I was the family's bargaining chip.
My parents were a blended family—each brought a child from a previous marriage.
They'd made a pact: treat each other's kids like their own.
But my sister hated school and wanted to run off with some bleach-blond loser. My brother hung out with troublemakers, smoking and drinking like it was nothing.
Dad couldn't stand watching my sister throw herself away. Mom couldn't stand watching my brother waste his potential.
So they had me—a tool to keep the other's kid in line.
And when it came to me, their shared flesh and blood, they held nothing back.
My sister loved caking on makeup. So Dad dressed seven-year-old me in a short skirt and sent me wandering the streets before dawn. When my sister saw me come back with my clothes torn, she never touched cosmetics again.
My brother liked playing big shot with money he didn't have. So Mom threatened to give me away to some stranger. My brother dropped to his knees, begging her not to send me away.
But Mom was determined to teach him a lesson.
"Actions have consequences. Remember this—your sister is being sent away because of you."
She stuffed three hundred dollars into the woman's hand and dragged my brother out without looking back.
"Mommy! Mommy, I don't want to go!"
I screamed and cried, but she never turned around.
What Mom didn't know was that the woman she'd hired locked me in a basement the moment she left and forgot I existed.
——
"Mommy!"
I shrank back in terror, but Mom grabbed me and yanked me out anyway.
Her friend Rita Crowe looked me over like I was livestock—hefting my weight, prying my mouth open to check my teeth for flaws.
My brother stood there holding Mom's hand, watching the whole thing with a blank stare.
Rita put on a show of deliberation before speaking:
"Kid's old enough to remember things. Taking her in means I'm risking her never bonding with me."
"But let's be clear—once she's mine, she eats my food, she calls me Mom. No more contact with any of you after this."
That's when it finally hit me.
My mother was giving me away.
I burst into tears.
"Mommy, I don't eat much. Mommy, please don't give me to someone else. I'll be good, I promise!"
I tried to run back to her, but Rita's grip was like iron around my arm.
Mom didn't even glance at me. Instead, she grabbed my brother's chin and forced him to look at me.
"Ethan Harper, take a good look at your sister. This is happening because you wasted money. She's being sent away to make up for what you spent."
Ethan froze. Then his whole body started shaking.
He didn't like me. But he never wanted me gone.
As Rita started dragging me toward the van, Ethan couldn't hold it in anymore.
He broke down crying, tears and snot smearing across his face.
"Mom, I'm sorry. I won't waste money anymore. Please don't send her away, okay?"
Seeing her defiant son finally apologize, Mom allowed herself a satisfied smile.
I looked at her, hope flickering in my chest. He apologized. Did that mean I could go home now?
But her smile vanished as quickly as it came.
Her expression turned cold.
"No. Actions have consequences. You wanted to play big shot? Without a real lesson, you'll never understand how hard money is to earn. How immature you've been."
But Mom, I'm not the one who did anything wrong.
I said it out loud. She didn't flinch.
"You're his sister. You failed to keep him in line. How is that not your fault too?"
I clung to the van door with everything I had, terrified of being taken somewhere I'd never come back from.
Thud.
