Kevin backed up the story, and Mom believed it almost instantly.
"That little brat has some nerve, throwing a tantrum at me now? Fine! If she's got the guts, she can stay gone for good!"
She cleared the table and scraped every last bit of leftover food into the trash.
Kevin saw that Mom was angry and put on his most obedient face. "Don't be upset, Auntie. When she comes home this afternoon, I'll talk her into apologizing. She really doesn't know how to behave. What kind of kid picks a fight with her own mother? She doesn't appreciate how hard you work at all."
That was exactly the kind of thing Mom loved to hear. A satisfied smile spread across her face. "Our Kevin is always the good one."
Dad chimed in with his own praise. "We're counting on you to take care of us when we're old. If we had to rely on Sophie, we'd starve."
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a crisp hundred-dollar bill, and handed it to Kevin as spending money.
I stood frozen. A hundred dollars. When I was little, that was an unimaginable fortune. The only person who ever gave me money like that was Grandma, because she actually loved me.
My parents never gave me a single cent. Every kid in my class could buy snacks after school. I was the only one who stood there watching, swallowing my envy in silence.
It was my homeroom teacher who finally couldn't stand it anymore and slipped me a piece of candy. It was the best treat I'd ever tasted.
Kevin left for school. Dad headed out too. Mom hummed a little tune as she tidied up the house, never once remembering that I was still down in the basement.
Ring...
A phone call shattered the quiet. Mom picked up.
"Oh, Ms. Lambert? What do you mean Sophie didn't come to school?"
My chest tightened. It was my homeroom teacher. The only person at school who cared about me.
I rushed over to the phone, hovering beside it, desperate to hear her voice.
"That's right. Sophie has been absent for almost an hour now. What happened? Is she sick?"
Hearing that familiar concern after so long, something deep inside me trembled. Tears pooled in my eyes, refusing to fall.
Mom's brow furrowed. She muttered under her breath, "That little brat. She's really testing me."
But when she spoke into the phone, her voice turned pleasant and polite. "Oh, don't worry about it, Ms. Lambert. That girl's just throwing a tantrum. I said two words to her and she ran off. There's no controlling her."
"She'll come crawling back once she realizes she's got nowhere to go. Really, don't trouble yourself."
Elena Lambert was stunned by what she was hearing.
"Mrs. Harding, Sophie is just a high school student. Aren't you worried she'll get lost? That something could happen to her? She's a very well-behaved girl. She doesn't seem like the type to just run away from home."
Mom's face twisted with open disgust. "Ms. Lambert, Sophie is not the good kid you think she is. She's got you fooled. At home she's a complete nightmare. Fights us on everything, every single day. I'm done coddling her."
"Mrs. Harding, I really think—"
Ms. Lambert tried to say more, but Mom cut her off. "I have to get to work. If there's anything else, we can talk after my shift."
She hung up.
"Unbelievable. She's my kid. Who asked you to butt in?"
She rolled her eyes and grabbed her things to leave for work.
On her way out, she passed the basement door and glanced at the pitch-black entrance.
My heart seized.
Would she find my body?
"What's that smell?"
She wrinkled her nose, then pulled out her phone and called Dad.
"I think there's a dead rat in the basement. Get someone to deal with it when you have a chance."
It never crossed her mind that I was the one rotting in there.
She left for work. I didn't follow her. I turned and drifted toward Grandma's house.
