I didn’t pack much.
That was the first thing that frightened them later.
No screaming.
No smashed dishes.
No desperate begging.
Just silence.
I placed ice against the burn spreading across my cheek while staring at myself in the mirror.
The skin was already blistering.
My own mother had done that.
Not accidentally.
Not in anger she regretted immediately.
Deliberately.
Downstairs, I could hear Violet laughing.
“She finally gave up,” she said smugly.
“I told you she was weak.”
My mother answered without hesitation:
“She should’ve learned years ago that this family survives by helping each other.”
