Page 146 of Restitution

Base is smirking at Barry, and I’m too tired for this shit. I pull out my cigarettes and light one.

“I was Kade’s best friend first,” Base immaturely says, completely unfazed by the deep wound in his shoulder. “And I’llstayhis best friend.”

Barry is more than dumbfounded. “Is he serious?” he asks me.

“The kid needs to rein in his dirty mouth,” Base retorts.

“He’s not a kid; he’s married with one kid and another on the way. He’s also highly skilled in tech and combat, so I’d probably shut the fuck up if I were you. He could make your body vanish without a trace and have it look like an accident. Also, don’t try to fuck with my staff.”

“You’re defendinghim?” Base asks. “Over me?”

I blow out my cheeks and take a draw of my smoke.

Base narrows his eyes at my silence. “But you like me better, right?”

I hand him the cigarette and don’t give an answer as I leave them to it and head in to look for Stacey.

When I bought this place, it was a wreck. If it weren’t for the foundation and bones of the building being intact and salvageable,I would’ve torn the entire place down and started from scratch.

We’d already replaced the roof and installed a security system and satellite signallers so we could still work. But with everything that’s been going on, I thought work on this place would’ve come at a standstill; that all the labour put in would be for nothing.

But Barry wasn’t kidding when he said he’d fixed it up.

The plastered walls smell of wet paint, there are new doors, and cameras installed for extra security, and five bedrooms with supplies in case of emergency. I can see a hole in one wall already though from someone punching it. My guess is that Barry and Dad got into a fight.

The hallway is dark, the spotlights only faintly lighting the route to the medical room. I pass by the office – my mother tried to kill my dad in there over twenty years ago, but she chickened out.

I pause for a second at the last door, wondering if I should go hunt for Bernadette instead, but then I hear Stacey’s voice travelling through the door. She’s hurt. I need to see her first before facing the reason for my demons growing stronger – the reason why the voices are louder.

Stacey is sitting on a chair while my dad rummages through one of our first aid kits, and Luciella is downing a glass of water and splashing it on her face beside her. Both of them are covered in remnants of debris, their skin stained from the smoke.

I open one of the cupboards and check if Barry brought in the oxygen stock I wanted. They’ll need some to clear their lungs.

Relief fills me as I grab one and attach a nasal cannula, handing it to Luciella, who’s coughing a lot more than Stacey. She gets it into place and closes her eyes while her head drops back. “I didn’tknow how bad my lungs were.”

“We all inhaled a lot of smoke. You’re pregnant, so you can use it first.”

For the first time in years, Luciella, my pain-in-the-ass twin sister, smiles at me – a proper, full-on smile. “Thank you, Kade.”

It throws me off. I nervously look around the room. “Yeah.”

“You need that closed up,” Dad says, pointing to the gash on the side of my skull.

I nod to the drawer beside him, where all the shit is for stitching up wounds. Again, for emergencies. If any of us got seriously injured, we couldn’t go to a hospital.

Barry is, to some extent, trained, but I know my dad learned a lot from my mother and from intentionally harming himself in the institution only to heal himself again using only what he could make from objects in his surroundings. That was something his therapist fought hard to help him stop. The thin scars literally covering my dad’s body are proof that his therapist had no idea how to stop him until ten years ago. He’d said the stinging helped the mental pain.

I stand silently, watching as the girls show my dad their injuries. Luciella passes the oxygen to Stacey and cries until Dad stops to cuddle her, and Stacey keeps looking at me and smiling.

She’s tired. So am I. Of everything. I could sleep for years with her and just close off the world. Soon. I’ll do that soon. I want to take her to the shower room so we can get cleaned up and go to bed.

“We don’t have anything here to check on the baby, but Barry will get us an ultrasound machine.”

Luciella nods, but then she falls apart again, and tears slide down her face. I’ve never witnessed my sister cry this much. It’s…awkward. I just stare at her. So does my dad. Then Stacey takes her hand and squeezes.

“It’s going to be okay.”

“I’m scared. I’ll be a terrible mother.”