- 9.
“You want to leave?”
Dad asked.
I nodded.
<
I’d stayed at the Miller’s for a few days, but I
kept my distance.
They always wanted me to be this good, but
now that I was, it felt weird.
Dad sighed.
“I was going to tell you later.
Brandon has kidney failure, and out of all the
donors we could find, only you’re a match.”
“Ryan, as your Dad, I’m asking you.
Will you help Brandon?”
Dad said that if I donated a kidney, all the old
stuff would be forgotten!
I laughed to myself.
I actually thought they wanted me back
because they missed me.
Turns out, they just wanted my kidney.
Mom looked guilty.
“Ryan, you know, I’ve always thought of your
as my son.
You don’t have to do anything if you don’t
<
want to.
No one can force you!”
Ashley yelled.
“Mom, do you even know who your real son
is?
Brandon will die if he doesn’t get a kidney!”
Mom glared at her, like a mother protecting
her pup.
“I know who my real son is.
I don’t need you to remind me!”
Ashley shut up.
Brandon lowered his eyes.
I don’t know what he was thinking.
Dad was about to say something, but Mom
shut him down with a look.
She looked at me hopefully, like if I refused,
she’d protect me.
I just nodded.
“It’s okay, Mrs. Miller.
I’ll do it.”
One kidney to get away from the Miller family.
Worth it, right?
They hadn’t expected me to agree.
Mom hugged me and cried.
I didn’t know why she was so upset,
Did she know that I had been stabbed by an
inmate in the mental hospital, and now I only
had one working kidney?
- 10.
