I told her the truth that I was not doing well and that I felt like the air in the room was too thick to breathe. Jim Tucker stepped over to us and I could see the gray at his temples that had not been there when we were in the desert.
“You stayed upright and you told the truth, Cassidy,” Jim said while placing a heavy hand on my good shoulder to offer some support. I thanked him for coming all this way and he told me that he would never let one of his own stand alone in a fight.
My brother Jason approached me in the hallway but he stopped just beyond arm’s reach as if the distance could protect him from my anger. “I honestly did not know that you were actually hurt that badly,” he claimed while looking at his expensive leather shoes.
I told him that he only stayed in the dark because he never bothered to ask me a single question about my life or my travels. “Mom said you wanted to be left alone and that you were ashamed of where you had been,” he added as a weak excuse.