content warnings: death, child death
"Uh, earlier today with the possum. When you said it might've missed its mom."
They looked across the room at her.
"Have you been missing your mom?"
She stared up at the ceiling, her hands grabbing a fistful of blanket. She took a deep breath.
Pretend the blanket is the person who killed your parents.
She squeezed the sheets as hard as she could until she felt her nails digging into her palms through the fabric. She felt the urge to scream, curse, do anything to hurt the person that left her like this. Reborn as a phi tai hong, into an existence of rage and hurt.
"Yes," she growled.
"Gah, Pat, I'm sorry! I just wanted to make sure you were alright."
"They'll get what's coming to them one day, right?"
"Of course they will! You can't just go around killing parents with nobody noticing, somebody will notice eventually!"
She sucked air through her teeth, thinking violent thoughts.
"And it'll hurt?"
"If it doesn't, it'll hurt in the afterlife."
"Good."