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“Mom.”

The bed shifted as she sat down next to him. He sighed when she pulled the blanket off his head. “Yeah, yeah,” she said, pinching his cheek gently. He batted her hand away. “Rude. You should—oof, kid. What is thatsmell?” She grimaced as her nose wrinkled.

“Stop smelling me!”

“Shower,” she said. “After you clean your room. And you need a haircut. You’re looking a little shaggy. I’ll make you an appointment. See if we can get you in today. Got your meds.”She leaned back, hand going to the pocket of her tan shorts. When she pulled it back out, there, sitting on her palm, was a little familiar pill. Concentra—It’ll help you concentrate!

Nick looked away, huffing out a breath.

“I know, kid.”

“You don’t,” he retorted. “Your brain isn’t broken like mine is.” He hated the pathetic whine in his voice, but he needed her to understand.

“Look at me.”

He did. He was helpless to do anything but.

She wasn’t smiling anymore. If anything, she looked angry, but Nick didn’t think it was at him. “You arenotbroken. You never have been, and you never will be. I know you hate this. I know you wish you didn’t have ADHD, but it’snota death sentence. You’re still you, no matter what.”

“Yeah, well,” Nick muttered. “Maybe that’s the problem.”

“It’s not. And you won’t hear me trying to minimize how you’re feeling about it. That wouldn’t be fair of me. This is as real for me and Dad as it is for you. But I need you to know that it doesn’t matter to us, and it’s not your fault because there’s nothing to find fault with. We’ll take you any way we can get you because you’re the greatest part of our lives.”

Nick sighed. “Yes, counselor. You’ve made your closing arguments. The jury has reached a verdict in your favor.”

She snorted. “Smart-ass.” She looked down at the pill in her hand. “I know it’s easier said than done to take what I’m saying to heart, but I mean it. Maybe it won’t always be this way, but even if it is, I’m going to be there to remind you when you need me to. And even when you don’t, I will because I’m your mother and I’ve earned that right.”

He took the pill, swallowing it dry with a grimace. Obnoxiously, he opened his mouth, lifting his tongue to show he wasn’t hiding it. She didn’t give him more than a perfunctory glance. Trust, this. Layer upon layer of trust. She patted his arm before standing. “I mean it, Nick. Clean this room. If youhaven’t made any headway by the time I get home, you can forget pizza with Seth and me later today. I’ll just take him out and leave you here to wallow in your filth.”

“Seth likes me more than you,” Nick grumbled.

“Of course he does,” Mom said, heading toward the door, grimacing as she stepped over a pile of dirty clothes. She paused a moment, smiling at a familiar picture: Nick and her, standing at the edge of an ocean, a lighthouse in the distance. “And I can’t wait for you to figure out what that means. Up, kid. Get your butt in gear. If you find mold because you live in squalor, we’re putting you up for adoption.” And then she was gone.

Like he hadn’t heardthatthreat before.

He got up. He cleaned. He texted Seth as he shoved clothes in the hamper. He laughed at Seth’s reply as he took half-empty cups down to the kitchen, including the milk. He turned up music and screamed along with the lyrics, the bones of the house rattling. He showered. He dressed.

He stood in the middle of his room and said, “I’ve been here before. I know what this is. The phone is about to ring.” He dropped his voice to a lower register, gruff, like his father. “Nicky. Oh my god,Nicky.She’s—” A tear trickled down his cheek, his heart thundering against his rib cage, and it—

His phone rang at 12:47 on a Friday in the spring, where the sun was shining, and everything made some sort of sense.

He glanced down at the phone screen.

Dad,it read.

He didn’t want to answer.

But Nicholas Bell was not in control, and he could not stop himself from answering the phone and bringing it to his ear. “Hey, Pops. You should see my room. It’s freaking clean as—”

Dark water poured from the phone, covering his fingers, his hand, his arm, working its way up his neck and down his chest. It swallowed him whole, and as he tried to scream, it crawled down his throat, choking him, filling him with darkness.

But it wasn’t water, was it?

No.

It wasshadows.

“See you soon,” a garbled voice spat from the phone. “See you soon, see you soon,see you—”