Saving Rain

by Kelsey Kingsley

don’t want you coming home.” Off to my right, Coop—a guy who’d attempted a bank robbery after finding out he was gonna lose his house—must’ve just told his wife he had a good shot at getting out of here, too, because she was jumping out of her seat to throw herself at him. The guard allowed the hug for a few seconds before asking them to break it up. And there was my mom, telling me she didn’t want me coming home. It must’ve been nice to have someone who wanted you out, where they could hug you without someone telling you to stop. A muscle in my jaw twitched. “Why not?” “Because …” She squeezed her hands into white-knuckled fists, like she was suddenly angry. She leaned forward and dropped her voice to a whisper. “Do you even know what you have done to my life since you murdered Billy?” The air was sucked out of the room as I stared at her skeleton face. Those words—murdered Billy—sliced deep, cutting through bone and muscle, until they pierced what was left of my heart. Except she had it wrong. I hadn’t murdered Billy. I hadn’t wanted him to die; I hadn’t asked him to take her poisoned drugs. But he had done it anyway, and I would live with that for the rest of my life. The fact that she thought I’d murdered him though … that hurt when I knew it shouldn’t. Her opinion shouldn’t have mattered. Yet it did. It always would. “I didn’t murder anyone,” I replied, my voice low. “Bullshit,” she hissed, sneering. “And I’m not the only one who thinks so. Billy’s mother? You ever wo...