“Honey, maybe she just has a stomach bug.
Call the camp, see if there’s been an
outbreak.”
Mom nodded, reaching for her phone.
I latched onto her hand, shaking my head.
“No, please, I was fine there. Don’t call… don’t
call…”
Going back would break me
<
It would kill me.
Mom ripped her hand away, grabbed her
phone, and walked out.
I collapsed on the floor, repeating the same
words over and over.
Don’t call.
Dad tried to help me up.
His touch felt like an electric shock.
I screamed.
“Get away from me!”
His hand froze.
Г
He tried to sound calm.
“Don’t be scared. Mom and Dad love you. We
only sent you there to help you get back on
the right path.”
“Tell me, what’s wrong? I can fix it.”
I fought the fear, looked up at him.
He looked so serious, so sure.
I wavered.
My mouth opened.
I was about to talk.
Then the door slammed open.
- 3.
All the color drained from my face.
She grabbed my hair, yanking me to my feet.
She slapped me hard.
Dad stepped in front of me.
“She’s still a kid, don’t do that.”
I felt numb.
After what I’d been through at that camp,
Mom’s little slap was nothing.
“You think you’re so smart?” she yelled.
く
“They said you weren’t eating, that you were
sneaking junk food. And they said you have a
boyfriend!”
Boyfriend.
I started to shake.
Mom dropped the words that made me feel
like I was drowning.
“If you don’t break up with him, I’m sending
you back!”
Dad looked disappointed.
“Honey, how could you do this?”
I turned to Dad.
<
I felt a wave of suffocation rising from my
chest, spreading through my body.
I had almost trusted him.
My lips trembled.
I tried to explain, but the words wouldn’t
come.
“Mom, please, there’s nothing going on… I’ll
do whatever you say, just don’t send me
back…”
I knelt, looking up at her with tears streaming
down my face.
She stared down at me, confused.
“This is the second time you’ve been on your
く
knees. You never used to be like this.”
“Where’s your backbone?”
I lowered my head and smiled.
It was a bitter smile.
What’s pride compared to staying alive?
- 4.
I used to be so bubbly, so full of life.
I joked around, made friends with everyone.
But I ate lunch with a boy, and suddenly I was
“boy crazy.”
She sent me to that camp. said it was for my
く
She had no idea what happened to me there.
At first, I tried to tell her.
But she didn’t believe me.
She told the staff everything I said.
One day they stripped me naked and burned
me with a hot iron.
They only stopped when I begged them,
promising never to tell Mom and Dad anything
they didn’t want me to say.
Labor Day weekend was coming up, Mom
finally got me out.
I’d rather die than go back.
く
So I tried to be the perfect daughter.
But why was I still going back?
Wasn’t I obedient enough?
I just couldn’t take it anymore.
I’d never even look at another guy.
Shouldn’t Mom be happy about that?
Why did she have to hate that I became a
coward?
I stood there, not moving, letting Mom’s
words rain down on me like hail.
“I’ll give you one more chance, a few days to
ourself of wOU got right
prove yourself. If you act right, you can go
back to school.”
