Twenty-Three Days Until I Disappear From This Family Chapter 06

Twenty-Three Days Until I Disappear From This Family Chapter 06

She’d actually left. Cleanly, without leaving a trace.

Pierce heard the news and came running. He stood at the storage room doorway for twenty minutes.

Then he stepped inside.

Three steps to the end. Could barely turn around. He tried to imagine Mila lying here every night, the bare bulb buzzing, smelling mop buckets while laughter and vanilla scent drifted from Sophie’s room.

He started remembering the last three years.

Didn’t help her move. Stood her up on their anniversary. Gave Sophie a three-hundred-dollar gift and Mila

two-ninety-nine candy-and got the flavor wrong.

She’d told him more than once: she didn’t like sweets. She liked spicy. In winter, all she wanted was a bowl of hot chili with enough heat to make her nose sweat.

He’d never once remembered.

Pierce crouched down and found something under the yoga mat-a photo that must have been left behind.

From freshman year. Under the ginkgo tree at the school gate. Mila in a blue hoodie, smiling, eyes crinkled,

making a peace sign.

On the back, in blue ink: “First day with Pierce. I will always be happy.”

His hand started shaking.

Three years.

He’d never given her a single reason to be happy.

Sophie moved out that day. No one forced her-she chose to.

She packed everything into two suitcases and gave Mom a long hug.

“Thank you for raising me for ten years. But I can’t stay here anymore.”

Mom held her, crying. “Sophie, don’t go. This isn’t your fault-”

“I know it’s not my fault. But Mila is gone.”

She straightened up. Her eyes were red, but her voice was calm.

“After she left, I realized-everything this family gave me–the room, the gifts, the love all of it was taken

from her.”

“I don’t want to live on what others have given up.”

Her suitcase wheels rumbled down the hallway.

After Sophie left, the south-facing room stood empty.

Pink floral curtains. Vanilla scent. 128-color markers.

All there. Just no one to use them,

Two bedrooms, empty.