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.
く
“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
Even though I was expecting this, I still felt a
pang in my chest.
“I quit,” I said.
“What? Why? Did you upset Liam?”
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 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
く
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.
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.
