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She folded the uniform that Tilda had worn for more than a year and went about her day, while I stood in place, my breath rasping in and out of me loudly, blinking at nothing, tears pooling, heart broken.
My father was the one who found me. He’d been home nearly a week. It was unheard of. Instead of enjoying my time with him, I had to be put to bed. Tilda’s words had made my stomach ache so bad I’d developed a fever and threw up all the cereal I’d stuffed down my throat.
After the doctor had left, my dad sat at the edge of my bed, while a new woman entered the room and tidied up. I stared at her.
“Who is she?”
“Your new nanny. Her name is Sibel, and she’s going to be your friend from now on,” my dad said.
I shook my head, a tear running from my eye, down my hot cheek and onto the pillow. “I don’t have any friends. Tilda said so.”
A muscle ticked in my daddy’s jaw. “Did she? She was just upset with me, darling, and trying to hurt me. Nothing hurts me more than something that hurts you.”
“Why don’t I have any friends my age? Is there something wrong with me?” I asked, scared to hear the answer.
My dad shook his head. “Nothing wrong at all. But you’re special, Winter. We have to be careful. People will pretend to be your friend just to take things from you, and then leave anyway. I don’t want those people close to you.”
“They’ll pretend?”
He nodded. “Yes, they’ll pretend to like you, maybe even love you…but they just want what you have.”
“Like Tilda?” Tilda pretended to like me until I asked my daddy for the money.
He nodded again. “Like Tilda. I’m sorry she upset you.”
I considered his words. “Why couldn’t you just give Tilda the money for her mommy? It’s good to help people. Then she wouldn’t have left.”
My dad sighed. “Darling, Tilda didn’t have an ill mom. She lied. She lied about everything. That’s what people do. They lie, cheat, and steal to take what’s yours. You can’t trust them. Now, I don’t want you to think about that anymore. Sibel is going to read you a bedtime story and then you snuggle down and have a good sleep.”
He stood, and I grabbed his hand.
“Can’t you read it?” It was the first time he’d come to tuck me in in longer than I could remember.
He shook his head immediately. “Can’t, darling, I have a conference call with Tokyo in five minutes.”
He left me there, wondering who the hell Tokyo was and why she was more important than me, while Sibel sat beside me and opened my book.
“Okay, Miss Winter. Ready to see what Toad and Badger get up to next?”
I shrugged, refusing to be comforted by her warm smile.
That’s what people do. They lie, cheat, and steal to take what’s yours. You can’t trust them.
I closed my eyes and listened to the story. I wouldn’t get attached to Sibel, I decided impulsively. She wasn’t my friend, and if she pretended to be, this time, I’d know she was lying. I wasn’t dumb like Tilda had called me. I could learn.
People couldn’t be trusted, after all. It was a lesson I wouldn’t forget.
Asher
SENIOR YEAR
Parent’s day. The worst day of the fucking year. It was fine for the rest of my classmates, who had at least one parent they could get to come along for a while. For me it was the loneliest day of the year.
My sister, Eve, was fine. On the occasions that my mom could make it, she went with Eve, by my insistence. I could deal with being the only one without a parental figure in the room. Evie shouldn’t have to.
The day would drag, while everyone played stupid games to strengthen family bonds, and showed off their kids.
Instead, I’d hang out on school grounds, out back where students went to smoke. A hidden, out-of-the-way place to get lost in.
