Mommy says I’m sick...

... but I don’t feel sick. I think she just worries about me because of the mean man.

Mommy keeps the curtains up all the time now, and says I have to stay inside. I want to say that the mean man was inside, but I don’t. We don’t talk about him.

I have to take medicine every day, but I don’t think it’s actually medicine, because it tastes really good. When Mommy cooks I don’t feel like eating but Mommy says that’s okay because I’m not feeling well.

Mommy says I don’t have to go to school anymore. She said she would teach me at home, but usually she’s too busy to. I miss my friends, and I wish Mommy had time to play with me. She’s always reading. She says she’s looking for a cure. I tell her that I’m not really sick and she just gets teary-eyed. Then I think maybe I’m dying. Maybe that’s why she won’t tell me anything.

I’m really thirsty. Drinking water doesn’t help. The medicine does, but Mommy says we have to “conserve” it. I asked her what that means, and she says that I can only have a little bit each day.

I started getting sick after the mean man came. Mommy won’t talk about him. I think he came in the house to hurt her, but then he hurt me instead. And she got angry. You know what, I don’t want to talk about him either. I don’t want to remember any more.

But I’m thirsty. I asked Mommy for medicine and she went to the kitchen to get it ready. Now she’s back, carrying my cup. Her hands are shaking. She’s so, so tired lately.

I take the cup from her. Her hands are cold, as cold as mine.

She takes such good care of me.