Chapter 4Done With My Poisonous Family

It was late at night, the day before the application deadline.

Everything was silent. The whole building was fast asleep.

I crept out of bed without a sound and pulled a small tin box out from under my mattress.

Inside was every bit of birthday money, Christmas money, and allowance I'd saved from elementary school through high school. A few thousand dollars.

It was everything I had.

Copying what I'd seen in movies, I knotted my bedsheets, my duvet cover, and even the curtains together into one long rope, tying each knot as tight as I could.

I yanked on it hard to make sure it would hold. Then I gritted my teeth and climbed out the window.

The night wind howled. My heart was pounding so hard I thought it would leap out of my throat.

More than once, I felt like I was about to lose my grip. But every time I pictured Pearl's hideous, snarling face and my parents' cold eyes, my strength came back.

When my feet finally touched solid ground, I was completely spent. I sank down onto the pavement, gasping for air.

I didn't dare stay there. I got up and ran.

I ran for a long time, until I was far enough from home, and then I flagged down a cab.

"Take me to the nearest twenty-four-hour copy center."

At three in the morning, the copy center was nearly empty, its fluorescent lights buzzing over rows of rental computers. I took the one in the farthest corner.

My hands were shaking so badly it took me several tries to log in to the application portal.

My original choice had been found out, so I couldn't use it anymore. Besides, what I needed now was somewhere that would let me cut them out of my life for good.

In the end, I switched my application to a university famous for its dedication to national scientific research.

Even after all that, I still didn't feel safe, so I changed my login password.

I closed my eyes and banged out a long, random string of numbers, letters, and symbols.

Even I had no idea what the password was.

That way, nobody could ever log in again. Nobody could ever tamper with my future again.

When I walked out of the copy center, the sky was just starting to lighten.

I headed straight for the train station and spent the last of my money on a ticket for the cheapest coach seat on the earliest train north.

As the train raced along, I watched the scenery rush backward outside the window. The city I'd lived in for eighteen years shrank into a tiny dot until it disappeared completely.

I didn't feel the slightest bit of longing. Only a lightness I'd never felt before, like I'd finally broken out of my chains.

I leaned my head against the cold window, faced the rising sun, and smiled. It was my first real smile in eighteen years.

Early the next morning, my parents carried in breakfast as usual and unlocked my bedroom door with their key.

"Eli, time to get up and eat. Today we're taking you to—"

The words cut off.

The room was empty.

There was only the wide-open window and the rope of knotted sheets and duvet cover that ran from the leg of the bed out over the sill, swaying gently in the morning breeze.