Elijah looked at Gun nervously. “Why are we here?”

  Looking at his son, he smiled. “Because she asked to see you.”

  Jason was frowning beside them, but didn’t say anything. They were making their way to the psychiatric ward, and the children weren’t that happy to be here. They thought they were going out to eat because Gun had something to tell them, but here they were making a stop to visit their mother.

  Adalynn was following behind them, skipping in her steps. She barely knew the woman, only that she is their mother and Gun is their daddy, but there is also this man called King in the pictures on the walls that she remembered and felt peace whenever she stared at the picture of him holding her.

  They made their way outside to the garden where Sandie was sitting on a bnket she made enjoying the sunlight.

  They stopped and stared at her when they saw her. Gun sighed inwardly. Sandie has been here since the day she got caught by him. He called the hospital to get her evaluated and after the tests; they found out that she was schizophrenic. He felt so sorry for her, but now at least she was getting treatment, although she was putting up a fight too.

  Stopping behind her, he called, “Sandie?”

  She turned around with a smile on her face but when she saw it was Gun she frowned, “It’s you again?”

  Sitting down beside her, he said, “I heard you made this bnket. You’re pretty good at it.”

  “I know. I made more, you can have them. I made one for my brother too. How is he?” she asked.

  “I told you before that he’s dead,” he said.

  She scoffed. “He came to visit me the other day. He doesn’t look dead to me. Why do you keep saying he’s dead?”

  Resting his chin on his palm, he stared at her. She had been talking a lot about King but not as her lover, but as her brother at least. When he did a follow up on her condition, the doctor said it seemed like she was holding on to him to be her everything, but the possibility of them being intimate couldn’t be shoved under the bus.

  “The doctor says you’re doing better. How are things?” He asked.

  She looked at her children and smiled as they sat down. Holding her arms out to Adalynn, she hugged her, saying, “You’ve gotten so big.”

  The little girl just nodded and let her stroke her hair. It’s one thing she likes about coming here. Sandie would always do her hair into styles. Gun did it too, but it was just different when this woman did it.

  “Eli, you’ve also grown so much. How is school?” She asked.

  Elijah looked at Gun for an answered but Gun just stared at him. Turning back to her, he answered, “Fine. I get good marks and I do well in sports too. I got awards for them.”

  She smiled, nodding her head. “I would have loved to be there.”

  “You could have if you weren’t inside here.” He mumbled.

  Gun looked at the boy with a raised brow. Why does it seem like he was resentful?

  Looking at Jason, she asked, “And you? How are you doing?”

  Jason was staring at them from a bench and didn’t bother answering. He loved her but wasn’t really fond of her because of how she treated them and he got the bad end of the stick.

  “He was bullied for so long and you didn’t notice. He almost killed those boys and now I have to pay off his debts. They were going to expel him, but because we donate to the school, we were saved. He has a girlfriend too, but she’s like you too. She needs to see a doctor. Maybe he sees you in her and that’s why he’s helping her.”

  Sandie stared at her son as she listened to Gun’s words, then turned to him and asked, “When am I leaving this pce?”

  Gun sighed, “Jason, take your brother and sister to look around. Your mother and I need to have a talk.”

  He nodded and waved his siblings over, who didn’t want to get yelled at by Gun for not listening. Looking at her, he said, “You’re not ready to leave here.”

  She grabbed his hands. “Please Gun, I am better. My anger bursts have stopped and I can think straight now. I swear I won’t do what I did. I’m a changed person.”

  “And what exactly did you do?” He asked her.

  She looked at him, confused at first, then sighed. Gun scoffed, “What you did was hurt those kids, especially Jason, and still wanted money to cover the expenses so that I wouldn’t be notified that my child was taken to the hospital because he was pushed down the stairs? You’re so lucky there’s nothing wrong with him and you still have the balls to ask me if you can leave? You’re lucky King isn’t alive. He’ll hurt you for harming Jason. Can’t you see your son is even too afraid to get near you?”

  Standing up, Gun looked down at her. “You’ll spend years in here until Jason pities you enough to get you out.”

  She watched as he walked away and hit her fist into the grass. Gring at him, she grit her teeth.

  *

  Turning to Jason, who was tapping away at his phone instead of eating, he asked, “Who are you chatting to?”

  He pced the phone down and grinned at him. “My pretty girlfriend. Who else? She misses me.”

  “I wonder if it’s you or your manhood,” he said, pointing the knife at him. Cutting the steak as he listen to Jason ugh he asked, “How are you doing? Why didn’t you speak to your mother?”

  He groaned and picked at his food.

  Gun looked over at him, concerned, “Jason, you and I have rarely gotten you to speak about your father. Are you still seeing the psychologist?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, and I talk to him every week about my problems. So you don’t have to worry about it.”

  Smiling at him, “So when are you going to tell me? I know you must miss your father. I miss him too,” he said.

  Jason nodded. “I do, but what can I do? Miss him? Cry? He told me one time that life doesn’t end with his death and we should move on. I have to finish school and make sure Eli doesn’t fuck up his life and keep all the aliens away from Adalynn.”

  “What about you? Aren’t you dating a bad egg?” Gun asked him.

  “Why do you speak about her like that?” He asked.

  Rolling his eyes, Gun pced the cutlery down. Folding his arms, he said, “Because she reminds me of myself.”

  He raised a brow with a smirk. Shaking his head, Jason said, “I knew it. You don’t just hate someone for no reason.”

  He nodded, “One time, your father and I were in a bad spot and I turned to whoring around to get his attention. During this time, someone found the perfect opportunity to get close to me, but it looks like your father knew it would happen and let it all py into his hands. I’ve been feeling guilty all this time, and it was worse when he took me back, but then I realised I needed to stop bming myself for being fooled by your father. I may have forced myself into his life, but in the end, he captured me and now I’m here without him.”

  “Yeah, baby sitting his children,” Jason teased.

  Pcing a hand on his stomach, his heart broke. ‘I wonder how it would be if she lived.’