Chapter 4

"Sometimes I wonder if you're even my daughter. How is your cousin so smart, and you're this stupid? Did the hospital mix you up at birth?

"God, you're stupid."

***

After dinner, Mom did the dishes.

Then she picked up her phone and called my smartwatch.

But my watch had shattered in the crash.

"It's off." She gritted her teeth, a vein pulsing at her temple. "She did it on purpose. Turned it off just to make me worry. She's getting back at me."

Mom, I wasn't trying to make you mad.

But she couldn't hear me.

She opened our chat, held the voice button, and spoke.

"Vienna, I'm telling you right now. If you don't come home, don't ever come back. There's no place for you in this house!"

She sent it, then threw her phone onto the couch, her chest heaving.

The more she thought about it, the madder she got.

She stormed into my room.

It was tiny.

Just a bed, a desk, and a little bookshelf.

Mom stood in the middle of it, looking around.

Then she went to my desk, opened the drawer, and pulled out my sketchbook.

She'd bought it after I got the highest score in my class.

Light blue cover. Little white rabbit.

I'd filled it with drawings.

Besides studying, drawing was the only thing I had.

Mom opened the sketchbook, glanced at it, and started ripping.

Hard.

The sharp tear of paper filled the room.

"No! Mom, don't!"

I lunged for her, but my hands cut through empty air.

I dropped to the floor, shaking, staring at the scraps everywhere.

I couldn't even cry anymore.

When the sketchbook was shredded, Mom stood there, catching her breath.

Then she walked out and shut the door behind her.

Leaving me alone with the torn pages.

***

Mom's phone rang again.

The driver.

He begged her not to call the cops. Said he'd pay whatever it took.

Mom frowned.

"You're saying Vienna got hit by a car?" Uncertainty slipped into her voice.

"Yes. She's still here. The ambulance should be here any minute. I'm so sorry..."

Mom started to panic, about to ask what happened.

Then Sadie walked over, all sweet and innocent.

"Aunt Florence, one of my classmates saw Vienna near the school. She was lying in the street and wouldn't get up. They said it looked like she was faking."

She paused.

"Maybe she wants you to pick her up so she can apologize."

Mom's face went dark.

"You don't need to worry about her."

The driver went quiet.

"What?"

"She knows I have a soft spot for her," Mom said. "So she's putting on this whole act to manipulate me. This isn't the first time she's pulled something like this."

"No, it's not an act. It's real!"

"That girl is hopeless." Mom's jaw clenched. A vein throbbed at her temple. "She can die out there for all I care."

The call ended.

***

My body still lay at the intersection.

The crowd was gone.

Only the driver stayed beside me.

My lips had turned purple.

So had my fingers, curled stiff against the frozen ground.

Dirt and ice were packed under my nails.