When I wake up, it’s somehow the middle of the night. I sit up straight, almost hitting my head on the top bunk of Alvin and Ian’s little rocket bed. Alvin curled up next to me, fully asleep, with little Archie at his feet.
I blink, trying to figure it out – how can it be the middle of the night when we came back from my father’s house in the middle of the night, but I’ve also been sleeping for hours?
As I look around the room, vague memories come back to me. There’s a bowl of soup by the bed – Edgar brought me that, I remember, but I couldn’t keep my eyes open to speak to him for long or to eat it. The boys’ school stuff is on the floor – I remember Victor rushing them out of the room, telling them not to bother me…but it was daylight then.
I rub my face with my hands and then run m
