6
I spent what seemed like hours in the
bathroom, gagging into the toilet.
I’d made Liam and Ashley uncomfortable, but
I felt sick too. I got home and collapsed onto
the bed.
The next morning, my mom called.
‘Jane, you haven’t been home for dinner in
ages.”
I checked the date and said okay.
A stranger opened the door.
^
“Jane, this is your Uncle Bill,” my mom
announced.
I sighed. My mom’s new boyfriend.
Unlike all her other high–class boyfriends, Bill
looked like a regular guy.
At the dinner table, my mom kept piling food
on my plate.
“Bill has a son who just graduated from
college. Maybe he could help you at your
company.”
Even though I was expecting this, I still felt a
pang in my chest.
“I quit.” I said.
く
Vital: VITY: DIU you upset Liai:
My mom put down her chopsticks.
“Go buy some fruit and beg for his
forgiveness. Liam isn’t one to hold a grudge.”
Clang!
I dropped my chopsticks onto the floor.
My mom started crying, hiding her face on
Bill’s shoulder.
“This girl has always been stubborn, always
messing with things and throwing tantrums.
It’s not like I had it easy being a single mom.”
Bill wrapped his arms around her.
Promised her she wasn’t alene.
Promised her she wasn’t alone.
“Yeah, everything’s always your fault,” I
sneered, and walked away.
My entire childhood had been a series of
being ignored and bullied.
I was the bargaining chip my mom used to
keep my father around.
Her endless attempts to cling to him made
my father’s wife mad.
My mom had to move us from one city to the
next.
No one ever welcomed us. People were
always trying to take advantage.
I did everything I could to protect us, to keep
us safe.
And I was treated like a crazy, fatherless
child.
“We need a man around the house or we’ll
get hurt,” my mom always said.
She’d always count on men to save her, and
there’d always be new men coming and
going.
I was twelve the day I came home and saw a
drunk man beating her.
The woman on the floor was the only family I
had.
Г
I fought the man with all my strength.
He pulled out a knife.
I felt relieved, like it could finally end.
But my mom threw herself in front of me, wrapping me in her arms as the knife drew
blood.
I knew then we were doomed to fight each
other.
L
7
