Chapter 4

4: 4

The next morning, first thing, my parents took my brother and went out.

Before they left I heard them talking, something about finding a new summer camp.

Even if it meant losing the registration fee, tens of thousands of dollars,

they were dead set on making up for Clyde's disappointment.

I was the only one left in the apartment.

I took out my phone and called my homeroom teacher.

"Daphne, your application has cleared. Your spot is officially confirmed."

"Seven o'clock tomorrow morning, everyone leaves together."

Hearing that, I let out a long breath.

"Okay. Thank you, Teacher Chavez."

Everything was settled.

But the moment I hung up, I heard the front door open.

I looked toward the sound. It was my cousin.

She glanced around the living room and smiled.

"Daphne, how come you're home alone?"

"Where's my aunt, and where's Clyde?"

"They went out," I said.

But something didn't sit right, and I asked before I could think.

"How did you get in?"

"With a key, obviously!"

As she said it, she held up the key in her hand.

"Aunt said I come over to play all the time, and it's a pain knocking every time I come and go."

"So she went to the hardware store and had one cut just for me..."

In that instant my mind went blank.

There was only a low buzzing in my ears.

Whatever she said after that, I couldn't make out.

So it wasn't that there weren't enough keys.

It wasn't that cutting one was too much trouble.

Four people in the family, three keys.

And now even a cousin from outside had her own key to our door.

Only me.

The daughter who had lived in this home for eighteen years had none.

Right then, my parents came back with my brother.

A new summer camp brochure in hand.

"Why is everyone standing in the doorway?"

Mom sensed something off the second she walked in.

And when she saw the key in my cousin's hand, she understood everything at once.

When her eyes met mine, they flickered before she could stop it.

"Ashley comes over all the time. It's inconvenient for her to keep knocking."

"Getting her a key, isn't that perfectly normal?"

I made a small sound of acknowledgment. I didn't cry and I didn't make a scene.

I just turned, numb, ready to go back to my little partitioned room.

But that one move set her off instantly.

"You wretched girl, I'm talking to you properly, where do you think you're going!"

"It's just a key. Do you have to keep dragging out something this small?"

My steps halted.

"If it's really just a key..."

"then why would you never, ever give me one?"

I didn't wait for her answer. I shut the door.

What they wouldn't give me was never the key.

It was the right to be family.

But it didn't matter.

If they wouldn't give it, then I didn't want it anymore.

The next day, just as the sky was going pale,

I left home alone.

Without a shred of regret.

My homeroom teacher, Teacher Chavez, was already waiting for me at the airport.

Seeing me on my own, she wasn't surprised. She only smiled gently.

"Daphne, have a safe trip."

"From here on, the sea is wide enough for the fish to leap, the sky high enough for the birds to fly."

Over these three years, she had encouraged me again and again.

She was the one who told me there was a wider world out there.

I hugged her and thanked her, sincerely.

"Thank you, Teacher Chavez."

After saying goodbye to her, I was about to go check in.

But as my eyes swept the hall, my steps slowed.

Not far off, right beside a boarding gate, stood my parents and my brother.

I gripped my ticket tight.

My first instinct was to hide.

I was afraid they'd see me, and more afraid they'd stop me.

But the next second I realized I'd been worrying over nothing.

My parents crowded around Clyde, their faces full of reluctance and concern.

"Clyde, you have to study hard at this new summer camp."

"Take good care of yourself out there. Anything you want, just tell us. Don't go without."

Clyde waved them off impatiently.

"I know, I know, you two are so annoying."

I watched quietly for a few seconds, and then I smiled.

Good.

They could keep loving the one they favored.

I was heading for the sea and the mountains that were mine.

I looked away and walked in the opposite direction from them.