4.
The moment I finished speaking, the whole room lit up.
Even Sonia, who'd been curled up in Dad's arms playing sick, cracked her eyes open.
I set my savings book down in front of them. "These past few months, I've saved eight thousand dollars."
Mom's eyes went bright at the sight of it on the table, and her hand shot out to grab it.
Eight thousand dollars, back in the nineties, was no small fortune.
I pulled the book back into my hand. "But I have one condition."
"Go on, go on, Mom's good girl, whatever you want, your mom and dad will agree."
She was smiling all over her face, so eager the wrinkles around her eyes stood out.
I looked away and kept going. "We cut ties."
I ignored the shock on every face in the room and said it slowly.
"If you want this money, we cut ties. My name comes off the family register, and after that we have nothing to do with each other."
"Otherwise, none of you gets a single cent out of me."
The room went quiet for a moment. Legally cutting off all family ties was still a strange, new phrase then.
Dad, who hadn't said a word this whole time, clutched his chest on the couch and kept heaving for breath.
"Cut ties!"
"Fine, fine, fine. So I, George Gray, really did raise an ungrateful little snake."
"I should've strangled you the day you were born."
I said nothing, just watched them quietly. Cutting ties was the only way I could think of right now.
This life, I wanted to live once for myself.
Dad opened his mouth to say something, but Mom tugged at his sleeve.
"Agree to it. You really think a little slip of a girl can pull off anything out there? She'll be back before long, crying and begging us."
"We'll see how we deal with her then!"
"If I don't peel a layer of skin off her, I'll call her my mother!"
I took leave from work and rode the train back home with them.
When I took the sheet of paper from the town mayor, the red ink of the stamp still not dry.
Mom and Dad kept looking my savings book over and over, my sister tucked in their arms.
Her face wasn't pale anymore, and she'd stopped coughing.
Then Mom cleared her throat.
"All right, take your things and go. You're not this family's daughter now, so what are you still doing living in our house?"
"Didn't you want to cut ties? Quit clinging on like you've got no shame."
I lowered my head, silent for a moment, then gathered my luggage. "Okay."
Just before I stepped out the door, I heard laughter drifting in from the yard.
"Sonia wants those little leather shoes from the mall, doesn't she? Mom'll buy them for you!"
My sister laughed, delighted. "I want braised pork and a big breakfast sandwich from the restaurant too!"
"Okay, whatever my precious girl wants, Mom will buy it for you."
Inside, everything was warm and easy. My feet didn't slow, and I didn't turn back to look.
I carried my thin bundle of luggage and walked forward, one step at a time.
Gillian Gray, you finally saved yourself, for once.
This time, I'm going to live a life that's nothing like the one before.
