Page 330 of Wicked Brutal

My eyes burn. “Darla tried.”

“Did the ambulance people fix her?”

“They tried too.”

“So she’s at the hospital.”

“No.” He stares at me. I don’t know how to do this. There has to be a way to say these words that doesn’t destroy him. There isn’t. “Mom died yesterday, Toby.”

He doesn’t move. Doesn’t blink. Nothing. Then— “Okay.” My heart cracks straight down the middle. He looks at Ryan. Then Walter. Back at me. “When is she coming home?”

“She can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because when somebody dies, their body stops working.”

“But doctors fix bodies.”

“Sometimes they can’t.”

“Darla can.”

“Toby—“

“Call her. Call her again. There’s lots of doctors. Get another one.”

His eyes are filling now.

“They can’t bring her back, bug.”

“Why?”

“Because she died.”

“No.” His head starts shaking. “No, she didn’t.”

“She did.”

“No.” He pushes against me. Ryan catches him before his hands can hit my stomach, and Tobias fights him immediately. “NO!”

“Easy, buddy.”

“LET ME GO!”

Ryan pulls him into his lap right beside me, one arm secure around his middle. “I’m not stopping you from being mad.”

“LET ME GO!”

“You can be mad.” Tobias’s fist slams into Ryan’s chest. Ryan doesn’t even flinch.

“Go get her!” Tobias screams at me.

“I can’t.”

“Yes, you can!”

“I can’t, bug.”