Chapter 1: The Betrayal of Blood
The sound wasn’t a crack. It was a dull, sickening thud, followed by a wheeze that sounded like air escaping a deflating tire. I was in the kitchen, cutting a pie for Thanksgiving dessert.
My sister, Tara, was laughing in the living room. My mother was humming as she dried dishes. My father was asleep in his recliner, the football game blaring on the TV.
It was the picture of suburban domestic bliss. Then came the silence. I dropped the knife and ran.
In the living room, my ten-year-old son, Liam, was curled into a ball on the Persian rug. He wasn’t crying. He was gasping, his mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water, his hands clutching his chest.
Standing over him was Brandon, Tara’s sixteen-year-old son. He was six feet tall, a linebacker for the varsity team, wearing his letterman jacket like armor. He looked annoyed, wiping his knuckles on his jeans.
“Liam!” I screamed, sliding to my knees beside my son. Liam looked at me, panic wide in his eyes. He tried to inhale, but only a shallow, raspy whistle came out.
His face was pale, turning a terrifying shade of gray. “What happened?” I yelled, looking up at Brandon. “He was being annoying,” Brandon shrugged.
“I just pushed him. He needs to toughen up.”
“You hit him!” I touched Liam’s side. He flinched violently.
Even through his shirt, I could feel the unnatural give of his ribcage. “Oh god. Liam, breathe, baby.
Breathe.”
“Don’t be dramatic, Rachel,” Tara said from the couch, sipping her wine. “Boys roughhouse. Brandon didn’t mean it.”
“He can’t breathe, Tara!” I shouted.
“Look at him! His lips are turning blue!”
I fumbled for my phone in my pocket. I needed 911.
I needed an ambulance now. As I pulled it out, a hand snatched it away. I looked up.
My mother was standing over me, clutching my phone tight. She slipped it into the deep pocket of her apron. “Mom?
What are you doing? Give me the phone!”
“Don’t cause a scene, Rachel,” my mother hissed, her voice low and dangerous. “If you call 911, the police come.
If the police come, they write a report. Brandon is being scouted by universities next month. You are not going to ruin his scholarship over a bruised rib.”
I stared at her.
The woman who gave birth to me. The woman who knit Liam a blanket when he was born. “A bruised rib?” I pointed at my son, who was now clutching my arm, his fingernails digging in from the pain.
The story doesn’t end here — it continues on the next page.
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