THE THERAPIST asks, clipboard in hand, "So, are you comfortable with telling me what happened?"
"Uh," I pause as if time has stopped.
"It's--"
"Yes," I cut her off. "I-I am."
She listens in.
I take a deep breath and I tell her all about how my dad's in prison and he's probably dead now, how my mom killed herself in my uncle's bathroom, how both my uncle and my sister took me in, and how Cass was raped and had Aries, my niece.
"So how many years was that between the time your mother passed versus your uncle taking custody over you and your sister?"
"Uh, I don't know exactly."
"Oh. I'll just give you my number, here." She gives me a sticky note with her phone number on it.
"Thank you," I say putting the numbers: (123)-334-0926 in my contacts.
"No problem. Is your sister or uncle going to pick you up?"
"M-my uncle's picking me up," I say getting my backpack on.
Uncle Kimmy's car pulls up as I look out the little window in the hall. His real name is Ethan but we just call him Uncle Kimmy or Kim. My cousin, Mayson, and his younger siblings, Chloe, Coca, and Nathan, call him Kim or Uncle Kim. Mayson's my favorite cousin because he's the only one that gets me. He gets me better than I do!
"Hey, kid. How was your session?" Uncle Kimmy asks as I get in the car. I throw my backpack in the back seat.
"Great! She was super nice and understanding and she even got me to talk about--" I freeze.
"About what?"
"Uh...nothing. H-how's your boyfriend?" I say remembering what she told me. "Nothing goes in this room and nothing comes out." Her words float in my head.
"Great, he took me out on a special dinner date," he sings as he does the shimmy shaking his shoulders.
"Ooh, where?!" I exclaim.
"He took me out to a steak house."
"Ooh, a steak house. With a bar?"
"Yes."
"Uncle Kimmy?" I ask trying not to turn this into a sad topic.
"Yes?"
I feel the conversation they had last night nipping at me. Last night, I eavesdropped on their conversation. I leaned against my room door holding Aries. I should've never eavesdropped:
"What about her friends?" Cass whisper-shouted.
"Well, she's just gonna have to make new ones, Cass!" He loudly whispered not helping her case because they were right outside of my door.
"So what about Aries, my baby!? What school is she going to if we move to Ohio?!" The words fade away.
"I-I got an A on my history exam," I say trying not to overcomplicate things.
"That's good, Malauge, that's good."