Chapter 2 - The Screams of the Dependent
The silence lasted exactly twenty-four hours.
By Tuesday evening, my phone was vibrating so violently it nearly fell off the hospital overbed table. Thirty-two missed calls from my mother. Fourteen from my father. Fifty-seven frantic, enraged text messages from Chloe.
I adjusted my pillows, ignoring the sharp sting of my stitches, and answered when my mother called for the thirty-third time. I didn't say hello. I just waited.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Eleanor’s voice shrieked through the speaker so loudly I had to hold the phone away from my ear. "I went to pay for my country club membership renewal this morning and my card was declined! Then your father checked the bank account—the monthly deposit is missing! How dare you humiliate us like this?"
"Good evening to you too, Mother," I said calmly. "I'm doing fine, thank you for asking. The surgery took six hours, but I survived."
"Don't you dare play the victim with me!" she hissed. "You are acting incredibly petty just because I couldn't watch the twins yesterday. I told you, I had a tournament! You can't just cut off your parents' livelihood because of a temper tantrum. We raised you!"
"You raised me to be your personal ATM," I replied, my voice dangerously smooth. "You told me I was a burden. A burden doesn't pay for cruises. A burden doesn't fund your retirement. Since I am such a hassle, I decided to remove myself from your financial equation entirely."
Before she could scream back, another line beeped. It was Chloe. I patched her into a conference call.
"You psycho!" Chloe screamed immediately, not even realizing our mother was on the line. "A process server just knocked on my door! An eviction notice?! I have a party here next week! Where am I supposed to live?!"
"Hi Chloe," I said. "You can live wherever your own money takes you. Since you 'never burden' Mom and Dad, I figured you could ask them to buy you a condo. Oh wait, they can't. Because their cards are declined."
"You can't do this to your sister!" Eleanor chimed in, her voice cracking with panic as the reality of the situation began to set in. "She has a fragile business! You are ruining our family over a simple misunderstanding!"
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"It wasn't a misunderstanding, Eleanor," I said, dropping the title 'Mother' entirely. "It was a moment of absolute clarity. You have thirty days to find a way to pay your own mortgage. Chloe has thirty days to vacate my condo. Do not call me again unless it is to provide a receipt of repayment for the $200,000 you collectively owe me from past 'loans'."
I pressed the red button, ending the call. For the first time since the crash, I smiled.
