Read The Brothers for Free Online

lap.
    But no one does.
    Rukus pulls Dancer down the aisle and out the doors. When she passes, I don’t look up. What a coward I am.
    “Well,” Dr. Bashees says, blowing out a breath, “that was…something. Girls, we’d like you to go to your rooms now for quiet reflection. Chores and other hospital duties can resume at lunch.”
    We rise silently and file out of the room, still rank with the smell of unwashed human bodies.
    I hug close to Sabrina and let her lead me to our room. It’s the spitting image of every other room on this floor: two single beds, white sheets, one closet with a few changes of clothes, one barred window looking out on the parking lot and beyond to the little shanty town that rings the hospital. I fall on my bed, search under my pillow, and find the tattered, yellow crossword puzzle book. Keeping my pillow up to block it from the camera, I scan the clues. Only four unsolved pages left and I’ve been saving them. But I need a distraction. I need to lose myself in neat black and white boxes.
    The mattress sags as Sabrina sinks down beside me.
    “Can you believe that?” Sabrina whispers near my ear. She smells like antiseptic soap, but there’s a faint sweetness on her breath that makes me wonder if she’s been sneaking rolls from the kitchen again. “Can you believe they brought that crazy man in here? All because some B Hall girls thought it would be funny to break into a storage closet.”
    I peel my arm back and look at her. Sabrina is propped up on one elbow, her long legs stretching to the floor. A kind person would call Sabrina statuesque and a cruel person might call her gigantic. She’s bigger than most of the doctors and two thirds of the orderlies. If that weren’t enough, she’s mostly bald from the hormone injections they’ve been giving her to help her keep her current baby. Sabrina’s a dropper. She gets pregnant easily, but she loses the babies around month four or five. She’s only carried one live baby to term. It’s why she has to live on D Hall with me.
    “They want to scare us, Sabrina,” I whisper, my eyes flicking to the tiny, black camera in the corner. Auntie taught me that the audio system is not very good. They can always see you, but they can’t always hear you. “They want us to be afraid.”
    Sabrina blows out a breath and scratches at the fabric she’s tied around her head. “He looked like a wild animal up there. And did you see Dr. Bashees almost grab him? Probably would’ve gotten rancher’s flu just from that leather jacket.”
    “Do you remember that girl?” I whisper.
    Sabrina nods. “Just her face, not her name. God, how awful. It’s bad enough to get put out , but then to have to come back, be paraded around… I’d throw myself off the roof first.”
    I go silent.
    “To have a man touch you like that. God, I bet she just hates him. If I were her, I’d slit his throat in his sleep. I’d take his—”
    A noise. I shove my puzzle book and pencil under my pillow. If they knew Nanny Bell taught me to read, we’d be in deep trouble. Slowly, I turn.
    There, in the open doorway, stands Brianne, Micha, and Charlene. My gaze travels across their gowns where the embroidered roses, signifying live births, are sewn. Charlene has five roses, Micha has six, and Brianne, Queen Bee Brianne, has eight pink roses embroidered on her shirt.
    Sabrina springs up.
    Brianne raises one ginger-colored eyebrow. “Didn’t know you could move so fast, turtle. You could take over as courier when this one gets put out .”
    I’m frozen. My blood pumps like every inch of me is one giant heart. Does she know?
    “You’re supposed to be in your rooms,” Sabrina says, rubbing a hand over her bare head. “If the nannies find out—”
    “They know we’re here,” Micha says, tossing back her thick, brown braid. Her stomach has swelled to an enormous size, and I wonder how she even got down the hallway. She’s carrying twins and can’t stop smiling about it.