Flat-Out Matt Read Free Page B

he left the room that she would stop and probably spit out whatever was in her mouth.
    “So, look, you have a birthday coming up in a few weeks. What should we do to celebrate?”
    “There will not be a celebration, Matthew.”
    “We have to do something. I want to do something. How about dinner out? Or we could see if any of the theater groups have productions running now. I’d love to see a show with you. And is there a particular gift you’d like? I have a few things for you, and Mom and Dad, too, of course.” That wasn’t exactly a lie since he had bought her some gifts on their behalf.
    “I do not see a compelling reason to acknowledge the day as anything but another insignificant, if not torturous, twenty-four period. Do you?” she asked accusingly. “Do you, Matthew?” She shoved the plate with the now half-eaten sandwich across the table and lay on the couch.
    Matt rubbed his eyes. He simply didn’t have the energy to do this with her right now. The cycle was all too familiar to him; he’d spend twenty minutes trying to be animated and kind and (if he was really trying harder than usual) funny, and she’d either be totally silent or heartbreakingly abusive. Then he would try to reason with her, tap into any part of her that still lived , then get angry and say something that he’d regret. But today, he wasn’t strong enough. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Here.” He tossed a credit card on the table as he stood. “Go online and buy yourself whatever you want. You should have something nice, especially this year. Do it for me, for yourself, for Finn…. I don’t care who. Just do it.”
    Matt walked out of the room.
     
    **********
     
    The screen glowed brightly in the dark of Matt’s room, and he just now noticed that evening had set in. He unconsciously glanced at the calendar on his laptop. Five months, twenty-six days. Stop counting, stop counting. He lifted the next bill from the pile and arranged an online payment. While everything else in the house had fallen to shit, at least there was money in his parents’ account. When the electricity had been turned off because Roger and Erin forgot the two shut-off notices that had come in the mail, Matt had offered to deal with the bills. At least the loss of power had presented him and his parents with a conversation topic. A sterile and unhappy one, but it provided an excuse for interaction. Aside from specific logistical issues that had to be dealt with, no one talked to each other, and no one made much eye contact. Certainly no one smiled.
    He scrolled through the checking account, confirming that everything was normal and then did the same for the credit cards. He let out a small smile for only the second time in ages. It was hard not to feel a brief moment of levity when he’d first seen the charge last week. A little over a hundred dollars had been charged to an online party shop. Celeste had gone ahead and bought herself something, presumably the makings of a birthday party. She must have come around to the idea of the family celebrating her birthday in some form. It was probably just a mess of decorations, and all likely done from some sense of obligation to Finn’s memory, but Matt didn’t care. For the first time since that ungodly awful day last February, Celeste had done something positive .
    When the last bill was scheduled for payment, Matt collected the papers, ran them through a shredder, and sat back. He knew it was inexcusable that he was in charge of this, but it was much less complicated to simply tackle what had to be done than to try and get his own parents to handle this right now. It wouldn’t be forever. Mom was doing… well, she was making progress. Dad had to focus on his wife, so Matt would hold down the rest of the fort until life got back to normal. Or whatever normal was going to be.
    He lifted an envelope from his desk and sighed heavily. The letter was from MIT. This could have been,