Tommy came to stay with me in the second week of January. Under a temporary placement order.
The first night, he stood in my hallway holding one backpack. That was all he had.
“You can pick any room you want,” I said.
He pointed at the smallest guest room. Mary’s old sewing room.
“Can I lock the door?”
My heart sank.
“Yes.”
Then he looked worried.
“But you’ll still come if I call?”
“Yes.”
He thought about it.
“So the lock means I keep people out. Not people keep me in.”
I had to turn away for a second.
“Yes, buddy. That’s exactly what it means.”
He nodded. “Okay.”
He locked the door that first night.
Five minutes later, he unlocked it.
He left it cracked open about six inches.
That became our routine.
The Christmas lights stayed up on my house until February. Because he asked me to leave them.
The turkey went into the freezer untouched.
Sophie’s doll stayed wrapped under my little tree for weeks.
Finally one night, Tommy asked about it.
“Who’s that present for?”
“Your cousin Sophie. Your Aunt Karen’s girl.”
“She still getting it?”
“If I ever catch Aunt Karen long enough to hand it to her.”
He laughed.
It was the first real, full laugh I’d heard from him in months.
Therapy started. So did counseling at his new school.
Tommy had missed a lot more school than I ever knew. Not because he was sick. Because after arguments, Robert would sometimes keep him home.
Jennifer called them “reset days.”
Tommy called them “days nobody can see me.”
That sentence ended up in his therapist’s notes.
I’ll never forget it.
Sophia Rivers is an experienced News Content Editor with a sharp eye for detail and a passion for delivering accurate and engaging news stories. At TheArchivists, she specializes in curating, editing, and presenting news content that informs and resonates with a global audience.
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