Counting Pennies, Losing Daughters

I zoomed in on the photo.

My father, Justin Lambert, was in the corner while holding up a lightstick. My mother, Bella Whitfield, was hugging my sister, Hannah Lambert.

Their smiles were blinding.

I stared at the photo, and my fingers trembled as I gripped the medical bill.

The nurse rapped her knuckles on the table and asked, "Are you going to pay the bill, miss?"

My phone vibrated again. Hannah had just sent a message to me.

"Mom told me that you're pretending to be sick again to ask for money, Helena. Can you be a little more mature? Mom and Dad work really hard to earn money."

I stared at the screen before calling Dad. It rang for a long time before he finally picked up. I could hear the deafening cheers from the concert in the background.

"I'm in the hospital, Dad," I said. "I need 300 dollars to pay the medical bill."

"Why are you in the hospital, Lena?" he asked, sounding guilty.

"I passed out from malnutrition."

"Why didn't you take better care of yourself—"

Mom's piercing shriek interrupted Dad before he could finish his sentence. "Are you talking to Helena? Is she asking for money again? Don't you dare give her any, Justin."

Mom snatched the phone out of Dad's hand and screamed into the receiver, "Stop this nonsense right now, Helena! You won't be getting 300 dollars from us. In fact, you won't even be getting a single cent!"

"Mom," I said calmly. "I know that the three of you are at a concert."

Mom briefly fell silent on the other end of the line before she shouted, "So what if we are? Hannah's been under a lot of pressure because of her studies. Is it wrong for us to help her relax? Does it make you that upset to see her happy?"

"I passed out from malnutrition. I'm in the hospital right now while the three of you are watching a concert with VIP tickets that each cost 2,900 dollars."

"So what?" Mom demanded, completely dropping the act. "I can spend my money however I please! I'm already being extremely generous by giving you 500 dollars every month for your allowance, you ungrateful child!"

I stared at the IV bag and asked, "How much does Hannah get every month if I get 500 dollars? 10,000 dollars? 20,000 dollars?"

"Shut up!" Mom shrieked. "Both of you get the same amount! Is getting jealous the only thing you know how to do? If you don't renew the family contract today, you can forget about coming home ever again, Helena!"

The line went dead then, the busy tone echoing in my ear.

I leaned back against the chair and looked between the medical bill and the timer that was ticking down on my phone screen.

"Miss?" the nurse asked as she walked over to me.

I looked up and smiled at her. I then refunded the silver bracelet that I had bought for Mom. It had taken me a long time to save up enough money from my part-time job to be able to afford it.

I had to give Mom a present every year whenever it was time to renew my family contract. If I didn't give her anything, she would refuse to renew the contract for a long time. Most of the time, she would wait until tears were welling in my eyes before agreeing in a so-called act of benevolence.

Fortunately, the silver bracelet wasn't out for delivery yet.

307 dollars were refunded to my bank account.

I paid the fee. I then tapped into the family contract app. I stared at the contract renewal screen for a few seconds before I tapped on the "cancel contract renewal" button.

A notification window popped up on the screen, asking for my confirmation.

"After cancelling the contract renewal, you'll be assigned a new family in five days. You can cancel the contract termination at any time during the waiting period. Please confirm that you want to cancel the contract renewal."

I tapped on the "confirm" button.