Uncle Albert's eyes went completely red. "I'll tear your mouth apart!"
He charged forward, snatched my backpack from where I'd thrown it on the ground, and swung it at me with full force.
The zipper burst open.
Everything inside flew out in a white cascade, like a sudden downpour of paper rain.
Pill boxes. Rolls of bandages.
All movement stopped.
Someone bent down and picked up a box. "Is this..."
"These are hormone medications!"
Someone else grabbed the document folder. I struggled to snatch it back, but my body was too weak to move.
Inside was a stack of lab reports.
The one on top showed estrogen levels so low they were barely detectable.
The comments section went blank for a few seconds, then exploded:
[Why would a girl be taking estrogen? Is she trans or something?]
[Must've caught something from sleeping around!]
[Mentally ill! Taking all this random crap!]
Mom froze.
Her lips trembled, but no words came out.
Aunt Naomi rushed over and slapped me twice across the face. "What have you been doing out there? Where did these drugs come from?"
My head snapped to the side. My ears rang.
I turned back.
And then I laughed—a wild, liberating laugh.
"That's right. I'm sick."
Every word came out razor-sharp. "The kind of sick where I'll die without medication. Happy now?"
Insults crashed over me from every direction.
"Freak!" "Pervert!" "Disgrace!"
Mom suddenly burst into sobs. She dropped to her knees and grabbed my arm. "It's my fault. Mommy didn't take care of you. Why didn't you tell me you were sick? However much it costs, Mommy will get you treated..."
Uncle Albert yanked her away. "Wake up! She brought this on herself! Born rotten! Cursed her own father to death! Cursed her own mother!"
I looked at my uncle. Then at my mother, still crying. Then at all those cameras pointed at me.
"Fine."
My voice came out so calm it surprised even me.
"Since you all think I was born rotten, I'll own it."
"Let's sever ties."
"From now on, I have no mother. No uncle. No aunt. Pretend that eighteen years ago, I really did drown in that chamber pot."
I picked up a lab report and scrawled a few lines on the back.
I threw the paper at Uncle Albert's feet.
"Sign it."
"Sign it, and I disappear forever."
"If we don't cut ties today, I'll take your surname!"
Uncle Albert's spit nearly hit my face. "From this day forward, no one in this family will ever acknowledge you!"
Mom's face was streaked with tears mixing with the blood from her forehead. "No! Mommy won't do it! Mommy won't cut ties!"
I pressed my bleeding thumb onto the severance document, leaving a vivid red print.
The blood seeped into the paper, blooming like a deformed flower.
I held up the paper. "As of today, I have no father. No mother."
Curses erupted around me.
"Sinner! Why keep a daughter like this around?"
"Look what she did to her own mother!"
"Born defiant—a wolf that can never be tamed!"
Just then, a blue verified badge floated across the livestream comments:
[I'm a physician in the Endocrinology Department at a top-tier teaching hospital. These lab results don't add up. If hormone levels were really this chaotic, a normal person would already have severe kidney damage or even organ failure. There's no way she'd still be standing here.]
Mom lunged forward and snatched the severance document from my hands, tearing it to shreds. "Mommy can't lose you..."
I tried to pull away, but she held on too tight.
"I don't have a mother like you."
Pat, the neighbor, came over to mediate. "Doris, sweetie, you used to hold your mom's hand walking to and from school every day. Remember when she was late picking you up once, and you cried your little eyes out? You two were so close—there must be some misunderstanding..."
