parents. For protection and security for her family, she would become our loyal healer and provide us with what she can and we’ve agreed to do the same, long before the deal came up.Give some of them to your family and Kayiah.” As soon as she says Kayiah’s name, I stare at her in shock. “Afterall, we want them to be protected too.” I glimpse at the necklaces and turn back to Princess Sydney. “Your crush on the host’s daughter isn’t a secret, Danny,” she chuckles. “At least not to my parents and I. We saw you guys dancing, a gleam in your eyes as you danced across the ballroom. It was adorable. I hope she makes you happy.”

Now I’m embarrassed.

I clear my throat to change the subject. “How long does this stuff work?” I ask, looking at the glittery dust glowing in the mini glass bottle.

“About an hour, which is enough time for you to call for help and get away from whoever is threatening you. And it doesn’t hurt them. So don’t beat yourself up if you accidentally blow it in someone else’s face. Now go,” Princess Sydney says with a smile. “I’m sure you need to tell your family what was going on with you.”

She’s right. They deserve to know why their beloved nephew and cousin was acting like a selfish brat. And for once, I’m confident they’ll be safe if I open my mouth.

It’s a process to get into another mansion. First and foremost important, you have to know the person. You have to go through a ten minute security check and background information test. They have to know that you are who you say you are. And if they don’t like you, they’re not forced to let you in. So if the security guard at the gate is racist, well, you’re out of luck. In my case, they end up finding the dagger in my jacket pocket, and are planning to arrest me until I tell them Princess Sydney gave it to me. They make me wait another twenty minutes until they know for sure that I’m authorized to carry a dagger with me at all times.

By the time they actually let me past the gate and inside the mansion for the parents, I had been here for thirty five minutes. The man in charge of the mansion of meets me by the stairs, shakes my hand and apologizes for all the security checks and rambles on about how The Elimination is scaring everyone into being more protective than usual. I nod shyly and ask if Lisa and Blake Ryan are around. Then he directs me to the room. On my way to the directed room on the fourth floor of the mansion, I pass Kristian’s fake parents, catching their evil glares. Well, I’m sure they aren’t literally evil, but they don’t look too happy to see me either. Especially since they have families to protect and I’m the boy who escaped death or threats delivered by a zealous slave of The Elimination.

The hallways have red carpets and the walls are adorned with chandeliers and golden candles, glass vases, and crystal statues. Each door has the last name of their contestants printed on the door. I finally come across the door with a “Ryan” sticker on it in silver with a crown above the “a” and knock on the door three times. As I wait for them to answer, a couple run down the hallway screaming at each other about laundry. Always nice to see a mansion with complete strangers isn’t stopping them from airing their dirty laundry.

Blake is the one to answer the door and the first one to pull me inside the room, hugging me once the door is closed. We hug for a minute before Lisa pulls him aside and hugs me too. I kiss her cheek and pull myself away, holding up four necklaces, sleep dust freshly inserted in the mini bottle. They stare at my in confusion.

“We need to talk.”

Lisa nods. “Yes, we do. Come in.”

Angelia sits at the table when she sees me, and hugs me, her black heels clicking against the floor as she approaches. Holly hugs my legs and blows me a kiss. I blow one back and pick Holly up, kissing her cheek. She wraps her thin arms around my neck and sighs. Blake wraps his arm around Lisa and kisses her temple.

“Are you hungry?” He cringes at his question.

“Evie already started on dinner. I ate some crackers earlier.”

“And you’ll eat it?” Lisa asks. “You have haven’t eaten in days.”

“She’s altering it. To make it vegetarian friendly. That’s what I want to talk about.”

We all sit at the table. Except for Holly. I request she beats a few levels of an updated version of game There’s no problem getting rid of her after that. Lisa places some cheese cubes and strawberries on a plate. Blake pours some ice cubes and water in a glass cup. They both slide the water and light food over slowly and hope I eat it. I take a cheese cube and start talking after I chew and swallow, holding up the necklaces once again.

“Now you’re going to think I’m crazy, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else this.”They nod in agreement to their promise and for me to continue. “These are necklaces filled with sleep dust. If you wear it and blow air in someone’s face, it puts them to sleep for an hour. Mainly used against enemies and threats. It was given to me by Princess Sydney. She got it from a healer who makes this.” They all exchange looks of fear and then turn their eyes back to me. Angelia actually stands up and feels my neck. I push her hand away and glare. “Lia!”

She sits back down and whispers to Blake, but it’s not really whispering because I can hear every word. “I think lack of food has driven him mad.”

“I can hear you,” I say. “And I had a few crackers today.”

“One hundred and sixty two calories in eight days.Slow down, killer,” she says, sarcastically.

I sigh. “I know it’s a lot to take in. I’m having a tough time processing the sleep dust myself. I thought I was dreaming, but it was given to us for protection.”

“Protection from what?” Lisa asks.

“Any potential threat. A burglar, a rioter, The Elimination, you know,threats like that,” I say.

“Were you attacked again?” Blake asks.

“Eh, not much of an attack. I guess it was more of a warning. He just told me that I don’t have the guts to stab him, laughed so hard I thought his face with burst, asked about who I was with, and it happened to be Kayiah. He also said I had to make a choice: To be like him and kill a bunch of kids or watch the people I care about suffer. It got bad to the point of me not leaving my room, not eating, and hating myself more than ever, but I wasn’t starving myself because I felt fat or gross. It was out of stress and my stomach wouldn’t keep anything down. I’m sorry,” I say. “I was scared to death of something bad happening to you guys.”

Lisa takes a deep breath and squeezes Blake’s hand. He looks down at their intertwined handsAngelia looks down at her thighs. “And that’s why you didn’t tell us? Because he threatened us?” I don’t answer. That’s when she sighs. “You seem to forget that I’ve been raped, threatened and stepped over for a while. No threat is going to scare me now.”

“But it scared me. You might not care about yourselves, but I do,” I say, harshly. “And I can’t let anything happen to you guys. I won’t.”

Lisa shakes her head. “And we care about you, and if you had starved long enough, then we could have lost you because of stress of threats that shouldn’t have been delivered to you in the first place. Do you understand?”

Blake indicates for me to say yes. Lisa senses it and punches him in his shoulder. I roll my eyes. “Yes,” I say.

Angelia shifts in her seat. “So what do we do now? If The Elimination are after Danny, how can we protect him?”

I gently hand her a necklace and do the same to Lisa and Blake, giving Blake two. One for him and one for Holly. If I’m going to stop them from hurting people, I need to be assured that the ones I care about most are safe. I made sure to get one for Kayiah and Kamron as well.

“You guys are going to be cautious at all times and wear these necklaces. That would help me a lot. As long as I’m assured you guys are safe, there’s nothing they can do to hurt me. If you promise to wear these at all times, I’ll promise to focus on the positive things that could happen in my future. That’s what you want isn’t it?”

“Of course, dear. And we promise.”

I pick another strawberry from the plate. “As do I.”