4: 4
The next morning, I didn't get up early to cook.
Zachary kicked my door open, cursing.
"Evelyn, what are you throwing a fit about now? You know today is Fifi's coming-of-age. Are you trying to starve us on purpose?"
I rolled over and turned my back to him.
Out in the living room, my father slammed his hand on the table.
"So we didn't set up a bonfire tower for her. Is that any reason to give us attitude?"
My mother came to the doorway too, her voice full of blame.
"Evelyn, today is a happy day. Don't spoil everyone's mood over one of your little tempers. Get up and make food, now."
"We didn't do the bonfire tower for you, so today we'll pay you triple wages. All right?"
I kept my eyes closed and didn't answer.
The air went stiff.
In the end it was Lesley who called Mervyn to drive over and take them all out to eat, which finally ended the whole scene.
Now there was only me left in the house.
I got up, washed, and changed my clothes.
Everything I could take went into the suitcase. Everything I couldn't, I threw into the trash bin outside.
I opened the fridge and made myself breakfast.
There was a time I could only bring myself to eat a dollar's worth of bread rolls with pickled scraps.
Now I ate a sandwich layered with bacon and cheese slices, air-flown fruit, and short-shelf-life fresh milk.
At noon they didn't come home.
I made myself a lavish lunch anyway.
There was five hundred thousand dollars sitting in my account, more than enough to clear the debt I owed this family.
By seven that evening, it was dark.
The whole village had gathered in the square for Lesley's coming-of-age celebration.
Lesley stood in her gown at the center of it all, my parents, Zachary, and Mervyn circled around her like she was the sun.
At seven thirty, the bonfire tower was lit.
The spark caught, and the stacked wood roared up from inside the tower, shooting into the sky and bursting open like a night full of stars.
The heat rolled out, and the orange firelight lit up everyone's smiling faces.
But twenty minutes in, the fuel ran short, and the fire started to dip toward going out.
My father shouted around in a panic.
"Anyone got spare hay or grain husks? Bring it over, quick, let me borrow it."
The bonfire tower had to burn a full forty minutes, or it was considered bad luck.
In the middle of the chaos, Zachary shoved through the crowd, dragging something behind him.
"Burn this. Throw this in."
When I saw what was being fed into the flames, my eyes went wide.
It was my suitcase, the one I'd left by the front door.
"Don't throw that! That's mine!"
I rushed forward, ignoring the blaze, trying to pull the suitcase back out.
Mervyn grabbed my arm and hauled me out of the fire.
"Evelyn, are you insane?"
Tears fell onto the back of my hand where the fire had scorched it. I broke down.
"That's my suitcase, everything important is inside it. Mervyn, I'm begging you, help me get it out, please?"
Before he could answer, my mother frowned and cut in.
"What do you mean, your suitcase? Is there a single thing on you that wasn't paid for with this family's money?"
My father used a long wooden rake to push the suitcase all the way into the center.
"Nothing matters more than my daughter's coming-of-age."
All I could do was watch the suitcase turn to ash in the firelight, becoming just more flame for Lesley's celebration.
Inside that suitcase were the gifts they'd given me over the past fifteen years.
My good memories of this family.
Just as well it was gone. Call it cutting off the longing for good.
My right hand tightened around my pocket.
At least my important documents were the kind of thing I always kept on me.
I wrenched myself free of Mervyn's grip and walked into the night without looking back.
Something like worry crossed Mervyn's eyes, and he started after me, but Lesley caught his arm.
"Mervyn, come take my picture, quick. I want to post it to my feed."
I took a cab to the airport.
Ten years.
Long enough to start a new life.
……
Lesley was happily striking one pose after another in front of the bonfire tower for photos.
A couple suddenly burst out of the crowd.
"You little wretch, so this is where you've been hiding! Wait till I get you home, I'll beat you to death!"
The woman lunged straight in to grab Lesley's arm.
Mervyn and Zachary reached out at the same time, pulling Lesley behind them.
My mother stepped forward, her eyes wary.
"Who are you people?"
The woman kept her eyes locked on Lesley hiding behind them, hands planted on her hips.
"I'm this girl's real mother!"
