- 2.
Mom looked heartbroken, pointing at Brittany. “I wasted my life on you! I babied you and even
lost my son because of you, and you turn
around and do this to me!”
く
She just sat there on the floor, shaking like a
leaf. She looked like she’d lost all her power
and tricks. It was like a knife to the heart, being betrayed by the daughter you worshiped.
Ten years ago, Brittany fell into the lake, and
my brother dove in to save her. Mom jumped in
after them, too.
But my brother couldn’t swim, so Brittany and
he were both about to drown.
Mom hesitated about who to save first, but my brother sacrificed himself, saying, “Mom, save
Brittany first! I’m a man, I can handle it!”
Mom listened to my brother and chose to save Brittany first.
But when Mom brought Brittany back to shore,
my brother vanished in the water.
Two days later, they found his body. Mom felt
<
guilty about it for ages. She still has insomnia.
Anti–depressants, sleeping pills, she took them
for eight years, only stopping a couple of years
ago.
After my brother died, our house was like a
dark cloud always hanging over us.
Dad threw himself into work and he barely cried.
at my brother’s funeral, but I never saw him sad
again.
He even tried to comfort Mom. “Accidents
happen, nobody wanted this. But we have to
keep living, especially for our two daughters.
Think about them, don’t make yourself sick.”
Mom ran a bakery, a chain of ten stores, but
she shut them all down after my brother died.
She seemed to get over my brother’s death, but
I knew she was stuck on that day.
く
9:07
Her pillow was dry at night, but soaked in the
morning.
We bought pillowcases by the dozens for ten
years straight.
Even when she was hurting, she never took it
out on Brittany.
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