“That’s not cool, Sienna. You have to tell your Mom”
Sienna sighed and bit into her bagel. She knew that something had to change, but her mom was so happy, she didn’t want to screw things up for her.
After school Sienna walked home, thinking about what Lindsey had said and contemplating whether or not she should say something to her mom. When Jonathan was gone to school everything was so good. Maybe she should just suck it up and keep quiet when he was home?
She opened the door and her heart sank as she saw his duffel bag in the hallway. Why was he home? Her shoulders rounded forward and she kept her eyes low hoping to avoid him and get to the safety of her room.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she reached her room and closed the door. There was no sign of him. She sat down on the bed and grabbed her cookies from her backpack.
“No wonder you’re so fucking fat.”
The voice no longer shocked her.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to tell me why it was so important for me to come home today.”
“I dunno.”
“Of course you don’t know. You’re a total waste of space.” He said as he flicked a cracker at her. “Here, have this, you have to keep that penguin-like figure somehow.”
That was the last straw. She decided she had to tell her Mom what was going on. She tossed the cracker onto the floor and she marched out into the living room. Her determined march was halted when she saw the serious look on both her Mom and Peter’s faces. They were sitting on the couch together holding hands.
Johnny glanced at the two of them and then looked over to Sienna. Both of them knew that something wasn’t right. This wasn’t a cozy, let’s talk about a happy event, like an engagement.
“Sit down kids.” Janice said quietly.
Johnny slunk into the recliner and Sienna sat cross-legged on the floor behind the coffee table.
“I’m sick.”
There were more words that followed that two-word sentence, but Sienna couldn’t hear them. There was a whooshing sound in her head and she felt herself get dizzy.
Her Mom passed away about two months after that conversation on the couch. Johnny hadn’t come home from school, not even for Janice’s funeral. So, Sienna had some peace and quiet to spend with her mother during her last days.
Peter wanted her to stay at the house, but she knew that without her Mom there, things might get really bad. So, she packed up her things and went to live with her Dad. That cracker flick was the last time she saw Jonathan: until today, thirteen years later.
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Getting Jasper Off Page 17