His parents were whispering.

He stopped for a moment, scrunched his eyes and tipped his head ever-so-slightly to the side to hear better. It was no use, all he could make out was the occasional sharp S-sound amidst a haze of muddled words. He’d have to get closer.

Will set down his cup against the carpet and tiptoed his way down the hall and around the corner to his parent’s bedroom.

“I don’t see how it matters,” his father said.

“What do you mean you don’t see how it matters?” His mother sounded upset.

“It’s just another two days. That’s it, then it’s done.”

“But it’s not. Yes, it’s only another two days this season but it’s not like it’s the last time it’s going to happen. This happens every year.”

“We don’t have to worry about it this year,” his father said.

Worry… Worry about what? Will thought.

“But what about the next? What are we going to tell him, that’ll he’ll get sick? That it’s too cold? He won’t believe it much longer. You should have seen him this morning.”

Will sucked in a bit of air. They were talking about him.

“I don’t know… I don’t know, we’ll think of something.”

“Eventually he’ll be older. Maybe we can somehow explain it to him,” his mother sounded doubtful.

“No, this is not for explaining,” his father said. “This is why we did what we did. You know what we left behind. We did it for our son. Because we wanted something different for him.”

“But we didn’t really leave it behind, Jim. We didn’t and you know that.” His mother sounded on the edge of tears.

“But he will. It ends with him.”

“What about the shop? What’ll happen to the stock?” she said.

“Eventually we’ll have to let it go. We’ve done our part Irene… beyond our part. If he one day takes it over it becomes what it’s meant to be. A true and honest pharmacy.”

There was a long silence. Will’s mind raced. What were they keeping from him? What was this about the shop? What had they left behind? This didn’t make any sense. Will sucked in short and shallow breaths.

“I have to tell you,” his mother eventually said. “I let something slip today… something I shouldn’t have.”

“What?” His father’s voice was uneasy. “Tell me.” There was a bit of a pause.

“I mentioned the Neptinox.” She said it all quick, as if she were tearing off a bandaid.

Will was right. He hadn’t imagined it.

“How? Why?” his father sounded desperate.

“No, I didn’t mean to. He just, he came on so strong. He was demanding. That’s not like him. It took me off guard.”

“So you mentioned the one thing he should never ever know about?”

“He still doesn’t know. Even if he heard me he still doesn’t know what it means.”

“hush hush hush,” his father fired off. After a long moment of deathly silence he continued. “Did you hear that?”

Will’s eyes bugged out. He turned and sprinted away, round the corner, down the hall and back beneath the thick covers of his bed. He laid stone still, and once he began to run out of air, he reminded himself to breath. Long slow breaths as if he were already asleep.