Chapter 12 - Emily’s guilt
Emily believed her mother got hurt because she tried to escape the enclosure.
She said it at bedtime.
“If I stayed quiet, Mom wouldn’t push Warren.”
I sat beside her.
“No.”
“She tried to open me.”
“Yes.”
“Then he pushed.”
“Yes.”
“So—”
“No.”
She started crying.
I had learned by then not to bury her under adult logic.
I said:
“Warren chose what Warren did.”
“He was mad because of me.”
“Adults are responsible for what they do when they’re mad.”
She looked away.
“Mommy tried to stop him.”
The same sentence from my shoulder beside the pool.
Now I understood it.
Not:
Mommy tried to stop a murder.
She tried to stop Warren locking her daughter and destroying evidence.
He retaliated.
I said:
“You were supposed to go to Mrs. Harris.”
“I tried.”
“Yes.”
“You told me to run if adults fight.”
“I did.”
“Then I did right?”
“Yes.”
She nodded.
May you like
Not cured.
But one piece moved.
