The Unwanted Daughter's Reckoning

rition, the constant stress, it a

afford to lose. Dark circ

frame became a

a particularly grueling shift, I

ut the cost of Kevin's upc

f dizziness hit me

t through my abdomen, so i

ch, and dropped the plates.

jumping up. "Look what you've d

I doubled over, naus

"My stomach... it h

e, her face contor

w? Faking it to get out o

you pregnant? Is that it? S

so vile, so reminiscent of her taunts

ripping with malice. "Is that where your money's

The pain was unbearable. I collapsed on

I begged, "I

for doctors every time you get

ed at me on the floor, then at the broken pl

s all

da said dismissively. "Prob

en David started to look a little uneasy.

ick, Brenda," he said, a rare n

ou're paying for the doctor's visit and those plates

y. Every bump in the road se

ng about how inconvenient this was, how I

s a "troubled girl" prone to "drama

weak to de

d someone wo

saw me quickly. Her kind eyes registered

ion and some tests, th

contaminated food, and she's suffering from severe malnu

The word hun

ed the old, faded bruises on my arms, the fresh ones o

ession t

tepped away to argue with an admissions cle

. I couldn't speak, jus

ssed into a thin line. "

-induced haze, I vaguely heard a ne

er Mi

Brenda and David, h

"legal consequences," "investigatio

rn. "Officer, we had no idea it was this serious. We love

ent, her face

of something I hadn't felt in a

. But maybe, just