Everything, Everything: 57. Infected Summary & Analysis

Carla screams, pulls Maddy into a crushing hug, and asks if she’s a ghost. Maddy apologizes for making Carla lose her job, but Carla insists that she’s fine and just misses Maddy. Carla greets Olly too, and invites them inside. She fixes Maddy with a nurse’s stare and asks Maddy how she’s feeling. Olly mentions the pills and Maddy admits that Mom doesn’t know about them. Carla looks at Maddy in a way that conveys she doesn’t believe any of it, but Maddy silently begs her to not expose her lie. Carla doesn’t, and starts making breakfast. Maddy looks around the bright living room, worried that Olly will be able to sense her lies. When she comes across a framed photo of Carla and baby Rosa, Maddy feels she’ll never be able to repay Carla for what she’s done.

Carla makes chilaquiles, but Maddy is too nervous to eat much. Olly asks if Carla thinks the pills are working. Carla says it’s possible, but it’s also possible that the pills are merely delaying Maddy’s sickness—or that Maddy just hasn’t encountered a trigger yet. Olly remains optimistic. Maddy follows Carla into the kitchen. Carla says she understands what Maddy is doing. She says that she left Mexico with nothing and didn’t think she’d survive, but she’d decided that she was going to control her life. Carla admits that she’s never felt freer than the night she left her house, but she does regret things. She wasn’t able to go home for her parents’ funerals, and Rosa knows nothing of Mexico. However, she suggests that regretting is part of living. Maddy thinks of Mom all alone and then pushes the thoughts away.