RAW by Kelly Favor Page B

where her father had brought the car around.
    For a brief second, when they were moving her into the backseat of the car, she thought she’d actually seen Deena sitting in there, and Caelyn nearly screamed bloody murder.
    But it had been some sort of hallucination. The backseat was empty as she got into it. Her father turned and looked back at her with weary eyes. “Hi, Caelyn.”
    Caelyn didn’t much feel like answering, so she said nothing.
    Her mother got in the passenger side and leaned over, whispering in his ear.
    Caelyn’s dad nodded his head quickly. “Got it,” he said, and then pulled out and started driving away from the hospital.
    Caelyn leaned against the cold glass of the window, her cheek pressed against it like she’d done so many times as a little girl, driving with her parents to all sorts of places. How different it felt now, she thought dully.
    In the past, it had been comforting. The familiar smells of the car—air freshener, her father’s dry cleaning, old leather. But now she thought that everything that had once comforted her had been a lie.
    Yes, her parents had been supportive and loving, but only because she’d been the perfect child for them to trot out to their friends and co-workers. She’d been the golden child, and now she was the black sheep.
    Now they wanted to destroy her, they wanted to destroy everything that was different from their fantasies of who she was.
    Elijah was gone, and it was all because of them—Deena was just a puppet, as far as Caelyn was concerned.
    She wouldn’t have even been surprised if Deena had acted on behalf of her mother.
    “Are you hungry?”
    The question cut through the haze of Caelyn’s dark musings about her family’s true intentions. She blinked lazily. “Hungry?” she repeated, as if it had been a complicated question.
    “We can stop at McDonald’s if you want.” Her mother’s voice was soothing, as if trying to lull her into a state of submission. They’d already tried threats, now came bribery.
    Caelyn’s eyes narrowed. She wanted to know why her mother was being so nice again, suddenly.
    And then she realized why.
    It’s because she got rid of her competition. Elijah was the one thing standing in the way of her taking back control. Elijah was her archenemy and he’s been taken care of.
    She thinks that without Elijah’s influence, I’ll cave in and go back to being the daughter she wants me to be.
    Caelyn smiled a little as it occurred to her how she would get her revenge. Play along until she found her opening—and then she would strike.
    “I am a little hungry,” she admitted.
    Her mother smiled wider. “Double cheeseburger with fries?”
    “And a large Diet Coke,” Caelyn said. “If that’s okay.”
    Caelyn’s mother and father exchanged glances. Maybe she’d laid it on too thick, she thought. They were suspicious of her compliance.
    But then they each seemed to relax in their seats, as if a more important question than what to eat for dinner had just been answered.
    “McDonald’s sounds good to me,” her father chuckled.
    “Me too,” her mother replied.

    ***
    Caelyn ate all her food and drank her soda on the way home. The wrapper sat on her lap, little bits of yellow cheese still stuck to it after she’d eaten her burger. She licked the salt from her fingertips after chomping down the very last French fry.
    Conversation in the car had been sparse, as if her parents were afraid to say too much and ruin the calm that had somehow been established.
    “You must be tired,” her mother said, as they turned into their neighborhood.
    “Yeah, I don’t think I can remember what it’s like to not be tired,” Caelyn said, staring out the window at the big houses and the impeccable lawns. Everything looked perfect, and she remembered a time when it had actually been perfect, too.
    Her life had once been so simple, uncomplicated. She’d thought that everything would always be as easy as deciding whether to take