t. She spent the night in a holding cell and was charged with misdemeanor assault and disturbin
ed. He didn't step in to "fix" things for her. She w
y formed, and I was
ne whisper at the grocery store. "He jus
was such a nice boy.
vastated. He just dropped h
sed. I sent in my application to my first-choice university, the one I'd given up on last time. I started outlining a software proje
the money together. I knew a confrontation was coming. I was walking ho
ft victimhood she usually wore was r
said, her
wledged, stoppin
r voice rising. "You left me in a ce
self there,"
sure finally broke. "You did! You
you knew. It wasn't a normal a
wild, terrifying realization daw
whispered, the wor
remember everything. I remember twenty years of you holding me back, of you smot
t just me trying to escape a traumatic past. She had lived t
ed, her voice dropping to a malicious
ctim of her own bad choices. She was an active participant. She had seen the ultimate de
aid, my voice flat. "You know w
anatic's zeal. "He protects me. What happened to you...
of any lingering pity or confusion vanished. It was all so s
," I
e. "Okay? That's it? You're not going to try a
meant anything in either of my lives. "I'm not.
ed to w
me!" she screamed at my back. "This is a
around. I just
y mind, but this time, it was different. It wasn't just a haze o
el-Mark's son-looking at me with a detached coolness he learned from his father. I remembered spending
"no." I had discovered Mark was using one of my company's software loopholes for a money-laundering sc
erything. She led me to that warehouse u
her son's hand, and watch
er voice clear and steady as I bled on the floor. "Mark
t was the justification for every "no" I would ever say to her again.