The Scientist He Erased Returns

Clevel

hattering the fragile peace I had found in my work. My hand, s

Get out here, you

e, shrill and laced with ve

matically, was being held back by a security guard. My father, his face flushed with anger and cheap alcohol, was shouting obscenities, pointing a tremb

my voice tight with humiliation. Coworkers peek

to tighten his grip. "We're here because you owe us! You owe us for everyt

ne held high. "She cut off her own family! Now that A

eds a loan for his business! And the house, Ellie! You

. "I'm not your retirement plan, Jamie. And I certainly

do you? After everything we've done for you? After we put you through school? You

suddenly silent corridor. The force of the blow sent me sprawling, my head hitting the cold, hard l

above me. The humiliation was a physical weight, pre

d out, pushing myself up despite the throbbi

perweight on a nearby desk. He snatched it up, his knuckles white. "You ungrate

and strangely agile, launched himself forward. A sickening thud. The paperweight

st

he paperweight had struck him. His face, usually so devoid of emotion, w

ned, cut through the stunned silence. "C

obbing, Jamie now wrestling futilely-were quickly subdued and led away. My mother's final words, befor

ntense. "Are you alright?" he asked,

to my throbbing jaw. But my eyes wer

noticing it for the first time.

ve suit jacket, a stark red against the dark material. He alw

ing insults about my threadbare clothes and cheap lunch. And then, Alston, a lanky, awkward prodigy even then, stepping in. Not with fists, but with a sharp

d once protected my fragile self-worth, might one day see me as worth protecting, worth loving. I had mistaken his accidental k

ce. My heart, so recently hardened, felt a treacherous flu

t door. It was habit. It was his innate sense of order, of