Sam reached her home after her family had finished dinner. Her brother was already in his room while her mother cleaned the dishes and her father lounged on their narrow couch.
“Are you all right, Sam? You look exhausted,” her mom said from her place beside the sink.
Sam shrugged. “Yeah. Pretty tired.”
“Too much gallivanting with your friends,” grumbled her father, his eyes still closed.
Sam didn’t respond as she navigated her way past their furniture and disappeared into her room. Though she was sure her mother had saved food for her, Sam wasn’t in the mood to circumvent her father’s attitude just to get some dinner.
Before she could begin to strip out of her work clothes, the smell of baby poop still clinging to them, her mother knocked on her door.
“Yeah?” Sam asked as she sat on the chair at her desk to make room for her mother.
Her mother entered with a plate of plain pasta and vegetables. Sam didn’t need her mother to explain the meal and its lack of protein. The end of the month often meant there was no meat to be had, no matter how many tokens you had to spend.
“Thanks, Mom,” she said, almost choking on her own sarcasm; she had to remind herself that her pain and confusion was not her mother’s fault.
Her mother nodded before turning to leave.
“Mom,” Sam called before she knew she had come to a decision. “Have you ever heard of the mommy tunnel?”
“Why do you ask that?” demanded her mother, sounding sharper than Sam had ever heard.
Sam looked up at her with a frown. What was wrong with her? Her mother had never snapped at her, most likely in an effort to balance the subtle abuse of her father.
“I uh—I was talking with Amber about Becky’s disappearance. Amber thinks Becky used the mommy tunnel to escape, maybe to get pregnant.”
Her mother took a deep breath as though she had been unconsciously holding it before taking a seat on the bed.
“I thought Becky wasn’t married,” she finally said.
“She was dating a vamp,” admitted Sam reluctantly.
Her mother took another deep breath, her eye flicking to the left. “I don’t think the mommy tunnel ever existed.”
Sam didn’t respond. Her mother nodded once as though that had ended the conversation and left.
Sam couldn’t discern why, but she doubted her mother’s statement, some portion of her believing her mother was outright lying to her.
Her father’s voice ordering his wife to bed cut through Sam’s train of thought.
Am I a result of the mommy tunnel? Sam wondered. Does my father hate me because he isn’t my father at all?
Sam squeezed her eyes shut. She just couldn’t see her mother sneaking out into the great wide world to find some man to impregnate her, with or without her father’s consent. The whole idea was preposterous.
Sam ate her dinner and climbed under her covers, her mind still racing through the ramifications of her mother’s defensiveness. Becky, Lee, Roman were all forgotten as she struggled to grasp just what this might mean.
Could she possibly have a human father out there somewhere, completely oblivious of her existence?