Croak (34 page)
Authors: Gina Damico
Tags: #Social Issues, #Humorous Stories, #Eschatology, #Family, #Religion, #Juvenile Fiction, #Mysteries & Detective Stories, #Fiction, #Family & Relationships, #Horror & Ghost Stories, #Death, #Fantasy & Magic, #Future life, #Self-Help, #Death; Grief; Bereavement, #Siblings, #Death & Dying, #Alternative Family
She went back downstairs. Her mother and father still clutched each other, now grieving the loss of not only one, but both of their children. Heaving the bag onto her shoulder, she made her way into the dining room and bent over her parents.
“Goodbye, Dad,” Lex whispered, gently kissing him on his shiny head. She did the same to her mother, brushing a tuft of matted hair aside, distant memories of lullabies humming softly through her memory. “Goodbye, Mom.”
That was how she left them as she walked out of the house, slammed the screen door, and sank into the seat of Uncle Mort’s car.
And that was how she would remember them for the longest time thereafter, even in the bleakest of moments: her two loving parents, clinging to each other in the dark, crying long into the night.
Gina Damico
grew up under four feet of snow in Syracuse, New York. She received a degree in theater and sociology from Boston College, where she was active with the Committee for Creative Enactments, a murder mystery improv comedy troupe that may or may not have sparked her interest in wildly improbable bloodshed. She has since worked as a tour guide, transcriptionist, theater house manager, scenic artist, movie extra, office troll, retail monkey, yarn hawker, and breadmonger.
Croak
is her first novel. She lives outside of Boston with her husband, two cats, and a closet full of black hoodies.
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