They weren’t mine.
“You are wrong.” I said. “I don’t smile.”
“You did this to yourself.”
My dad said that I had never been on their side.
“We missed you for a long time. We wanted you
to be with us.”
The memories started to fade.
<
I looked at them.
“When I first came here, what would you have
said if I decided to stay in Brittany’s room?”
They said that I could have stayed wherever I
wanted.
“Then call Brittany, and tell her that I will take
over her room.” I dropped the luggage.
My parents said that it was nighttime in
America, and that she was sleeping.
“What about the beach? Would you have waited
for me?”
“You couldn’t wait.”
I laughed.
“What about college? Would I have been able to
spend as much money as her?”
く
spend as much money as her?”
“Yeah!”
“I would have liked to test that. But you can’t
now.”
I picked up my bag and waved goodbye.
I walked away.
23
I was doing the best I could at college.
When I got to my second year, Mark came to visit.
He complained that Brittany was crazy.
I asked what happened.
He said that Brittany was getting into trouble.
<
My parents went to take her back.
I laughed.
It was the winter of my second year. My mom
called me in the middle of the night.
I said hello, and she started crying.
She said that Brittany was mixing with a bad crowd.
I didn’t say anything.
My mom told me that my brother and dad were busy, and she couldn’t control Brittany.
Mom talked for a while.
I fell asleep, and she hung up.
24
<
I was doing well, but I didn’t hear from them.
I was a senior when my dad started feeling sick.
Mom and Mark asked me to come back home
to see him.
I was planning on going on vacation to the
ocean, but when I was there, I decided to visit.
Mom wanted me to stay in the biggest room on the third floor.
I asked what happened to Brittany.
Mom got angry and said that she wasn’t her daughter.
I didn’t care, and started to leave.
Mom was mad. She told me that my dad was
sick and that Brittany beat him.
<
“Who would dare to beat him?”
“Brittany, that animal, tried to leak private
documents to our rivals.
She stabbed him!”
I asked if she was in jail.
My mom said that they wanted to handle it
themselves.
Okay.
I left.
They asked me to stay, and told me that Mark
and my dad would be home.
Then they showed up.
My dad told me that he had checked out of the
hoenital early to con mo
<
Iviy uau TUTU THE valle IAU CITEUREU UUL UI
hospital early to see me.
I nodded.
Mark came over and told me that I was famous,
and they were proud of me.
I had seen him before.
But I didn’t recognize that person.
He wanted to stay.
I started to say goodbye.
“The sky looks beautiful tonight. I can not miss
- it. See you.”
25
I went.
I went to the beach, and went back to college.
<
I started a business.
I made my dreams.
When I was getting my Masters, I was
successful. I made my first eighty thousand
dollars.
Business was busy.
When I was getting my degree, I saw Brittany.
She came to find me and slap me.
Luckily, I was able to dodge it.
Without talking, I slapped her back.
She spat on the ground, and said, “I don’t have
a home anymore.”
I got some wipes.
く
She yelled, “You won. I didn’t know that you
would take advantage of me.”
“Why are you acting like this?”
I said, “You didn’t belong with us. I just wanted
to leave.”
“Those are lies!” she screamed. “My parents
were so rude. Everything went bad because of
you. You are too bad.”
I called the police.
The police took her away.
I told my mom about it.
She was crying, and said, “Sarah, you are my
daughter. I want to take you home.”
I am so busy.
“Goodbye.”
26
I was voted the best in my business community.
I was at my office, and I looked out at the city.
I was thirty years old.
I thought about my family.
Fifteen years ago, I was living with them.
The road that I had taken was hard.
Suicide would have only taken three years.
But it took me twelve years to become a
woman.
I am happy that I made that choice.
A lot of things had changed during those twelve
years.
Su–City business tanked.
They lost a lot of money, and their house.
Brittany went to jail for twenty years.
Mark created a company to get back on his
feet.
He was waiting for me to meet him.
The secretary knocked and said that the man
wasn’t leaving.
I said that I would go.
Mark got up and said hi. He looked sad.
We met, and he told me that my company was
good.
I asked the secretary to bring him a cup of
water, and I told him that his proposal didn’t
look good.
I got up and said that I needed to leave.
“Please,” he asked, “You are so unfamiliar. Can
you please not do this? We are family.”
I said, “You were heartless to me when I was
young. You can’t expect me to show you any
leniency.”
I walked away and was going back to the office.
I will never ask for anyone to love me again.
I started walking, and I sang to myself. I was so
excited for the future.
She was going to live, laugh, and love herself,
for good.
