Ever since I could remember, Mommy and I played this weird game where she pretended to be dead.
The first time I found her just lying there–super still, not breathing at all–I got really, really scared and cried so hard.
But after a while, I figured out that Mommy was just playing pretend with me, so I wasn’t scared anymore.
Then one day, there was this big ceremony at this huge cemetery place. Everything felt really sad and quiet, and there was a big hole in the ground with a wooden box covered in a flag sitting right next to it.
All the grown–ups around me were crying really loud. But not me.
Instead, I looked at that flag on the box and thought, “Wow, Mommy’s being super good at pretending this time. She even made Daddy cry for real!”
Slowly, the box went down, down, down into the hole, and suddenly everyone started crying even louder than before.
So I pulled on Daddy’s sleeve and asked, “Are we done playing now? I wanna go home and wait for Mommy!”
Right away, Daddy picked me up and I could see he was crying too.
“Betty, baby… Mommy can’t come home anymore.”
But I just touched the shiny metal tag around my neck that Mommy gave me and shook my head really hard.
“Nuh–uh! Mommy said she’d come back! She promised!”
However, nobody would listen to me. They all kept saying stuff like I was “sick” or something dumb like that.
Later on, Daddy brought home this lady and said she was gonna be my “new mommy.”
That’s so silly! My real mommy is still here–I saw her!
If Daddy won’t believe me, then fine. I’ll just go find Mommy ALL BY MYSELF!
The rain kept hitting the black umbrellas, making this dull, constant drumming sound.
In the cemetery, everything was just… black everywhere.
Sad sniffling sounds came from all around me, and every single grown–up had red, puffy eyes.
Daddy’s back looked all hunched over now, and his shoulders were shaking while tears dripped down his face.
This game seemed way bigger than usual – even Uncle Mike was there, and I hardly ever saw him!
Then Uncle Mike got down on one knee and put Mommy’s shiny metal thing around my neck.
“Betty, sweetie, this is the only thing your mom left behind. You keep it safe, okay?”
I watched as dirt got scooped up and dropped down, covering up the red, white and blue flag.
Everyone around me was super sad and crying.
Everyone except me.
I was just waiting for Mommy to suddenly jump out from behind a tree or something, laughing really loud while she picked me up and spun me around. saying, “Gotcha! My brave little Betty!”
We’d played this game like a million times before.
Under the bed, inside the closet, and one time Mommy even squeezed herself into that old trunk up in the attic.
Every single time, I’d find her and we’d end up laughing and rolling around together.
22-17
From Beloved Daughter to Dead Burdon? Now Watch Your ‘Perfect Family BURN!
18.0%
Chapter 1
Mommy would always say “Another round of hide–and–seek goes to Betty!”
So this time had to be the same thing.
Even though they made it super fancy this time with lots of people watching.
But this was definitely just part of the game – Mommy probably made up new rules to make it seem more real.
After everyone started leaving, I asked Daddy “Is the game over now? I wanna go home and wait for Mommy!”
Then Daddy hugged me really, really tight – like, so tight it kinda hurt.
His voice sounded all scratchy “Betty, baby… Mommy’s not coming back.”
I looked at the big stone with words on it and said back, “When the game’s over, Mommy will come back.”
“There’s no game…”
Daddy squeezed me even tighter.
“Mommy’s GONE! She’s DEAD! She’s NEVER coming back!”
I couldn’t breathe with Daddy hugging me so hard, so I figured maybe he just forgot how the game worked. I pushed his shoulder a little bit to remind him.
“But Daddy, they just buried Mommy’s clothes down there, not actually Mommy.”
All of a sudden, Daddy stopped crying completely. Like someone just covered his mouth or something.
He opened his mouth and his lips were shaking really bad, but no words came out at all.
That’s when Uncle Mike pulled Daddy over to talk by themselves.
The rain was super loud, but I listened really hard and still heard what Uncle Mike said.
“She was too close to the explosion, Sullivan. There was nothing left to recover.”
“We only found pieces of her uniform. Had to do our best to make it presentable.”
“I know this is hard, but this was all we could manage. I’m sorry for your loss.”
