Chapter 13

Ricky

I stare at the ceiling waiting for the alarm to call me up. I’m not sure how long I’ve been awake, but I know sleep barely held me in its arms through the night.

In the moments when I managed to be cradled by it, nightmares stole me away. Mà’s face kept popping up at different points, accusing me of leaving her alone for free food that she could make me; she was splayed on the floor, dead, but her eyes were peering into mine.

My body jerks out of bed, and I immediately shut the alarm off. If it had rung, it would have woken up, and Mà isn’t the best person you’d like to meet when she has a hangover.

I manage to creep into the restroom without the floorboard creaking in protest of disturbing them this early. Less than five minutes later, I’m creeping back into my room when I notice the door to her room is slightly open, as though I had left it open to keep an eye on her. 

Instinctively, my face looks through the door and into the room where sh