Mrs. Renshaw’s cheery voice from downstairs spurs me into action. My jeans are too tight to stick the gun in my pocket, so I tuck it into the back of my waistband, replacing the one Mrs. Renshaw stole. I shove everything else back inside the cabinets and shut them as quietly as I can. Then, I turn off the lights and dart across the hallway to my bedroom. I find what I’m looking for on the floor by the closet, right where I left it—Carter’s oversize Twenty One Pilots hoodie. I pull it on and sigh in relief when I see how well it hides the pistol.
“Rainbooow!” This time, it’s Sophie’s voice I hear.
Guilt seizes my chest when I think about what she might have found up here if …
I push those thoughts out of my mind and try to clear the emotion from my throat. “Hey, Soph!” I croak out, testing my fake smile. I go to tell her that I’ll be down in a minute, but before the words can form in my mouth, I hear the clomping of eager footsteps flying up the stairs.
“Rainbow!”
I barely have time to spread my arms before I find myself being tackle-hugged by my favorite ten-year-old. I expect her to begin chattering away about how she got here, but instead, she buries her face in my sweatshirt and bursts into tears.
“Hey … what’s going on?” I smooth my hand over her long braids and pull her tighter.
“I’m just … I’m just so happy.” She sniffles, wiping her wet eyes on the soft black cotton. “I didn’t think we were ever gonna get outta that place. I didn’t like it there. There were no beds and we had to shower in the rain and the big kids were so mean. And then your friend beat up Carter and took you away, and I was so scared.”
Sophie lifts her little face and gives me a grin so big that I notice she’s missing at least two teeth. “But Mama knew what to do. She called the police, and they found you! And they put that bad man in jail!”
Her hug lit a candle of joy in my heart, but her words blew it right back out.
“When Mama came back, she said God was so proud of her that he blessed us with a new house and a new baby!” Her little overwhelmed eyes fill with tears again, and all I can do is hug her tighter so that I won’t have to look at them anymore.
Instead, I have to look at her brother as his six-foot-three-inch frame fills my bedroom doorway. His shirt is splattered with blood. His lips and one eyebrow are split open. His left eye is swollen shut. His nose is puffy and slightly crooked, and his usual cocky swagger has been replaced by a dark thundercloud of anger.
His one open eye narrows at the sight of me. Mine widen at the sight of him.
“Is it true, Rainbow?” Sophie squeals. “Are you really gonna have a baby?”
I hold Carter’s stare, feeling the same question hanging in the air between us. Then, I sigh and tell her the truth, “Yes, sweetie, I am.”
Carter’s gaze drops to his sister’s back as he takes in those four little words.
“Are we really gonna live here? With you? Forever?”
“Of course we are, shrimp,” Carter grumbles through his mangled mouth, cutting me a warning glance. “Look.” His eyes dart to something over my shoulder. “Rain’s already got your bed ready.”
Sophie and I both turn, and I’m shocked to discover that he’s right. The last time I saw it, my bed had a shotgun blast right through the middle, but now it’s covered in a pristine unicorn-mermaid-cat comforter. Wes must have gone next door and swapped out my mattress and bedding for Sophie’s. He mentioned that he was able to salvage some stuff from the front half of their house.
I didn’t realize he’d meant a whole bed.
With every step I take toward it, I feel closer to him. Closer and yet so much further away. I lift one knee and crawl onto the soft surface, my hand sliding across the place where a giant hole used to be. I lie with my back to my uninvited guests and pull the spare pillow to my chest. It doesn’t even smell like smoke.
It smells like fabric softener.
He even washed it.
Closing my eyes, I surrender to my tears. The first ones I’ve let fall since he was ripped from my arms.
Wes might be the one who was taken away in handcuffs, but I’m the one facing a life sentence. This house is my prison. This baby and that little girl behind me—they’re my wardens. As long as they’re alive, I’ll be here, suffering, because I can’t take the easy way out if it means causing them pain.
“Rainbow? Are you crying?”
“Nah, she’s just snorin’. Growing a baby makes you real tired. Why don’t you go tell Mama that your bed’s here? She’ll be so happy.”
“Okay!”
I hear Sophie stomp back down the stairs just before the door closes with a quiet snick.
The hair on the back of my neck stands up as the floorboards creak under Carter’s heavy feet. I expect to feel the bed sag under his weight, but when it doesn’t, I turn and find him pacing back and forth across my matted carpet.
His eyebrows are furrowed, his swollen lips move as if he’s mumbling to himself, and his long fingers are tugging on his overgrown black curls.
I’ve never seen him so distraught. It makes me nervous.
“How did you guys get here?” I ask, hoping to take his mind off of whatever has him acting this way.
“My mom went back to our house, got my dad’s truck out of the garage, and drove to the mall to pick us up.” He shrugs. “Told us she was takin’ us home.”
“How did your dad get to the truck with his broken leg?”
“I pushed him in that rolly chair you gave him.”
“And y’all didn’t see any Bonys?”
Carter turns and glares at me with his one good eye. “Can we not do this?”
“What?”
“Pretend like everything’s fucking fine.”
I sigh and roll onto my back, feeling my dad’s gun dig into my spine. “Fine with me.”
Carter doesn’t say anything. He just keeps pacing, and I just keep staring at his battered face.
“I’m sorry,” I finally mutter, not knowing where else to begin.
“It’s not your fault,” he replies without taking his eyes off the floor. “Birth control is only, like, ninety-nine percent effective.”
Wait. What?
“I just … I’m not ready to be a dad.”
Oh my God. That’s what he’s upset about? He thinks this baby is his?
The thought seems absurd, but when I think about it, it’s probably only been about two months since Carter and I were together. Two months that feel like two lifetimes. That was back before his family packed up and left me in Franklin Springs without a second glance. Back when my parents were still alive.
Back when my birth control shot was still effective.
“You’re not gonna be a dad.” I sigh, trying not to roll my eyes.
“I’m not?” Carter stops pacing and looks over at me again.
I shake my head, bracing for the brunt of his anger when he realizes that the man who mangled his face is the same one who knocked me up. But instead, Carter’s split lips spread into a wide grin as he bounds over to give me a hug.
“Holy shit, girl! You had me worried there for a sec. I’m so glad we’re on the same page! Listen, I got you. I’ll take you to the clinic, I’ll pay for the procedure, whatever you need. Just do me a favor and tell my mom you had a miscarriage, okay?”
I’m stunned speechless as Carter squeezes me a second time.
“Hey, boy!” Mr. Renshaw’s gruff voice calls from the bottom of the stairs. “Your mother says the highway’s clear all the way into town now. I’m goin’ on a Burger Palace run. You wanna come with?”
“Hell yeah!” Carter fixes his one open eye on me and grins.
That’s when I notice that he’s missing about as many teeth as his sister. Wes really did a number on him.
Makes me love him even more.
“Dude, I haven’t had a King Burger in weeks! You want one? Wait. Duh. Of course you want one. Pregnant chicks are always hungry. I’ll get you two!”
Carter bounds out of my room, leaving the door wide open as I curl even tighter around the pillow in my arms.
“Will you boys get a King Burger combo for me, a Big Kid box for Sophie, and—oh, what the heck? Grab us some milkshakes, too! We’re celebratin’!”
“Mama, I found a DVD player! Can I watch a movie?”
“Of course, princess! You can watch whatever you want! And while we wait for the boys to get back, Mama’s gonna go take a nice hot bath. Praise be to God!”
I get up and close my bedroom door, locking it as quietly as possible before sagging against it and sliding to the floor. I stare at Sophie’s bed, standing in the spot where mine used to be, and realize that I don’t even have a home anymore.
This is their house now.
I’m just the ghost that haunts it.