“I’m sorry,” she said.
“Addie… I want to help you.”
“With what?” She was confused.
“I want to go to the school and see if your daughter is alive.”
“No,” she quipped. “Absolutely not.”
“Yes.” Henry gave her tone right back to her.
“Henry, you haven’t seen the school. It’s overrun. I’m sure she must be one of them.” Her voice got quieter as she spoke.
“Addie, listen, I understand what’s out there. You’ve helped us by opening your home and feeding us. I want to help you. I’m going to go, whether you want me to or not.”
She chose to ignore him for the moment. “How did you hurt your hand?” Addie picked up his bandaged hand. Henry swallowed hard. He didn’t want to relive Sophie’s death once again.
“I broke it,” he said in a near whisper.
“How?” She was genuinely curious and concerned.
“I was angry.”
“You have to learn to control that. You’re going to tear yourself up if you keep letting all that rage fly around.”
“I know. But… I don’t want to talk about it.” Addie unwrapped his hand. She could see how much emotional pain it caused Henry to even see it. She was confused, but she knew there must have been a good reason for his reaction. She was as gentle as possible, but he winced when she touched it. It was still tender, but the bruising was gone.
“There’s some swelling. I’m going to rewrap it with a different bandage, and hopefully it will help.”
“Thank you,” Henry muttered. The pain in his hand reminded him of how his emotions exploded when he made Sophie true dead. It also continued to remind him that he was still alive.
Addie left and came back to the bathroom in less than a minute.
“By the way, I saw Claire punch you.” Henry looked down at his bare chest. There were a few drops of blood on it. “I heard some of what she was saying. And some of what the girls were carrying on about in the kitchen. Your wanting to help me is causing some tension. I don’t want this to divide you.”
“I’m sorry you witnessed that. I’m going to help you, whether or not Claire is happy with it.”
She finished wrapping his hand. “Well, finish getting yourself cleaned up and get dressed. I’m going to go make breakfast.”
Addie turned and left Henry alone with his thoughts. He looked into the mirror, staring into his eyes. He clenched his jaw. The bitter feeling ran through his body like a shower of hot sparks. He had an intense desire to punch his reflection in the mirror, but he controlled it. He growled and walked out of the bathroom.
***
Addie walked into the kitchen. “Well, if someone would like to start a fire out in the grill, that would be wonderful. I’ll prepare the eggs. It’s out of propane so we’ll need a regular fire. There’s some dry kindling just inside the barn.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Nick was leaning up against the counter next to Claire. She touched his hand, showing some affection. Nick smiled at her, and his hand grazed across her lower abdomen. Addie handed him some matches. He pulled his gun out of the back of his pants just as he was walking out the door.
“I know it’s not my place, but I think you girls need to be easier on Henry. He’s in a lot of turmoil.”
“Believe me, I understand that better than anyone,” I said with confidence, but I still felt ashamed for my past behavior. It bothered me that she thought she knew enough about his situation to comment on it. No one knew the extent of his turmoil like I did.
“Well, he’s hurting.” I crossed my arms while listening to her lecture me about Henry. “I can see it in his eyes. He doesn’t know how to get it out, other than aggression, and he’s trying to hide it with that bottle.” She pointed at the empty vodka bottle that sat in the sink. What we didn’t know was that Henry was standing just shy of the door, listening to the conversation.
“His pain goes way back, well into his childhood, but you don’t really know too much about his situation so, please, I ask you to leave it, Addie.”
“You’re right, Elaina. I don’t know much about his situation, but I can tell you Henry depends on people, on you, to keep him right.” Now that she said that, it made a little sense. “He needs you, and he needs this group to stand together to keep him on the straight and narrow. And, from my own personal experience, division isn’t what an emotionally weak person needs.” I began biting my lip, trying to keep my own emotions at bay. Addie took me by the hands. “It’s going to be okay.” I couldn’t look at her for fear that I would cry. I wanted my old strong exterior, which shattered ages ago.