Chapter 2
Then last Thursday happened.
A little after four in the morning, I woke because I thought I could hear someone talking.
I stayed still for a moment and listened.
Another quiet whisper came from the hallway.
I got out of bed and slowly opened my bedroom door.
Tyler was lying outside Mom’s room beneath his dinosaur blanket.
But he wasn’t sleeping.
He was staring directly at the door handle.
One small hand was gripping the edge of his pillow.
Then I heard him whisper to himself.
“I won’t fall asleep tonight.”
I almost said something.
Then he added, so quietly I nearly missed it,
“I won’t let Uncle Jason do it to Grandma again.”
I froze where I stood.
“Tyler?”
He jumped so hard that his blanket slipped off his body.
I hurried toward him.
“What did you just say?”
His eyes immediately filled with tears.
“Nothing.”
“Tyler.”
He glanced nervously toward Mom’s bedroom.
“Mom, promise you won’t tell anyone.”
I lowered my voice.
“What won’t you let Uncle Jason do again?”
His mouth began to tremble.
Every terrible possibility my mind could create seemed to arrive at once.
I sat down beside him.
“What did he do?”Tyler covered his face with both hands.
Then he leaned closer to me and whispered,
“Uncle Jason keeps making Grandma sign things when you’re not here.”
For a few seconds, I couldn’t understand what he meant.
“Sign what?”
“I don’t know.”
“What things, Tyler?”
“Papers.”
I stared at him.
He wiped his face.
“He brings a folder upstairs when you leave.”
“How do you know?”
Tyler hesitated before answering.
“Because I saw.”
He explained that one afternoon, he had been sitting in Mom’s room reading when Jason arrived upstairs carrying a folder.
Jason told Tyler to go downstairs.
“So I went.”
“Okay.”
“But then I came back.”
“Why?”
Tyler looked embarrassed.
“I didn’t like how he said it.”
Instead of going all the way back into the bedroom, Tyler had hidden near the landing.
From where he was sitting, he could hear them talking.
Jason apparently placed several papers across Mom’s blanket.
Tyler imitated his voice.
“‘It’s just so I can help with everything while you recover.'”
My stomach tightened.
“What did Grandma say?”
“She kept asking where to sign.”
“Was she awake?”
“Kind of.”
That answer frightened me even more.
Tyler continued.
“She signed a bunch. Then Uncle Jason folded them really fast.”
I stood up.
“Anything else?”
Tyler began crying harder.
“He came back at night once.”
“What?”
“You were asleep.”
“When?”
“I don’t know. Last week.”
“How did he get in?”
“With his key. I heard the front door.”
“Why didn’t you wake me?”
Tyler wiped at his eyes.
“I thought you’d get mad because you told me to stop following him.”
That hit me hard.
“He went into Grandma’s room and said she signed in the wrong place.”
I looked down at the pillow beside him.
“Is that why you’ve been sleeping here?”
He nodded.
“I tried to stay awake.”
I opened Mom’s bedroom door.
She startled awake when I switched on the lamp.
“What happened?”
“Mom, I need to ask you something.”
She squinted at me.
“At four in the morning?”
“Has Jason been bringing you documents?”
She slowly pushed herself upright.
“What documents?”
“Papers to sign.”
Her expression shifted slightly.
“I don’t know.”
“Think, please.”
She closed her eyes, trying to remember.
“Maybe some forms.”
“What forms?”
“I think something for the bank.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why would Jason bring you bank forms?”
May you like
Mom looked genuinely confused.
“He said he was helping.”
