Page 33 of Crucified By the Dark
“Really? That’s sick,” he said, his whole face lighting up.
Kyle loved bears from the time he was a small boy. Morry searched until she found a man who rescued bears and housed ones that couldn’t live out in the wild. They were trained for movies or commercials and lived like kings on his massive country property. As soon as she saw the place and met the man, she knew she had to take Kyle there.
“Do you really think I’ll get to see them,” he asked, and the question broke her heart. The earlier tears threatened to make another appearance, but she didn’t want to worry him any more than he was already.
“I know you will. Just how I knew that I would make it back from the desert and just how I knew that you would make captain of the baseball team. Trust in your mom. I’ve got you.”
Kyle opened the phone and smiled. “You attached your credit card to the games? Are you the one not feeling well?”
Laughing, she smiled widely. Kyle was the one bright spot in her life, even when shit was at its worst. Morry would give up everything, including her life, to save her son. He was everything to her. It pissed her off so much that she couldn’t donate part of her liver. She was his mother. She should be able to do this for him. Of all people, she should be the one to save him.
“Yeah, definitely don’t tell your dad about that. I would never hear the end of it,” she teased.
“Are you kidding? This is like walking into my favorite Magic the Gathering store and buying a black lotus card.” Kyle lifted an eyebrow, and he looked so much like her at that moment with the sassy stare that she couldn’t help but smirk. “I’m totally taking advantage of this. Something good has to come out of being stuck in this bed.”
“Could we maybe take it a step down from that black lotus?” She sighed as the clock on the wall showed that five minutes had already passed. “Listen, I better go. If your dad catches me, I really will end up banned for life,” she teased and made a face that had Kyle laughing.
Kyle snorted. “Yeah, Dad is a little overly dramatic, but Lindsay is chill most of the time.”
“She treats you good?”
He lifted a shoulder in the typical teenage, non-committal way. “She’s not bad. She doesn’t ride motorcycles, but she’s nice enough.”
Morry smirked and gave her son’s soft dark brown hair a ruffle. She knew he hated that. “That’s good.”
“Mom,” he complained, making her laugh.
She stood up but didn’t want to leave. This was not enough time, and her heart ached to remain in the room for every second she could, but Andrew had the judge’s ear. If he caught her or Lindsay said something, then her chances of winning back joint custody or at least visiting rights would never happen.
“Kyle, I know that your dad, Lindsay, and I don’t always get along, but the one thing that will never change is how much we all love you.” Leaning over, she kissed the top of his head. “I love you, Kyle. Don’t ever forget that and no matter how scared you are, know that I’m fighting to help you every second of every day. I will not stop until I find you a liver.” She closed her eyes and gave his head another kiss.
He reached up and wrapped his arms around her neck, squeezing hard, then let go and went back to the phone. He was caught in a strange limbo, and she was right there with him. He was fourteen and sometimes acted so mature that she forgot his age, and then right now, with his nose buried in a new gadget, he looked exactly how old he was. He had one good friend who still came to visit, but other than that, being sick had scared all the other kids off.
He looked up at her with gray eyes that matched her own. “Go, Mom, before Dad gets back. Besides, your staring is starting to wig me out.”
She gave him a lopsided smile. “Okay, I’m going, I’m going.”
Forcing herself away from the side of the bed, she cracked opened the door. Lindsay was sitting in the chair across the way.
“Mom?”
Looking over her shoulder, she stared at her son’s face. “Yeah?”
He fidgeted with the blanket and looked away from her eyes. “I love you.”
And just like that, her heart filled like a balloon with so much emotion and then popped with pain. She took an extra moment to memorize him. She was going to find a way to save him. This world wasn’t taking Kyle from her too.
* * *
Jeremy sat across from Andrew, and as hard as he tried, he couldn’t stop picturing his own father. He pretended he was the grief and emotional support counselor—his specialty. Jeremy had just enough knowledge in all areas to be dangerous. If he ever decided not to run an international gun-smuggling biker gang that had a fucked-up rehab clinic for soldiers, then he could have a killer career as an actor. He smirked at the thought.
Jeremy had Andrew eating out of the palm of his hand. He even went into a bit of his own sob story but changed drugs to cancer and his parents disowning him to them sitting vigil at his bedside. It was enough. Andrew hadn’t stopped talking since they walked into the room. Jeremy’s eyes searched Andrew’s face, and he tried to see what Morry saw when she married this man. Andrew was a decent-looking man with a good job, but he seemed the opposite of Morry in everything. If Jeremy met Andrew on the street, he would’ve said his personality aligned with a wet noodle.
“I just don’t know how to keep it all together anymore. There is still no word on a donor, and my son gets worse every day. Then there is my ex-wife, who is a terrible influence, and our horrible legal battle. What scares me most is that Kyle is almost at the age where he can choose to go live with her.”
Anger bloomed in Jeremy’s gut with the disrespect Andrew continued to show Morry. In the short time they’d spent together in this room, Andrew referenced how terrible Morry was in some manner at least ten times. It took everything he had not to get up and lay the guy out on the floor, but that wasn’t going to help Morry, and that was why he was here.
“You mean if your son lives?”
