Chapter 100

“Don’t be nervous. We will soon see what’s what.” My mom pats my hand as she leads the way into her clinic and turns on all the lights quickly. Illuminating the empty building with a ‘blink, blink’ of strip lighting that hurts my eyes. I can’t speak, so numb with shock, unsure how to feel, and Arrick is equally silent.

He went and got her for me. After the tests, we didn’t know what else to feel or think. She came immediately. It was surreal and hard to tell her everything, but he did most of the talking as I kept staring at all three identical tests and asking myself how.

She was upset that I never told her, that I never got checked out by her when I was staying here, but she put her doctor hat on, went to fetch her keys for her clinic, and brought us down in a cab. She runs her own practice and, as a key holder, had no qualms about doing this tonight. None of us would sleep otherwise.

It’s almost two a.m. I feel like the walking dead, and if it weren’t for Arrick