My shirt clung to my chest, sticky with cold sweat. My head throbbed. It felt like someone was drilling a hole in the base of my skull, the pain radiating up behind my eyes. I squinted at the alarm clock. It was much later than I thought. I pushed myself out of bed and into the shower. I stood in the stream of hot water and let the heat prick at the numbness under my skin, washing away the shock. That’s when the tears came. I never cried. Not since I was a baby, according to my mother. I didn’t get the point. Crying never fixed anything. But as the tears started to roll down my face, mingling with the rain from the showerhead, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I sobbed into the steam, hoping no one could hear me over the somber buzz of the bathroom fan. It was like I finally let out every tear I’d ever held back. I cried for the time Don Mooney held his silver knife to my father’s throat. I cried for the times I overheard Daniel’s father ripping into him. For the time his mother took him away from us.
