Top Highlights

• It started in her stomach and spread outward until her whole body was racked with pain. She couldn’t stand the covers pulled over her or the air moving in the room. Every sensory input hurt from head to toes.
• How could air hurt?
• She pulled her coat back over the bottle to keep herself warm and to shield it from the eyes of people who would stare or be disgusted that she would dare to use a feeding tube in public. As if a discreet tube into her stomach were more revolting than touching and masticating her food.
• Hannah thought of a snake. Hissing soft, sibilant syllables, coiling up to strike. Not a rattlesnake. Nothing that made that much noise. She would strike quietly, all while acting like she cared about them and what was going on in their house.
• “Your mom isn’t able to take care of you right now,” Maya Simmons said. “We need to intervene and make sure that you get the proper care that you need, and that she is able to look after the other children.”