Undead

6; rehabilitation

I loaded my duffle bag into the trunk of Akila's Audi and slammed the door shut, turning on my heels to face my family. My foster mom, foster dad, Mijo, Mylen, and Maleah. She was in tears about me leaving, and Mylen had his arm draped across her shoulder to console her.

"You sure you want to do this?" my mom asked quietly, and she blinked away tears. Bittersweet, because I was leaving but she was proud of me taking the steps needed to get better. "We don't want to pressure you, sweetheart."

I wrapped her in a tight hug, an appreciative smile on my face. "I'm good, Ma. I have to do this for me and for you guys. I'll be back before you know it," I kissed her forehead and her fingers clutched at my t-shirt. "We all want this, right?"

She nodded and let me go, and I turned to my foster dad. We had the same height, but his chest was broader because of his career. He made it a priority to stay fit at all times. I on the other hand was just scrawny as hell. He grinned proudly at me, "We're proud of you, knucklehead." Knucklehead had always been my nickname from him because we were so close.

"Appreciate it, Pops," I murmured, wrapping him in a half hug. Those two stepped out of the way and I knelt down in front of Mylen and Maleah, and they both ran towards me and threw their arms around me. I couldn't help but laugh, I almost lost my balance.  "Leah, why you cryin'?"

All I heard was sniffles as a response.

"Baby girl," I chuckled, and I pulled her away to wipe her tears. "Don't cry, princess. I'll be back, you know it."

"Do you have to go?" Her eyes were big and pleading, her cheeks a deep red.

"You don't want me to be sad anymore, right?" I asked her and she nodded her head slowly. "Well, I'm gonna go get happy again and I'll be back in a lil while. I promise you I'm gonna come back and we'll play as long as you want." I nodded at Mylen. "Aight, man. I'm puttin' you in charge to take care of your sister and your dad for me while I'm gone. Cool?"

Mylen smiled, nodding. "Yeah!"

I kissed Maleah's forehead and squeezed her into another hug and Mijo had to pry her away from me; she clutched onto his leg and hid her face from view. Mylen ran back to me and hugged me tightly, and he squirmed away from me when I kissed his head.

The worst part of all of this was Mijo. He just...stared at me as if he didn't know what to say. That made two of us, though. I couldn't think of any words to say him. Part of me wanted to tell him to fuck off, but the other part, the bigger part of me, searched my mind for anything to say. I came up short. Our relationship was strained. It'd been days since my release from the hospital, and we hadn't spoken since then; he only contacted me once because the kids wanted to check on me, but other than that I hadn't heard from him. I didn't know if he was embarrassed or what but I was too exhausted to care.

If I wanted to get better, I had to cut out any and every distraction.

We settled on a half-hearted handshake.

"Babe," Akila dragged me from my thoughts, and her eyes glanced up from her phone. "We gotta go so we don't hit traffic."

I nodded, waved goodbye to my family, and we both climbed into her car. After a morning of entertaining at my parents' house, bonding with each other before being away for three months, I was tired. Akila and I clung to each other like we'd never see each other again, and Mylen and Maleah were attached at our hips. I appreciated them and I was grateful to spend time with them, but something felt off. Mijo kept to himself, distancing away from us for the majority of the morning.

On the freeway, I turned on the AC in her car and turned the radio down so we could talk. Our hands were already connected on the center console, and it settled my nerves. "Babe."