05
Dad gave me a thousand bucks.
A hundred extra.
I stared at the bill for a second, then ran.
I ran faster and faster.
He wasn’t home.
My stepmom opened the door.
She looked me up and down “Dad’s picking
<
up my daughter.”
“What do you need him for?”
Just those words, and I was done.
I didn’t remember how, but my brain had
turned off. My left hand took the bill and I
said like a robot:
“Too much.”
“Please give it back to Dad.”
She took it, mumbling. “Running all the way
over for a hundred bucks? We’re not short on
cash.”
Yeah!
<
Yeah!
Not short on cash.
He couldn’t see what was going on in my
head.
I bowed.
“Thanks.”
Then I left, with her staring after me.
The next morning, I woke up to yelling.
Dad had brought back the hundred bucks.
I heard the ex–couple, fighting, outside.
Finally, Dad stormed off, and Mom stood
there, shaking.
Then, she turned, crumpled the bill, and
chucked it at my face.
“Happy now?!”
“Happy seeing your dad humiliate me?!”
I backed away.
She kept coming.
She slapped me, my head hitting the wall.
Pain, numbness, that’s all I felt.
I stood there, blank.
Mom wasn’t done.
L
She was about to hit me again, but Grandma
showed up.
“You wanna kill her?!”
“You wanna go to jail?!”
Mom froze.
She looked at me and ran.
Grandma ran to me, crying. “Ashley, don’t
hate your mom.”
“I know she’s got a big mouth, she’s really got
a heart of gold, it’s just that…..”
It’s just what?
く
It’s just that she thought I was weak.
I depended on her.
She gave me life.
So, she took it out on me.
Finally, I walked back to my room.
Hiding under the covers.
‘Cause that’s the only way no one sees that
I’m crying.
