My head snapped to the side. My ears rang with a high-pitched whine. Lily, terrified by the violence, buried her face in her hands and curled into a ball in the high chair.
My mother stood there, breathing heavy, her face red. “Don’t you dare defy me in my house! Don’t you dare waste food on broken things!
You bring this burden into my home, dirtying my atmosphere, and then you make demands?”
The room went silent. Then, I heard a sound that chilled my blood. Karen was giggling.
She had her hand over her mouth, laughing at me. Frank nodded from the living room. “Good.
She needed that. Disrespectful brat.”
I slowly raised a hand to my cheek. It throbbed.
I tasted copper in my mouth. But strangely, the pain felt distant. It was replaced by a clarity so cold it felt like ice water in my veins.
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