Chapter 11 - The Desperate Plea
Two weeks later, there was a frantic knock on my apartment door.
I looked through the peephole.
It was my mother.
She looked entirely unrecognizable.
Her designer hair was flat and greasy.
She wore a plain gray sweater and no makeup.
The heavy bags under her eyes were completely genuine this time.
I unlocked the door but left the security chain attached.
"What do you want?" I asked coldly.
"Sarah, please," she begged, her voice trembling.
"You have to drop the civil suit."
"I have nothing left."
"They took the cars, the house is in foreclosure, and my friends won't even return my calls."
"I am sleeping on a cot in my sister's basement."
I stared at her, feeling absolutely zero pity.
"You spent my future to buy yourself status," I replied evenly.
"You let dad physically abuse me to protect his reputation."
"You are only crying now because you got caught."
"Sarah, I'm your mother!" she wailed, pressing her hands against the door.
"That title is earned, Eleanor."
"You lost it the day you pawned my cello."
"You lost it the day you called me a liar for showing my bruises."
"You are just a stranger who owes me money."
I closed the door in her face.
I heard her sobbing loudly in the hallway for ten minutes before she finally left.
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It was the first time her tears didn't make me feel guilty.
It felt like breaking a heavy chain I had carried my entire life.
