Childish

33

Alex was carrying a laundry basket into the room when I woke up the next morning. He looked like he'd showered but was still in the same clothes he had worn the day before. I had a feeling he'd leave a change of clothes in his car after being snowed in this time.

I sat up and rubbed my eyes. My stomach felt strange from the lack of food I had eaten over the last day. I wasn't sure if eating anything while being sick was recommended but I felt hungry.

Alex set the laundry basket on the coffee table and glanced over at me. He raised his eyebrows at me when he noticed I was awake. "How are you feeling?"

"Better."

He bent down and picked something off the floor. He held it out to me and I recognized the multi-colored teddy bear in his hand.

I took it from him and set it in my lap.

"Nearly had a crisis on our hands."

I rolled my eyes at him. "Whatever."

"I have to go outside and shovel the driveway. Monica will be around if you need anything."

"And I'm supposed to just stay here and watch TV?"

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

I sighed and sat back on the couch as Alex disappeared into another room.

Monica started folding the towels on her coffee table. "You can help me fold if you get bored."

I scrunched my nose up. "Am I allowed to say no?"

She laughed.

Alex walked back in with a bottle in his hand. He held it out for me. "Be good for Monica."

"I'm always good for her. I like her."

Alex turned and headed for the door. "I'll remember that."

Monica and I sat in silence for several minutes as she folded her laundry and I looked for something to watch on TV. I didn't know Monica that well, other than the fact that she was a doctor and Alex's sister. I only trusted her because Alex did but that didn't mean she was perfect. Everyone in Alpine had their faults.

I set my bottle down beside me and muted the TV. "Can I ask you something?"

She looked up at me, her hair swaying as she did so. "Yeah. What's on your mind?"

"How do you feel about... everything?"

She laughed. "That's a really vague question."

"I mean... with Alpine. I know you grew up here where this is all... fine but how do you feel about it now? Now that you're a grown-up and can make your own decisions."

She took a deep breath. "It took me a long time to be comfortable here. Nothing seemed wrong when I was growing up but going through school and learning how people grow and develop, I realized that this isn't right. I'm not directly involved in anything that happens in Alpine yet I feel slightly responsible for... the harm that kids are caused."

"Why did you work for your dad after you saw what he was doing to people?"

"I had a hard time not letting my upbringing influence my decisions. I want to help people. That's my main goal. No one around here really suspects much so they never realized that anything wrong was happening."

"Not even people getting turned into babies?"

She shrugged. "That's normal around here."

I shook my head. "It shouldn't be." It was scary how much stuff went on in Alpine that shouldn't. These kids didn't deserve what was happening to them.

She stacked the hand towels on top of one another. "Alex is working on making this place a better environment for everyone. Progress just takes time."

"I just wish it wasn't affecting more people. I mean... those poor kids outside of Alpine don't deserve this treatment.

She nodded. "I agree. I just didn't know my father had been working on it so intensely. I didn't expect it to happen so soon. Or ever."

"Why would he have wanted that?"

"To have control. That's all he ever wanted."

I felt like I was personally responsible for helping to fix things that their dad had done. It wasn't my responsibility or job to do so but I couldn't sit by and watch people be forced to live a life that wasn't fair. Everyone deserved a chance.