Time to Spread My Wings

The day I got out of the hospital after the car crash, I signed a confidentiality agreement for the research program. A space agency staff member grabbed my hand excitedly and said, "Welcome aboard. "And I can't stress this enough—this research is classified, so not a word to anyone. You'll be totally off the grid for the five years you're involved."He gave me three days to say goodbye to my family. I gave him a faint smile and said, "I'm an orphan. There's nobody to say goodbye to."I dealt with the discharge paperwork by myself, and when I finally got home, Mom and Dad were glaring at me with grim looks.Mom clenched her jaw, her voice tight with fury. "Wanda! Where the hell have you been for three months without so much as coming home?"Jilly stayed up half the night waiting for you to start the celebration, and you didn't even bother to show up. Do you have any clue how disappointed she was?"Dad's stare was freezing, his voice flat and cold. "Looks like she's gotten too fu

Jillian sounded surprised. "Wanda? Why are you here? Today's academic conference is strictly invite-only. Did you steal someone's invitation?"Her voice faded like she was embarrassed just being near me.Mom looked uncomfortable when she noticed me, but she knew she was in the wrong for keeping me in the dark. "Wanda, don't make a scene. We brought Jilly here for business. Her company needs to secure a patent."Then she caught sight of Professor Faucher standing behind me, and suddenly, she looked thrilled."Professor Faucher, we're very interested in that latest aerospace patent from your university. Any chance Jilly's company could license it?"Professor Faucher glanced at me. "Wanda invented that patent. You'll need her permission."Jillian's eyes flashed with pure venom, but she covered it fast, sounding disappointed. "What do we do now? Wanda hates me. There's no way she'll hand that patent over."The second Dad heard that, his expression went dark. He dragged me aside at t

"What?" Dad asked like he hadn't quite caught it.Bernard repeated, "I've tried everything. I've looked everywhere Wanda could be, but she's just gone."Dad frowned, and it finally seemed to click that something wasn't right.He stayed quiet for a long beat, then suddenly slammed the table and bellowed, "That ungrateful brat! That two-faced snake! She knows Jilly's about to get engaged, so now she's vanished into thin air! "The Swains wasted all those years raising her! All the money I poured into her—"Dad was just winding up, ready to spew every last angry word, when he suddenly cut himself off.It hit him all at once. He'd never put a thing into me—not money, not time, not even attention. Jillian got everything he had to offer, while I, his actual daughter, might as well have been invisible.Those years at the Swain residence? I got by in the dark corners, where nobody cared to glance. The realization left Dad speechless.Bernard jumped in when he saw him hesitating. "Mr. S

Mom spilled everything to Dad, and he was just as shocked. He was so furious he could barely breathe. Jillian begged for mercy, but they couldn't have cared less. They just threw her out without a second thought.Mom even chucked all Jillian's stuff outside, letting them pile up like a heap of trash. And they took back every luxury item Jillian had ever bought with their money, leaving her with nothing.She clung to her pricey jewelry, protesting, "These belong to me, too. Why can't I keep them?"Mom sneered. "Yours? If you'd never existed, all of this would've gone to Wanda instead.""You and Dad always said I was your real daughter, that you'd get me anything I wanted. I really thought of you two as my family! And now you're just kicking me out? Where am I supposed to go?"Mom, please, just let me stay! I'll take the smallest room. I'll behave, I swear!" Jillian wailed, pulling the same pitiful face that had always gotten her way.But Mom didn't budge. "And as for your tech com