Chapter 3

3: 3

She stepped forward and swung her hand across my face.

"You think you're the same as your brother?"

"He's a boy. He's this family's only hope!"

Then, all at once, it seemed to dawn on her.

"Oh, I see! Now I know why you decided to make a scene today!"

"It's because I didn't take you to get a key cut, isn't it?"

"You petty little brat, throwing a tantrum on purpose over something like this?"

Beside her, my father suddenly asked,

"A key? What key?"

My mother let out a cold snort.

"Who knows what got into this brat, insisting we go cut her a key."

"With this many people in the house, would it kill her to wait a bit?"

"If you ask me, you're just vain!"

My throat tightened, and I couldn't stop myself from asking back,

"A key to my own home. That's vanity?"

"Yes! That's vanity!"

My mother cut me off sharply, without a second's thought.

"You went eighteen years without a key and you got by just fine, didn't you?"

"So why do you suddenly have to have one today?"

I gave a pale smile.

Eighteen years of swallowed grievance finally broke loose in that moment.

"Mom, so you knew all along."

"You knew I didn't have a key. You knew I had to wait two hours in the stairwell every single day!"

But there wasn't a trace of guilt on her face. If anything, she looked completely indifferent.

"So what?"

"When I was a girl, I walked miles of mountain roads to school. I had it far worse than you!"

Just then, Clyde's eyes lit up.

He pointed at my school bag.

"Mom! Look at her! She actually went and bought herself a keychain in secret!"

Then he lunged to snatch it.

I turned my body on instinct.

I held the keychain tight against my chest.

"No. This is mine."

It was the one keepsake I had.

It was the gift I'd bought for myself.

I wasn't going to give it up.

But that one move set my mother off.

"Yours? What's yours?"

"Which single thing you own didn't come from us?"

She strode over and yanked the keychain out of my hands without another word.

"It's just a cheap little keychain. What's the harm in giving it to your brother?"

"You're the older sister. You should give in to him in everything!"

Clyde took the keychain, grinning smugly.

"Perfect timing. Mine was getting old anyway. Might as well have a new one."

As he spoke, he pulled his key out of his pants pocket.

He looped it onto the keychain like he'd done it a hundred times.

That was the key I'd longed for through eighteen whole years.

The key my mother had promised, with her own mouth, to have cut for me on my birthday.

The warmth in my eyes drained away, bit by bit.

Until nothing was left but a dead stillness.

My mother stood off to the side with her arms crossed, sneering.

"Look at you, all wide-eyed and pleading, like a little dog begging for scraps!"

Clyde shook the key at me, showing off.

"Heh, you're really something, buying the keychain in advance like that."

"But what good did it do? It ended up mine in the end anyway!"

I looked quietly at that keychain.

I didn't argue anymore.

But the strange thing was, my heart didn't hurt at all.

Only today did I finally understand. The distance between me and this family had never been about a key.

Back in my room, I began quietly packing my things.

My room was small, partitioned off from the balcony.

It got the worst light, freezing in winter and stifling in summer.

The cramped space held only a bed and a row of small cabinets.

I had lived in that little room for eighteen years.

Yet the things that were mine came to pitifully little.

A few pieces of clothing, a few books.

One plain cloth bag held it all.

When I was done, I felt lighter than I ever had.

No longing, no reluctance to leave.

It was even the soundest sleep I'd had in a long time.