this.”
I almost laughed.
Leave them?
They had left me alone beside Ernest’s grave.
They had abandoned three cages in my living room.
They had handed me instructions while I was still dressed in mourning black.
Now they were angry because I had finally been the one to leave.
“Austin,” I said quietly, “you didn’t lose the house today.”
He stayed silent.
“You lost the right to assume that it was yours.”
His breathing became uneven.
“Mom, please.”
That word caught me.
Please.
I couldn’t remember the last time my
