I Had to Be Crueler Than My Family to Finally Be Free

I was tired. I didn't want to keep holding together this hollow existence anymore.

"Am I the crazy one? You're the crazy ones! All of you!" I screamed at them like a madwoman, my voice tearing itself raw. "Why did you even have me? Why! If you never loved me, why did you bring me into this world!"

My finger jabbed toward them. "Why did they get everything growing up while I got nothing? Why was I stripped of the right to even have my own room!"

My fist pounded against my own chest, my voice shredding to nothing. "I'm your daughter too! Why!"

My outburst only made my mother snort with laughter.

Whether she was worried things would get ugly enough for the neighbors to gossip, or for some other reason, she said, "All that carrying on, and this is what it's about?"

So this was what true despair felt like.

Everything you'd screamed yourself hoarse fighting for was nothing but a joke to them.

"Alexis, what exactly are you fighting for here? You're someone who's going to marry out of this family. Nothing in this house will ever belong to you."

I lifted my gaze to the crystal chandelier hanging overhead. "Fine. Okay."

My eyes shifted to my father. "Then I want a full accounting of everything I've put into this family. Every dollar you owe me. Every last cent."

The expression on his face froze, then twisted into fury. A vein bulged at his temple. "So now you want to divide up the family assets, is that it?"

"Yes."

He hadn't expected me to answer.

The mop handle swung at me again, harder than any time before. It connected with my arm, and I felt the joint nearly separate from the socket.

My mother was grinding her teeth. "New Year's Eve, and we had to bring a debt collector like you into this world."

Derek wandered out to grab something for his girlfriend. He gave a cold scoff. "I've always said she was born to bleed us dry."

My older sister piled on from the side. "Dad, I told you this little wretch has been a backstabbing parasite since the day she was born!"

"I'll beat the life out of her tonight! She's my daughter. I'll kill her if I want. I dare anyone to say a word!"

I stood there. I didn't fight back. I didn't move.

I let the blows land, one after another.

My mother stood beside him like a shrieking fishwife, pointing at me, cursing me for being ungrateful.

"I'll say it again. I want what's owed to me. The money I put into building this house, the renovations. All of it. Every cent back."

"Over my dead body!"

I knew if this kept going, he would actually cripple me.

Derek poked his head out again, visibly annoyed. "Can you all keep it down? Tessa and I are trying to sleep."

I seized the moment and climbed onto the windowsill at the back of the house.

My father's mop had shattered down to nothing but the bare stick. They watched me perched up there without a shred of concern. "How long are you going to keep pulling this stunt?"

"Alexis, you've loved doing this your whole life, haven't you? Go ahead and jump. Jump! At least we'd all get some peace and quiet."

My father jabbed the stick at me a few times. "Jump! You jump, and I'll spend my own funeral money on yours."

My mother frowned. "Alexis, stop making a scene."

I stood on the windowsill. The night wind of New Year's Eve curled around my bare feet.

Fireworks bloomed above my head. I laughed. "I'm just so tired."

I closed my eyes, folded my arms across my chest, and without a second of hesitation, let myself fall backward.