"Goddammit, now she's gone and died in my house. What rotten luck."
Aunt Melissa wiped away a tear.
"Your house? We're about to lose our freedom—maybe our lives—and you're worried about your house?"
Uncle Derek shot her a withering look.
But when he saw her tears, his tone softened.
"Fine, enough. Crying won't help. Her mother's back in town. We need to figure this out, now."
"First, we get the body out. It's the middle of the night—I'll dump her somewhere outside the city."
Melissa knew this wasn't the time for tears. She scrubbed her face dry and nodded frantically.
They yanked open the storage room door and scrambled to lift me out.
I watched my small body twisted into unnatural angles in their grip, and felt a dull, wooden ache where my heart used to be.
Even now, I still remember everything.
After Dad died, Mom spent every day holding me, her face perpetually wet with tears.
The seventh day after his death—his spirit barely departed—Grandpa Harold Fletcher and Grandma Margaret Fletcher showed up at our door with Uncle Victor Fletcher in tow.
"You jinx! You cursed my son to death!" Grandma Margaret shrieked.
"Take your money-losing daughter and get out of my son's house! You killed him—what right do you have to stay here?"
Mom clutched little me to her chest and knelt before them, kowtowing over and over until her forehead was raw.
"Please, Mom, I'm begging you—Blanche is so young. If you throw us out, how are we supposed to survive?"
"Please, have mercy on Blanche. She's your flesh and blood too—a Fletcher, through and through."
They wouldn't even look at me.
"Get out! Fletcher blood? A girl who can't carry on the family name? We don't want her!"
Mom had no education. She couldn't find decent work locally.
Before long, an old friend told her there were jobs in Eastford State. Hard labor, yes—but if you were willing to work overtime, the pay wasn't bad.
Mom was torn. She couldn't bear to leave me, but without money, she couldn't keep me alive.
She gritted her teeth and made a deal: three thousand dollars a month to my uncle and aunt, and they'd take me in.
The day she left, I cried until my voice gave out, begging her not to abandon me.
She just stroked my hair, eyes red-rimmed.
"Be good, Blanche. Listen to your uncle. When Mommy earns enough money, I'll come back for you."
"And then we'll never be apart again."
But Mom... will I still be here when you come back?
Just then, the electronic lock beeped.
And then—Mom's voice.
"Huh, they still haven't changed the code after all this time."
"Wait—why are the lights on? Derek? Melissa? You're home?"
"What are you two moving around in the middle of the night?"
