The Perfect Son

by Freida McFadden

I’ve got to figure out who Olivia is. And I’ve got to keep something terrible from happening to her.

Yikes

But I’ve already gotten up from the table and I’m hurrying out the door.

Bitch did you pay

“It’s hard to explain. I feel like everyone else is real, like they’re really living life. But Liam is, like, this actor who is being paid to hang out with us.”

But then he starts talking to another girl, who is on stage with them. That’s Olivia Reynolds.

Oh this will be interesting

Liam is a brilliant public speaker. He’s always been good at getting in front of a crowd and doing his thing.

Prediction: liam isnt crazy but mom is

“Frank? It’s Erika Cass. I need to talk to you. There’s another… Please call me back. As soon as you can.”

Oh

And he’s very good at getting what he wants. I won’t let him have what he wants this time.

Dun dun dun

The thought of him being alone and up to his own devices terrifies me. “That’s wonderful,” I say.

Truth be told, I’m not entirely sure how. My husband is a tech guy and I can’t change the ringtone on my phone.

This is why u write recipes for a local magazine

“So apparently…” Madison lowers her voice a notch. “Tyler said he had to stop being friends with Liam, because Liam is legit crazy. Like, he would say and do all these crazy things. And Tyler got really freaked out.”

“Yeah. But honestly, it didn’t really matter, because the next day… Well, you know.”

Columbine

And then he didn’t come back to school in September. Oh, and last year there was that whole thing with Lily Macintosh.

This is way too much detail. I dont care...

“I really think…” He frowns at me. “I think if you go out with him, your life could be in danger.”

Tyler shifts between his thick legs. “It’s a long story. You have to trust me.”

No one is just going to trust an accusatuon like that dude

Tyler’s fingers are the size of sausages. I try again to shake him off as I feel bruises blossoming on my skin.

Does this bitch have glass bones and paper skin?

“We’ll talk about it more later,” he says.

If this dude just told her everything from the start there wouldnt be a book....

I snuggle up against him to watch episode five of season two of BoJack Horseman. It’s this television show about a drug-addicted horse who was on a nineties sitcom. Don’t judge.

Bruh i hate freidas writing

He’s been running the Nassau Nutshell for ten years, and he has a very rigid idea of how things should be done.

Bruh for a second i forgot that she works for the local highlights magazine and thought oh yeah she must be an important ny executive if her boss is calling at 9pm. Smh boss can fuck outta here for his $12.75/hour

There would be some nights when I would get on the computer and bang out the article for him on the spot,

Bitch no what the fuck

“You know,” he says, “now that the kids are older, you could go look for a better job. One in the city.”

When something bad happens, he has to hear it secondhand from me. And he’s always certain I’m exaggerating.

Thats not cool

He has no clue what our son is capable of.

Well neither do we bc no one has the balls to say it

Tonight I cuddle with Mr. Penguin as I try to fall asleep. I push my face into his soft black and white fur, squeezing my eyes shut. Sleep, dammit! No, this is impossible.

Ur cuddling a stuffed penguin ur not allowed to curse. Its past ur bed time

Liam is soooo cute. Everything about him makes me all tingly. Every time I close my eyes, I picture him smiling at me.

I get tht this is pov of a teen but jfc i cant

For some reason, I’m really into teeth. Perfect, straight teeth are really sexy to me. Is that weird? Maybe.

Yes it is

I realize somebody is throwing pebbles against my window.

Cliche

They’ll never know if I slip out. And anyway, I’ll be right downstairs. “Okay, I’ll be right down.”

Its a little early in the book for this bitch to die already

look at the sky and see the moon is full tonight. When I was in fifth grade, we learned about all the different kinds of moons. Full moon, crescent moon, new moon. I barely remember it. But I’ve always loved full moons.

This is just fluff bc she knows this book has no plot that couldnt be resolved in a simple conversation

Jason told me he had a late dinner meeting at work with an investor. This is something that happens from time to time, and I didn’t think much of it. But then when he came home, he was grinning ear to ear and reeking of unfamiliar perfume.

Smh of course he did

When it comes to Liam, the unexpected is always bad.

“Did you try calling his phone?” I can’t believe that somehow I did not think to do that. I’m amazed by my husband’s ability to think rationally in any situation.

Bc u dont even know how to change ur ringtone.....

What I’m worried about is Liam happening to somebody else.

I haven’t had to swallow one of my Xanax in two months. I had been so proud of myself.

It’s my last thought as I drift off to sleep. I have no idea that my entire world is about to fall apart.

It’s a very good question. The front of the school is packed with police officers and reporters in equal numbers. It’s a bad combination.

Welp guess it wasnt too early

“Liam.” I choke out the next sentence: “Where did you go last night?” He lifts his dark eyes and looks straight into mine. “I just walked around the block.”

The hardest thing about Liam is that when he says “I love you,” I can’t tell whether that’s a lie too.

“We were doing a unit about families and marriage and all that. And Liam raised his hand and said that he couldn’t wait to get married.” “That doesn’t sound so bad.” “He said he couldn’t wait to get married, so he could stuff his wife deep in a hole and never let her out.”

“Well, like I said, Liam was a smart kid. I got the sense that the only reason he stopped saying those things was because he realized he shouldn’t say it out loud anymore. I don’t think he stopped having those thoughts though.

He never lived to see the grandson who looks more like him every single day. “What about my father?”

“What?” “He’s alive.”

Lmao in prison for murdering someonei bet. Apple doesnt fall far from the tree

Mom looks down at her wrinkled hands in her lap. “He’s been in prison. For first-degree murder.”

Nailed it

This has been the most stressful morning of my entire life. At this point, my day is going to end with me in the hospital with a stroke.

Maybe he just wanted to see her suffer. Maybe he just wanted to see her scream.

Liam direct quote obvi

Today of all days, this is too much for me to take in. My father is alive and he’s a murderer. He poisoned a woman. And oh yeah, he’s out of jail and might come looking for me.

And ur son is about to go to jail

Oh God. Oh God. I’m in a hole. I’m in a hole in the ground.

Damn been planning that crime since the second grade. That should be extra jail time

Otherwise, I’ll die, and I’ll be no good to him for whatever he wants.

I mean.....depends on how fucked up he really is

I’d just like to see what would happen to her, Mommy. If I put her in a hole and didn’t feed her, what would happen? And if she were my wife, I could do what I wanted and no one would even look for her.

Then I come across something that feels a little different. It’s round, roughly the size of a melon. But it’s not a sphere. As my fingers round the curve, I feel two large holes. My chest tightens as I realize what I’m touching. It’s a skull.

Is this grandpas stash? Have they been pen pals??

“More than once, he mentioned the idea of wanting to trap a girl and watch her starve to death. He actually did play this out once when he was in kindergarten. He duct-taped a girl in a closet.

Oh so thats the incident