Drea's bedroom. Morning after the procedure.

Wreckage everywhere. Pink vending machine cracked like a bad tooth. Bandages wrap necks and scalps.

Silence hums through broken glass.

Their eyes look wrong. Windows with the lights cut. Songs missing their chorus.

Lisa stands in the doorway. Dirt streaks her sleeves. Cross catches morning light at her throat.

She takes in the destruction. Takes in her children.

"What in the world happened in here?"

"It... didn't work." Drea's voice is small behind gauze.

Lisa blinks. "What didn't work?"

"The NeuroOrchid."

A quiet beat. Donnie stares at nothing. No green glow. No change.

Drea's gaze slides past Lisa. Glassy. Empty.

"You got the procedure, are you serious? Where did you even get the money?"

Drea's eyes flick to the empty space in her vending machine. "We sold Dad's marbles."

Lisa RUBS her head, breaths HEAVY, CLENCHES her fists so tight they tremble.

"You WHAT!? How could you? You sold a gift that your father, who is DEAD, left for you, for money to violate your brain?! And you’re telling me it didn’t work?" Her eyes flash with rage hot enough to scorch the ceiling, "and do you know I spent all day yesterday, setting up a baptismal and you two didn’t even bother to show up! I was SO embarrassed! Do you know how much I spent on holy water? Do you care? DO you two care about anything that I do for you?" Donnie hangs his head, tears well in Drea's eyes. "I told you not to do this, and you do it anyway, how could you be so STUPID!"

Donnie plops down on Drea's bed. "I knew it... I knew I didn’t deserve happiness and-"

Drea cuts Donnie off and jumps to her feet, tears pouring like bad luck in Hell, "Look at my room mom. THIS is how I feel inside, everyday of my pathetic life. I'm not good at anything. All I had was music... the only thing in the world I could feel. All I wanted was to get out of my own way so I can be the best I could be. But it didn't work and now that's gone and as usual, you always make things worse. I WISH. I WAS FUCKING. DEAD."

Drea's last six words land like a missile through Lisa's heart. Goosebumps ripple over her entire body.

She reads the wreckage. Sighs deep.

"Listen to me. Do not go back to Snapdragon."

"What? Why?"

"Tell no one it didn't work. Not your boss. Not a friend. Not a stranger who smiles too long. If anyone asks how you're doing, you say you're resting and you'll be fine."

Donnie shifts. The bed creaks. "Why can't we..."

His stare is flat water. No ripples. No weather.

Lisa over him. Firm. "If anyone messages about 'follow up care,' you block the sender. If anyone offers to 'check your settings,' you leave. If someone knocks, you don't open unless you hear my voice."

She hears herself. How specific it sounds. Swallows something old.

"This is not about pride. Or prayer. It's about keeping you breathing."

Drea rubs a tear she can't feel. "Mom... what are you... do you know something?"

The tear catches light, then dulls against her skin.

Lisa's eyes return to the hollow spot in Drea's vending machine where the marble wasps used to sit. Memory shaped like a circle of glass.

"I... I just don't trust them. Please just stay away from them."

DIRT-E, quiet for once, edges in from the hall. "So... what do we do when the 'wellness folks' come calling?"

"You tell them your mother handles your care. PROMISE me you will not go back there."

A long pause. Donnie looks to Drea. Drea to Donnie. Promise hangs between them like a thread pulled too tight.

"We promise. We won't go back."

Drea nods. "We promise."

Lisa nods. Worry doesn't leave her eyes.