The days leading up to Friday were a weird kind of quiet. A new routine had settled into the apartment, one that didn't involve him just hiding in his room. Kofi would wake up and make toast, and Thea would eventually emerge from her room and eat a slice in silence at the dining table. It was still awkward as hell, but it was a start.
He came home from school one afternoon to find her sketchbook left on the coffee table. 'I shouldn't look. That's an invasion of privacy.' He looked anyway. After a few blank pages, he saw it. A perfect sketch of a sparrow. It was really good. A few pages later, a blue jay. 'She's actually drawing.'
He felt a quiet, warm feeling in his chest. He closed the book and put it back exactly where he found it.
On Thursday night, he stood in front of his open duffel bag, feeling completely useless.
'Okay. Folding. Nina said folding. Like files in a filing cabinet. How hard can that be?'
