Eugene buried his face in the scarf, his body trembling slightly. He remembered watching me pick the shreds from the trash can while mocking me. “What’s ruined is ruined. It’ll never go back to being what it was, no matter how you try to put it back together.”
There’d been an undercurrent to his words, which I’d understood. My hands had stiffened in mid–air while clutching the pieces of the scarf, but I’d still taken them with me.
As Eugene sobbed inside my room, Carl and Gary leaned against the doorframe and looked in. This seemed to be their first time seeing my living conditions–the attic was dark and cramped.
Carl was stunned. He’d never stepped foot in here before. He approached my closet, which was small and old. It was enough to contain all the clothes I needed for every weather.
Everything in the attic was old and worn out, save for the small bed in the center. I’d only managed to get it changed because the old one had collapsed in the middle of the night. A piece of broken wood had pierced the thin mattress and stabbed me. To this day, I probably still had unremoved splinters in my waist.
“It’s been over a decade. We’ve misunderstood her for that long. She was the eldest daughter of the Jensen family, and she should’ve grown up happy and healthy. Yet this old attic was all she had.
“We made her fall sick and locked her at home to force her to apologize to Phoebe–we made her miss her exams and drop out of school.”
Carl’s mention of the past reminded me of the memories I’d buried. One of Phoebe’s favorite hair clips had gone missing, and I’d been the only person at home when it happened.
At the time, I’d dreamed of completing my education and starting afresh somewhere. It was a simple dream, yet my brothers had ruined it.
