She reached my bed and pushed the bowl into my hands before climbing in beside me without even asking. Her feet were ice cold when she pushed them under my covers and pressed them to my leg.
“I’m hungry,” she whispered. “Let’s have a snack.” After taking the bowl back, she placed it between us and pulled out two strawberries. “My favorite,” she said with a sigh as she gave me one then bit into her own.
I wasn’t hungry, but I ate the strawberry to make her happy. In the dim glow of the moonlight, she beamed at me then munched down on another piece of fruit.
For the next few minutes, she quietly ate her snack beside me and offered me a piece every so often. All I could do was sit there and watch her, feeling slightly amused at how hungrily she ate her fruit. She reminded me of the caterpillar I had kept for a school project when I was in the third grade. The way it would eat everything given to it so it could prepare to make its cocoon. It wa
s cute.
When her bowl was empty, she placed it on the nightstand. Then she scooted down on the bed and put her head on one of my pillows.
“You can’t sleep here, little caterpillar.” I nudged her with my foot. “You have your own bed.”
“Your bed is more comfy,” she said in her sweet voice.
“Kassa—”
“Are you sad?” she interrupted me as she wiggled around under the covers.
“Yes,” I surprised myself by admitting.
“You must miss your mom a lot.” She yawned and turned onto her side, facing me. “I don’t remember my mom. Jace says she loved to party more than she loved us. I don’t know what that means, but that’s okay, because I love him, and Alicia loves us.” She took my hand and tucked it under her cheek, closing her eyes. “I love you, too.”
I wanted to ask her how. How could she love me? She had just met me. She didn’t know what I had done. That I had beaten a man unconscious because I’d been so mad that I couldn’t see. She was so sweet, so kind. I didn’t want to steal that from her.
“Goodnight, Grayson.”
“Gray,” I muttered and moved so that I was lying beside her, my hand still tucked under her cheek. I should have made her go back to her room, but I couldn’t make her.
“Night, Gray.”
“Goodnight, little caterpillar.” I closed my eyes.
I slept through the night for the first time since my mom had died.
TWO
Kassa
Gray age 14
Kassa age 9
I pulled the edge of the container on my lunch back and grimaced when I saw that Jace had packed me peanut butter and jelly again. I loved my brother, but when it was his turn to make our lunches, he got lazy, slapped a little peanut butter on with a huge glob of grape jelly and then smashed the bread together before tossing it into a storage container with whatever else was closest to him at the time.
Today, along with the messy sandwich, was a small bag of plain chips, a cookie that had gotten crumbled by the apple he had tossed on top, and a small bottle of water.
“That looks gross.”
I lifted my head at the sound of Gray’s familiar voice and smiled up at him, my not-so-yummy lunch forgotten for a minute. Just the sight of him was enough to make almost anything better. He was my best friend, and I loved him just as much as I did my brother.
“Hi,” I greeted him and scooted over on the bench seat to make room for him.
It was a pretty day, so we got to eat outside, which always made me happy because Gray would come eat with me. The middle school was just across the yard from my elementary school, so he always snuck over to be with me.
He sat and pulled his own lunch out, which was almost the exact same as mine, only his cookie wasn’t broken because he didn’t have an apple. He pulled it out first and broke it in half. Giving me a piece, he stuffed the other in his mouth and then opened his bottle of water.
“I’ll pack lunches tomorrow,” he promised after he had swallowed his half of the cookie. “I promise it won’t be this crap.”