best counter
Search
Report & Feedback

Chapter no 13

I Hope This Doesn't Find You

โ€ŒIโ€™m trying to tiptoe my way down the hall when my mom calls my name. โ€œSadie? What are you still doing up?โ€โ€Œ

I spin around, and the room spins too. The alcohol is still sloshing around in my stomach, my bloodstream, rendering everything blurry and surreal. I have to squint hard to focus. My momโ€™s removing her coat, setting her car keys down on the counter; theyโ€™re easily recognizable because she

refuses to throw out the bright ribbons from chocolate boxes and insists instead on wrapping them around the key ring. There should be five ribbons in total, but when I blink, they duplicate into a mess of squiggly pink and

blue lines.

God, Iโ€™m so drunk.

โ€œIโ€™m not drunk,โ€ I announce loudly. This seems like the normal, not- guilty thing to say, but I can tell from the way Mom stares at me that Iโ€™ve slipped up somehow.ย Itโ€™s okay, I attempt to calm myself, biting my tongue so hard I taste the sharp tang of blood.ย At least she hasnโ€™t found out about the party. Youโ€™ve cleaned up most of the evidence. Thereโ€™s absolutely no

wayโ€”

โ€œDid you . . . host a party while we were gone?โ€ Mom asks, frowning. Before I can reply, she strides into the living room and starts inspecting all the furniture. I want to disappear. โ€œThe dining table is askew. The books on

the shelf arenโ€™t in alphabetical order. The left cabinet drawer is open. And is thatโ€”โ€ She wipes a finger over something on the wall so minuscule that I canโ€™t even see what it is until she holds it right up to my face, under the lights. โ€œThatโ€™s a piece ofย glitter, isnโ€™t it?โ€

Sheโ€™s being very accurate. It is, indeed, a singular, dust-sized speck of glitter.

โ€œWe donโ€™t own anything with glitter in this house,โ€ she says, switching to Mandarin now. She always speaks in rapid Mandarin when sheโ€™s agitated, as if all the words in the English language arenโ€™t enough to contain her rage. โ€œGlitter is, without a doubt, the worst thing humanity has ever

invented.โ€

For reasons that escape me, I decide that the best response to this is: โ€œWhat about weapons of war?โ€

โ€œExcuse me?โ€

โ€œNothing,โ€ I backpedal. Iโ€™m having trouble standing up and talking at

the same time. Or maybe just standing up without support. Or maybe being a human in general.

โ€œWhatโ€™s going on with you?โ€ she asks, her gaze heavy on me.

Everythingย is too heavy: the air around me, the clothes on my body, the skin on my bones, the invisible force pressing against my chest. The effort of a single, shaky breath. I can feel my palms sweating, the truth rising up like bile. โ€œIโ€”โ€

โ€œDid you miss us?โ€ Max comes strolling into the room from the other side of the house, grinning wide. Heโ€™s holding up a packet of Wang Wang soft gummy candiesโ€”the lychee-flavored ones I love the mostโ€”which he waves around before me like a victory flag before dropping it into my palms. โ€œDude, you should have been there. Da Ma invited a bunch of her friends over and I absolutely thrashed them at mahjong. They ran out of money and had to start paying up in candyโ€”you like this flavor, right?

Anyway, it was hilarious. Mom forced us to leave before I could take everything, but I swear, if given the chanceโ€”โ€

โ€œIโ€™m talking to your sister,โ€ Mom says irritably. โ€œGo wash up.โ€

โ€œWait. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a second.โ€ My brother stares at me. โ€œAre youโ€”drunk? Dude, I canโ€™t believe this. What the hell happened?โ€

I open my mouth to deny itโ€”

And break down into tears instead.

Iโ€™m completely, utterly horrified. I never act this way. Iโ€™m only meant to absorb what others feel, present the best side of myself, sit still and swallow

my own emotions. But itโ€™s like Iโ€™ve lost control over my own body, like Iโ€™m watching myself from the ceiling as I stand here in the middle of the living room, crying and clutching the gummy candy. Iโ€™m inconsolable. Hysterical. Iโ€™m sobbing ten yearsโ€™ worth of tears, choking as if thereโ€™s something sick and poisonous inside me, something painful, and I need to force it out of my system. But itโ€™s stuck. Itโ€™s festered beneath my flesh for so long now that itโ€™s a part of me, the deep ache like a thumb on a tender bruise.

โ€œHold up.โ€ Alarm flashes over Maxโ€™s face. Iโ€™ve witnessed him having a mental breakdown over an ad about a lost squirrel before, but he hasnโ€™t seen me cry in years. โ€œBro, youโ€™re scaring meโ€”โ€

โ€œMax,โ€ Mom says quietly. โ€œGo.โ€

He doesnโ€™t protest this time, but he keeps shooting me worried glances over his shoulder as he hurries down the corridor.

Then my mom gently grabs my arm. Sits me down on the couch next to

her.

โ€œWhatโ€™s wrong?โ€ she asks. If Mandarin is her language for anger, itโ€™s

also her language for softness. Itโ€™s her voice coaxing us to sleep when we

were younger, her humming under her breath as she sewed the buttons back into our jackets so they were good as new again, her telling us it was time for dinner, her whispering goodnight as she turned off the big lights, her calling to let us know she would be there soon, just wait.

โ€œI regret it,โ€ I manage to say on a stuttering breath. I weep like I havenโ€™t in ages, not since I was an infant.

โ€œRegret what?โ€

Everything.

I regret writing the emails, I regret throwing the party, I regret kissing Julius in a moment of impulsivity and giving him the power to humiliate me. I regret it so much it feels like my liver is bleeding dry. I regret it so much it feels more like hatred, a knife turned inward, nails squeezing into

flesh. I hate myself for everything thatโ€™s happened, because every mistake is my own to bear. And it feels like fear too. Like pure, animal terror, the stomach-curdling moment in the horror film when you realize you made the

wrong move, you unlocked the doors too soon, and the masked man with the chain saw is standing right behind you.

Thereโ€™s nothing I want more than for time to be a physical thing, something I can split into two with my own hands, so I can turn it around, shatter it, undo all the consequences.

โ€œIs this about the party?โ€ Mom asks. โ€œBecause Iโ€™m not mad. I wish you hadย toldย me, and I donโ€™t condone the alcohol, but Iโ€™m actually quite happy. Itโ€™s about time you did things like a normal teenager.โ€

This is so shocking my tears freeze in my eyes. โ€œYouโ€™reโ€”not?โ€

She smiles at my surprise.ย Smiles.ย I wonder if Iโ€™ve been transported into an alternate universe. In the correct version, she would be lecturing me or chasing me around the house with her plastic slippers. She would be mad that I keep ruining everything, and she would have every right to be. I donโ€™t deserve to be forgiven so easily. โ€œOf course. When I was a teenager, I threw parties every few weeks. They were very popular.โ€

โ€œIโ€” What?โ€ A dull throbbing sensation has started behind my eyes, but I canโ€™t tell if itโ€™s from the liquor or the crying or the strain of fitting this

bizarre information into my brain. โ€œSince when? I thought you said . . . I thought you said you herded the goats around the mountains when you were a teenager.โ€

โ€œJust because we had goats doesnโ€™t mean we didnโ€™t have parties.โ€

I blink. The room is spinning again, faster than before. โ€œBut . . . Iโ€™m not allowed to. I shouldnโ€™t be having fun and throwing parties andโ€”and doing the wrong things. Iโ€™m not supposed to cause any trouble.โ€

โ€œWho told you that?โ€ she asks. โ€œWho said you werenโ€™t allowed?โ€

Nobody, I realize. But nobody everย hadย to tell me. It was enough for me to cower behind the wall as my parents fought, enough to watch my father leave, to feel the doors trembling in his wake. It wouldnโ€™t have happened if it werenโ€™t for me. Thatโ€™s the truth I always crawl back to, the bone that set wrong in my body all those years ago. My dad had been at work, Max had been out playing basketball with his friends, and my mom needed to go buy groceries, so sheโ€™d asked me to steam the pork buns for dinner. Iโ€™d been so

eager to prove that I was reliable, but then Iโ€™d gotten distracted by the show I was watching. I only remembered the boiling pot again when I smelled the smoke. The sharp, bitter odor of something burning.

I had slammed my laptop down and sprinted into the kitchen to check, but it was too late: The fire had burned a hole straight through the bottom, the metal scorched so severely it was coal black. It had been my momโ€™s

favorite pot, the one she had bought with her savings and shipped all the way from a store in Shanghai. I didnโ€™t try to hide it when she walked in an hour later. I just stood there guiltily, my head bowed, the damage on open display behind me.

โ€œHow can you be so irresponsible?โ€ sheโ€™d demanded, rubbing her face like she hoped to scrub away her exhaustion. โ€œI only asked you to do thisย oneย thing while I was gone. Youโ€™re not a baby anymore, Sadie; I expect

more from you.โ€

Iโ€™d apologized, over and over and over. โ€œI know. Iโ€™m sorry. Iโ€™m really sorry, Mom. Please donโ€™t be angry with me. Iโ€™m so sorry.โ€

But then my father had come home, and heโ€™d been angry tooโ€”not at me, but at my mom. โ€œSheโ€™s still a child,โ€ heโ€™d insisted, dumping his

briefcase on the couch. โ€œWhy do you always do this? Why do you always make a big deal out of nothing? Itโ€™s just a pot.โ€

My mom had whirled on him with alarming speed, her eyes flashing. โ€œYou say that because youย neverย cook. You go to work and come back and expect dinner to be all ready and waiting on the table for you. Youโ€™re no better than a child yourself.โ€

โ€œItโ€™s my fault,โ€ Iโ€™d put in. My parents so rarely argued that I didnโ€™t

know what to do, only that I hated it and needed to make it stop. โ€œIโ€™ll fix it, I promise. I-Iโ€™ll find a new pot, the same brand as the old one. I wonโ€™t do it againโ€”โ€

But they were no longer even looking at me.

โ€œI never cook because you donโ€™t let me,โ€ my father was saying. โ€œYou lose patience within minutes; look at you, youโ€™re losing patience nowโ€”โ€

โ€œDonโ€™t be such a hundan,โ€ Mom had snapped, and thatโ€™s how I knew she was really furious: She was swearing in Mandarin.

And just like that, my father had exploded. Heโ€™d slammed his hand down on the table so hard I expected him to break something, his features twisted with rage. The melted pot lay forgotten on the stove. They glared at each other from opposite ends of the room, and then it was like some kind of invisible barrier had broken, and they were flinging accusations at each other, complaints, curse words.

โ€œDo youย enjoyย making other people miserable?โ€ my dad had accused, and I couldnโ€™t help it anymore. I was caught between two sides of a war, and by pure protective instinct, I stepped out in front of my mom. Chose my alliances without thinking.

โ€œDonโ€™t talk to my mom like that,โ€ Iโ€™d said. Quietly, at first, then louder. โ€œYouโ€™re upsetting her. Justโ€”just go away.โ€ I hadnโ€™t meant it. I was only sick and scared of their fighting. I only wanted the argument to stop.

Hurt had flickered over his face, and I got the sense Iโ€™d committed some terrible act of betrayal, before his thick brows drew together, his hands balled into fists. โ€œYou all want me to go? Fine,โ€ he spat. โ€œI will.โ€

Then he was leaving because Iโ€™d all but asked him to, and my mom was right there, watching him, witnessing our lives collapse in on themselves. โ€œDonโ€™t come back,โ€ she yelled, and he never did.

Once the dust had settled, she told me it had nothing to do with me. It had been her choice. They were grown adults; they made decisions for themselves. All the expected, hollow excuses. But I didnโ€™t believe her.

Couldnโ€™t.ย Every time I played the scene back, I saw myself poised at both

the starting and end point. I had been the trigger, and all that came after had happened for what? Because I hadnโ€™t listened to her. Because I hadnโ€™t been well-behaved. Because Iโ€™d been impulsive.

Because some mistakes were irreversible, like glitter in the carpet, a wine stain on a favorite dress.

โ€œWhatโ€™s really going on, Sadie?โ€ my mom asks, peering at my face.

I canโ€™t bring myself to tell her about the emails, so I settle for the closest answer I can find. โ€œEveryone hates me,โ€ I whisper. โ€œI did something to

make them all hate me, and I thought . . . I thought I could change their minds.โ€

She absorbs this for a moment. โ€œWell, I doubt thatโ€™s true. And even if it is, itโ€™s not the end of the world.โ€

I let out a shaky laugh. Adults are always saying that. Other thanย If someone asked you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?ย (which simply

doesnโ€™t strike me as a realistic scenario; who would benefit from making somebody else hurl themselves off a cliff?) andย Youโ€™ll understand when you have children of your ownย (even though I donโ€™t plan on ever having children), this seems to be their favorite line.ย Itโ€™s not the end of the world.

And maybe thereโ€™s some tiny grain of truth in it. Maybe Iโ€™ll grow up and change my mind a decade later. Except for now, thisย isย my whole world.

The people I sit next to in class, the faces I have to see at school every single day, the teachers who determine the grades that get sent to the university that determines the trajectory of the rest of my life.

โ€œWhy donโ€™t you just give it some time?โ€ she suggests. โ€œThe more you force something, the less it works. Havenโ€™t you heard the saying? A melon picked too soon is seldom sweet.โ€

I stare. โ€œYou mean . . . do nothing?โ€ Itโ€™s an absurd notion. Itโ€™s the route people who turn their essays in two days late would choose. But all of a sudden Iโ€™m aware of how exhausted I am.

โ€œYes, do nothing,โ€ she says firmly. โ€œLive your life and see what happens. Of course, I donโ€™t mean around the house,โ€ she adds. โ€œI expect you to clean up all the rooms and return everything to its original place.โ€

โ€œIโ€” Okay.โ€ I start to stand up but she yanks me back down onto the couch.

โ€œTomorrow,โ€ย she says. โ€œTonight, all you need to do is drink the chicken soup Iโ€™m about to make you and go to bed, okay?โ€

โ€œOkay,โ€ I repeat again, stunned. I must still be very drunk, because I canโ€™t help the next words that tumble out of my mouth: โ€œIโ€™m really sorry.โ€

She shakes her head. โ€œYou donโ€™t have to apologize for the partyโ€”โ€ โ€œNot about the party,โ€ I say. โ€œAboutโ€”about my father.โ€

Silence.

Itโ€™s the one topic in the house we never bring up. Itโ€™s like a rash youโ€™re told not to scratch, even when it pains you, for fear of making it worse. I already regret it, already want to take the words back, but my momโ€™s gaze is calm.

โ€œSadie. Itโ€™s not your fault.โ€ โ€œButโ€”โ€

โ€œIt happened,โ€ she says, โ€œand it was inevitable, and now we have the rest of our lives to live.โ€

โ€œInevitable?ย How? You never fought. You were both so happy up until that night,โ€ I whisper.

โ€œOh, no, we werenโ€™t happy. We werenโ€™t in love with each other. We

were simplyย polite,โ€ she says, looking over my shoulder now, as if she can

see her past projected onto the bare walls. โ€œI almost wish that we had fought more, that weโ€™d cared enough to challenge each other and bicker over the

little things. Better that than just swallowing our resentment and staying quiet until we couldnโ€™t take it anymore.โ€

I feel like somebody has knocked me upside down. Like I might throw up at any moment. โ€œThatโ€™s not possible,โ€ I tell her. โ€œI should have sensed it. I would have knownโ€”โ€

โ€œYou were so young,โ€ she says. โ€œYouโ€™reย stillย so young. And we didnโ€™t want you to know.โ€ She squeezes my wrist lightly.

โ€œBut then . . . youโ€™re not happy now,โ€ I say, scanning her face, noting the familiar signs of fatigue in the faint purple around her eyes, the downward turn of her lips. โ€œItโ€™s because heโ€™s gone, isnโ€™t it?โ€

She shakes her head. โ€œIf thereโ€™s any reason why Iโ€™d be unhappy, itโ€™s becauseย youโ€™reย not happy.โ€

I am. Iโ€™m fine, I try to say, except the lie wonโ€™t even make its way past my lips.

โ€œAll you do is work and study and live for other people,โ€ she goes on, gesturing to the stacks of textbooks on the floor, the shiny awards and

sports trophies on the bookshelf. โ€œYes, you help out a lot, and Iโ€™m very grateful for it; the bakery wouldnโ€™t be running without you. But Iโ€™d much rather see you enjoying your teen years while you can. I worry that youโ€™re going to look back when youโ€™re twenty or forty and all youโ€™ll remember is your desk and the dishes. Really, it would ease my guilt if you did.โ€ Her

smile is sad. โ€œI never wanted you to have to grow up this fast.โ€

My head buzzes. I canโ€™t believe it. Itโ€™s like spending years of your life training for a game only to realize you understood the rules all wrong.

โ€œIโ€™m going to make that soup now.โ€ Mom stands up. โ€œStay here.โ€

And then she heads into the kitchen, leaving me to reassemble all the pieces of my life I was once so certain of.

You'll Also Like