The caption read, “The happiest family in the world.”
Mom, Dad, and Nicholas were the first to like it and comment.
All that noise under their post only made my single photo look lonelier.
I pressed my lips together, and for once my voice came out hard.
“I'm not deleting it.”
It was the first photo where I was the one who mattered.
The girl in it looked lovely.
Even lovelier than that photo of Pat that Nicholas kept saved on his phone.
“Clara, when did you turn into this?”
“So you did poorly on one exam. That's not Pat's fault. Why are you throwing a fit at us?”
“Bad grades are one thing, but there's no excuse for turning into a bad person.”
I hung up.
I had the beach to see soon. No time to argue with him.
Nicholas and the rest of them spent the whole summer traveling.
Pat kept saying she'd come back to keep me company.
But she never stopped updating her feed for a second.
They lit candles at a famous cathedral, wandered old-town streets, watched the first light hit the mountain peaks.
It was through her posts that I finally learned there were places like that in the world.
Too bad none of that brightness had anything to do with me.
On the last day of break, Nicholas finally came back.
With the money I'd earned from my part-time job, I'd scraped together everything I needed for the new term.
When I got home, the whole family was huddled together looking at their vacation photos.
“This one of Pat turned out great. I'm making it my profile picture.”
“We should frame it and hang it in the living room, so everyone can see how amazing my precious daughter is!”
Only Nicholas looked up, his eyes settling on me, dark and quiet.
“Why are you getting back so late?”
“Clara, did you fall in with the wrong crowd out there and go bad?”
Mom and Dad, laughing a second ago, turned suddenly serious.
Dad glared at me, his brow knotted tight.
Mom got up to fetch the ruler.
They were always like this.
They'd believe anyone but me.
At least I'd already crossed the family-photo wish off my list.
And I no longer thought of them as family.
“Three years in this city, and I don't even know what any of it looks like outside of school.”
“The SATs are over now. I wanted to look around a little, to have a taste of the life Pat gets. Is that a crime?”
Going shopping with your parents. Eating out. Seeing a movie.
The little things Pat took for granted.
For me, a girl raised in the countryside all my life, they were luxuries I never even dared to want.
Dad, guilt-struck by my words, slammed his hand down hard on the table.
“You little brat, your wings have grown out, huh? Learned to talk back?”
Mom muttered, grudging.
“This child. How did she turn out like this.”
“If I'd known, I never should have brought her back in the first place.”
I said nothing. I dragged out the suitcase I'd already packed.
Mom and Dad froze.
What followed was a loud, ringing slap.
“The nerve of you, standing up to your own parents.”
“After all these years raising you, this is the thanks I get?”
“If you dare walk out today, don't ever think about coming back!”
I'd never planned on coming back anyway.
This place had never been my home.
I turned and walked out without a moment's hesitation.
As I passed Nicholas, he reached out on instinct to catch my arm.
But once he saw Pat, he quietly let his hand drop.
He had a better choice now.
And I could leave with nothing holding me back.
I drew a deep breath.
I lifted my head and walked out into the long, endless night behind me.
……
Long after she was gone, Nicholas finally worked up the courage to speak.
“Please don't be upset, Mr. and Mrs. Henson.”
“Clara's hurting too, bombing the SATs like that. I'll go talk to her, and I'll do everything I can to get her into the same university next year.”
Only then did the tightness in her parents' faces ease a little.
“You've always been the sensible one.”
“Clara……never mind. What we did back then really was wrong of us.”
“Talk some sense into her for us. It's late, and it isn't safe for a young girl out there alone.”
Nicholas nodded and dialed the number he knew by heart.
What came back was a busy signal.
