This Time, I'll Just Watch

We were having fondue at home when I felt the tingle of leaking electricity. I lunged for the cord and shut it off, saving my family from electrocution.

But my sister’s next words condemned me to a fate far worse.

“April,” she whispered, her eyes welling with tears, “are you just jealous of my eighteenth-birthday present?”

My mother’s slap sent me reeling. She screamed at me, demanding to know why I would dare covet my sister’s gift.

My father grabbed me and shoved my face toward the pot, promising to get justice for his precious daughter.