Just pick up the shovel. The sooner you pick up the shovel, the sooner we can get this over with. The shovel awkwardly sticks out of the hastily formed hill of dirt beside me, and Mom lies at the bottom of the ragged hole at my feet, wrapped in her bedsheet, waiting to be buried.
I check on Father. The shallow rise and fall of his chest floods me with a confusing mix of relief and dread. I look down at the bloody hammer in my hand. It should have been him. Shay’s words from earlier flood back to me. I could end this; I could end him.
He’s thrown himself into the endless — according to him — interior design projects scattered throughout each wing of our house. I don’t think he’ll stop until each room is the perfect catnip for the mythical omega he thinks will make his parents love him someday.