Mom scrambled to explain. "She's malnourished. A late bloomer..."
Aunt Naomi's laugh was a serrated blade. "Some people are just blessed—a mother who dotes on them, vitamins since childhood—and they still don't appreciate it."
Uncle Albert's voice cracked like a whip. "Have you been stealing diet pills?! Is there anything you won't stoop to?!"
The stares closed in like needles piercing flesh.
All those eyes fixed on my flat chest. The whispers. The probing curiosity. The contempt.
My throat seized. My stomach churned.
"Don't touch me!"
I shoved. Hard.
Mom staggered backward, her foot caught on something, and she crumpled to the ground.
"Doris, have you lost your mind?! How has your mother ever wronged you?!"
Mom lay there, blood seeping from a gash at her temple. Her voice was so fragile it could shatter. "Sweetheart... Mama's dirty, I know. But the money I got picking through trash to buy you supplements... that money was clean."
"It's Mama's fault. I won't do it anymore, I promise. Just... please eat properly..."
A needle of pain lanced through my chest. I opened my mouth to say I'd never meant to stop eating—
Uncle Albert's fist found me first.
The first blow landed on my shoulder. The second and third rained down on my back, my arms, his fists falling like hail.
I didn't dodge. I clenched my teeth until my jaw ached.
Somewhere, people screamed. Someone tried to pull him off. He roared like a maddened lion: "Anyone who gets in my way today answers to me! Animals like this don't learn unless you beat it into them!"
I collapsed onto the ground. A cough tore through me, and blood-flecked foam splattered the concrete.
"That's... really brutal," someone murmured.
"Serves her right! Ungrateful brats deserve a beating!"
"Why's her face so white? Doesn't look like she's faking..."
"You think she's on something? I heard some students these days..."
The comments kept scrolling:
[Weren't you just so tough with your mom? Cat got your tongue now?]
[Pathetic. All bark, no bite. Only brave enough to hurt the person who loves her most.]
Mom dragged herself up from the ground and threw her body over mine like a shield. "It's my fault... I raised her wrong... Blame me..."
Her hand reached toward my face. I turned away.
I licked the blood from the corner of my mouth. And laughed.