Chapter 3Done With My Poisonous Family

Luck was on my side. We got the replacement just in time.

Strangely enough, after everything that had happened, the moment I sat down in the testing room, I felt oddly calm.

I got through every section without a hitch and performed like I normally would. I could finally breathe again.

Then Pearl's face from that morning surfaced in my mind, and a suspicion took hold of me. I needed to know if I was right.

The chance came soon enough.

My parents announced they were taking Pearl to an amusement park in the next city over for two days. They usually didn't take me on trips like that.

The second they were out the door, I rushed into their bedroom.

Mom kept the whole family's medical records in one box. I dug through it for a while and finally found her prenatal records from when she was pregnant with Pearl, along with Pearl's later diagnostic reports.

Just as I'd thought. Pearl was the way she was because she had a rare congenital personality disorder, along with severe impulse-control problems and antisocial tendencies!

All of her violence, all of her cruelty, had an explanation.

She wasn't just a kid who didn't know better. She was cruel by nature.

And my parents had known they'd brought a potential monster into the world, but they chose to hide the truth from me.

They chose to sacrifice my entire life to fill that bottomless pit.

They'd even tried to "tame" me so I'd pave the way for that monster's future.

In that moment, the thought of running stopped being an idea. It became a desperate survival instinct.

While I waited for my scores, I was more obedient than I'd ever been.

My parents were thrilled with how "sensible" I'd become after the test, and they eased up on watching me.

On the day the scores came out, I saw my number: 1560.

I couldn't wait to start researching colleges all over the country. In the end, I set my sights on a top research university in a northern city more than twelve hundred miles from home.

I filled out my application carefully and waited, full of hope, for the acceptance letter.

But I was still too naive.

The next day, Dad suddenly called me over and pointed at the application portal on the screen.

"Eli, why are you trying to go somewhere so far away? What about your sister? You promised you'd go to college so you could help her!"

There was no way I could tell him the truth. So I fed him a bunch of stuff about great job prospects and making big money.

Mom grabbed my hand and pressed it down onto the mouse.

"You're changing this application today! You're applying to the local teachers' college right here in town! It's close to home, so we can keep an eye on you! After you graduate, you'll become a teacher. It's a stable job, and you'll be right here to take care of your sister!"

The local teachers' college? A school I'd never even given a second look?

With a 1560, go to a school where most admitted students barely scraped 1200?

This wasn't just killing my future. This was ripping my life out by the roots and grinding it into the mud.

"I'm not changing it," I said calmly.

Our argument got the attention of Pearl, who'd been in her room playing on her phone.

She had an animal instinct for words like "not helping her" and "not taking care of her."

Her murky eyes instantly went bloodshot, and she locked onto me.

"Not helping me?" The next second, she charged at me like a raging bull.

Her fists rained down on my body, my head, my face. She kicked me hard in the stomach and the legs.

"You want to run?! I'll kill you! You don't get to not help me!" she howled as she hit me.

I curled up on the floor, completely unable to fight back. Pain shot through every part of my body, and my vision started to blur.

And my parents just stood there and watched. They watched their daughter do the cruelest things to me.

Dad only sighed, turned away, pulled up the portal, and switched every one of my applications to that teachers' college.

From that day on, I was locked up inside the house.

They took my phone, carried away the computer, and locked my bedroom door from the outside.

They cut off every connection I had to the outside world.

I lay in bed, covered in bruises and cold all the way through.

Was this really how my life was going to be?

No. I refused to accept it.