They Gave Me Away , Now They're Begging Me to Come Back

When I was little, my parents told me and my sister to pick out a piece of jewelry. Laid out in front of us were Mom's gold ring and her silver ring. I chose the gold one. My sister chose the silver one. After that, my parents took only me on a two-day trip. That night, lying in the motel bed, I overheard them talking. "This kid is just too greedy. How can she be so calculating? If only she were more like her little sister." "Well, we can't afford to raise two kids anyway. The sooner we send her off, the sooner we can stop worrying." I understood exactly what they meant. I buried myself under the covers, shaking with terror, tears streaming down my face. It was my sister who had told me she was allergic to silver. That touching it could kill her. That was the only reason I'd let her have the silver ring. I kept that secret locked inside me for over a decade. Until I enrolled at Westbrook University. And in a classroom, I came face to face with her again. …… The moment I walked in, I spotted Maureen Simmons in the crowd. She'd grown up. Far prettier than she'd been as a child. Her clothes alone looked expensive. She must have recognized me too, because she drifted over, unhurried. Her voice was soft, dripping with rehearsed warmth. "You're so pretty. You look just like a friend I had when I was little." I looked at the makeup on her face, and a flash of memory hit me. She'd always loved sneaking into our mother's cheap cosmetics. And every time Mom found out, she'd swear up and down that I was the one who'd used them. She pushed everything onto me. Every single time. I didn't look up. I just asked quietly, "You mean the sister your family gave away?" Her voice cut off mid-breath. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched her freeze for a solid few seconds. The smile on her face locked in place, her eyes wide with shock, one hand still hanging in the air, not knowing where to land. I ignored her and went back to my book. I found out later that our birth family had done well for themselves. They weren't scraping by anymore, not like back then, when they could barely put food on the table. Maureen took a long time to recover. Something dark flickered behind her eyes, there and gone in an instant. After class, I headed for my rental apartment. I barely made it a few steps before she blocked my path. She leaned against the wall, her tone leaving no room for refusal. "Hey, my parents found out we go to the same school. They want to invite you over for dinner. You're not going to say no, are you?" I didn't even think about it. I shook my head. "No thanks. I don't have time." She closed the distance immediately, looping her arm through mine. "It's just dinner. It's not like we're going to eat you alive." I looked at that fake smile plastered across her face, and something cold turned over in my chest. I knew exactly why she was so insistent. She wanted to show off. Flaunt the good life she had now. Flaunt how much our parents doted on her. I wanted nothing to do with that family. Not anymore. But she wouldn't let it go, so I agreed. Might as well go and put it all to rest. She led me to the front gate of campus, where a silver Maserati sat parked at the curb. "Eighteenth birthday present," she said. "From Mom and Dad. Only cost them about a hundred grand." I let out a flat "hm" and didn't say another word. I pulled open the door, climbed in, and stayed silent the entire ride. The engine hummed to life. I watched the scenery scroll past the window. This road. I hadn't been down it in twelve years. The day they sent me away, I'd been sitting in a beat-up three-wheeled cart, sobbing until my lungs gave out. They never once looked back. Now I was riding in a car worth a hundred thousand dollars, and all I felt was numb. The car pulled up in front of a villa. The moment I stepped out, I saw them. Two faces that were both familiar and foreign at the same time.