Chapter 4
“So, Amy,” Aunt Karen asked sweetly, but with something darker in her eyes, “you’re starting your internship soon, right? Where you planning to live?”
I shoveled some rice into my mouth.
“Me and three others are splitting a basement unit.”
“Two floors underground. Only five hundred bucks a month each.”
“I’ll be at work all day anyway-sunlight’s overrated.”
Mom glanced at me but said nothing.
I watched Liam inhale his food and felt my eyes sting.
I’d never had my own room-shared a storage closet with my sister my whole life.
But the second Liam threw a tantrum about wanting to live here, Mom cleared out the master bedroom for
im without a word.
The master. Big bay window, a balcony, everything I’d ever dreamed of. I used to imagine sitting there at night, reading under the moonlight.
Now it was full of his dirty socks and sweaty clothes.
Me? I got the attic crammed with boxes of seasonal junk-no sunlight, no space, no peace.
One day, I’d get out. And I’d buy a place of my own.
‘Amy hasn’t been around much lately,” Uncle Jake said, face flushed from whiskey.
‘I told you she’s a damn ingrate.”
‘Doesn’t even bring her old uncle a bottle once in a while.”
“She’s just like water you pour out once she’s married off.”
Mom sighed. “She’s gonna get married someday anyway…’
“No worries, sis,” Aunt Karen said, her wrinkles folding together like origami.
“You’ve still got Liam. He’ll always be family.”
14:44
Walgreens Notified
72.190
Chapter 4
“Once we’ve got the cash, we can all move into a big new place together.”
“I’m thinking that new development over by Lincoln Heights-great school district.”
“We sell this dump, add a little more, and we’re set.”
Lincoln Heights…
That was the exact neighborhood Aunt Karen put a deposit on after my lottery win last time.
Wait.
Could she… have come back too?
I tested the waters.
“Those houses are expensive. Where would we get that kind of money?”
Uncle Jake grinned with his mouth full.
‘Sell you off. Dowry alone could cover it.”
Aunt Karen slapped his arm.
‘Don’t be stupid. Amy’s in college-she’s got a future.”
She smiled at me, eyes glittering with something cold.
‘You’re a smart girl. Smarter than us.”
‘Who knows-maybe one day you’ll come home with a big pile of cash and buy us that house yourself.”
My hand almost slipped off my chopsticks.
She has come back.
And sure enough-
That night, she crept into my room.
14:44
Walgreens Notified Me About His ‘Plan B’ Purchase. So I Ungraded Him to ‘Plan Bankruptcy”
72 59
Chapter S
