Late Kinship Is Worth Less Than
Grass
Chapter 1
My name is Ashley, and I was the lost
daughter of the Miller family.
When I finally came home, they already had a
foster daughter, Tiffany.
She was spoiled rotten.
I tried to wear one of her old dresses.
She freaked out and ripped it to shreds,
leaving me standing there practically naked in
front of everyone.
A teddy bear I’d had since I was a kid?
She ripped it open, using it as a pillow.
A puppy I’d raised for three months.
She killed it and then made it into stew,
tricking me into eating it.
I was throwing up everywhere.
She told me I was disgusting and dumped the
scalding stew over my head.
I ended up in the hospital with severe burns
and a disfigured face, with no money for
treatment.
My mom blamed me for not being raised
right, saying I deserved it.
My dad lectured me: “You’re the older sister,
why can’t you just let Tiffany have her way?”
My brother, Jake, said Tiffany was just
spoiled, and it was just an old dress, a bear,
and a dog, but we were family, and I shouldn’t
be so petty.
I was laughing and crying at the same time,
like a crazy person.
Later, I drove them all to the brink.
Then, I laughed, telling them, “We’re family,
why are you being so petty?”
- 1.
I was the long–lost daughter of the Millers.
When I came back, they already had an
<
eighteen–year–old foster daughter, Tiffany.
They’d taken her in the year after I
disappeared.
It was because she looked like me, or at least,
what I used to look like.
I put on the dress my mom had picked out for
the “Welcome Home” party.
Tiffany’s face instantly darkened.
“That’s my dress! Don’t you have any clothes
of your own? Why are you wearing my
dress?!”
Tiffany stormed over, trying to rip the dress
right off me.
Tiffany and I might have looked alike when we
were little, but we were totally different now.
I was short and skinny from years of
malnutrition and being broke.
Tiffany, she was tall and strong from having
everything she ever wanted.
She was surprisingly strong and tore the
dress in half in seconds.
She yanked at the scraps hanging off me.
“Mine! It’s mine!” she screamed.
I was standing there in my bra and panties,
nearly naked, right in front of everyone.
All eyes were on me.
I even saw someone put out their prone to
take a picture.
I froze, covering myself with my arms.
Finally, Jake, my brother, came to the rescue.
He put his jacket around me, still warm from
his body.
I looked at him, grateful.
Jake was the best.
