3
く
Sarah’s face flushed red. “No, I… I didn’t.
That’s not true…”
I just pulled up the video of them doing it on
the balcony.
The content of the video was pretty explicit,
really disturbing.
Sarah shrieked and tried to block the video so
my parents couldn’t see it.
Mark just looked down at me, saying, “Song,
how could you film us?”
I laughed. “I was filming?”
Mark: “Well it showed up on your phone, who
L
else would have done it?”
“You see, I didn’t know, it was sent from the
community chat. I got it just before I got
home from work, and found you doing it! Did
you really think I was going to accept this?”
Hearing what I said, Sarah’s face went white.
My parents grabbed their phones, too.
They saw the insults in the neighborhood
chat.
[Damn, that woman’s a slut! Wearing a
negligee on the balcony!]
[Isn’t that the widow who lost her husband six
months ago? She’s a freak!]
L
[That’s her sister–in–law’s husband! If I was
her dead husband, I’d be rolling in my grave!]
My parents were overwhelmed by the vile
comments.
Sarah screamed.
She covered her ears, crying like a baby.
Mark’s face went red with shame.
He was embarrassed, humiliated, but he
blamed me for everything he’d done.
My parents jumped in.
“Song, seriously? You saw the video, but you
didn’t defend your sister–in–law in the chat?”
<
“You can’t stand Sarah being happy, can
you?”
“Do you have any heart?”
Sarah, totally humiliated, grabbed a fruit knife
off the table and tried to cut her wrists.
Mark pulled Sarah into his arms and snatched
the knife.
Sarah sobbed, “Mom, Dad, I can’t face
anyone anymore. Just let me die, let me die,
let me go with Jake! Let me go with our
unborn baby.”
The three of them tried to comfort her.
They told her to stay strong.
<
Told her she’d done nothing wrong.
But if she hadn’t done anything wrong, who
had?
Who caused all this?
I’m not a saint.
I don’t have endless patience.
I grabbed a kitchen knife and threw it down in
front of Sarah.
“A fruit knife’s for cutting fruit. If you’re
gonna cut your wrists, you need a kitchen
knife. That little cut won’t even break the
skin. You might as well cut your hand off,
otherwise you’ll never bleed enough!”
く
As I said that, my mom charged at me.
She slapped me across the face.
“Apologize!”
She yanked my hair, hard.
She forced me to my knees.
“Apologize to your sister–in–law!”
But I couldn’t bring myself to say sorry
anymore.
All the pent–up anger just came pouring out.
“Sarah, if you want to die, go jump off the
balcony right now! It’s the twenty–third floor,
vou’ll save everyone the trouble of a rescuel
<
You’re always going on about how much you
loved Jake, but you don’t jump, you don’t
even leave Mark alone!”
“Slap! Slap! Slap!”
My mom kept slapping me.
But it wasn’t enough. She started throwing fruit, teacups, everything she could find.
Each hit was dull thud.
I felt nothing.
“Get out!”
“Get out of this house.”
“I don’t have a horrible daughter.”
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“Even if you die, don’t expect me to come to
your funeral!”
Nobody stopped her.
Nobody thought what she was saying was too
much.
Sarah hid in Mark’s arms, neither of them
even glanced at me.
My dad was breathing heavily, looking furious.
I was the only one who was hurt.
Behind my eyelids, everything was red.
I looked at them, and in that moment, I finally
understood.
Jake’s death was just an excuse!
They never loved me.
I used to think Sarah got all the attention
because she cried easily.
But now I get it.
Only the favorite gets the candy.
The rest of us can cry and scream all we
want, we’ll just get beat down for it.
I wiped the blood and tears off my face.
I turned around and walked out without a
word.
<
Left that family.
That home, where I haven’t had a place since
Jake died!
