Chapter 2

Dad came out of the study. "That's a good idea. We'll put it to a vote. I vote for the northern lights. That's a once-in-a-lifetime trip."

Mom raised her hand as well. "I vote for the northern lights, too. I've never seen them before, either."

Then she lowered her hand and stroked my head. "Well, Cassie, it's three to one, so we need to go with the majority vote. That's only fair. We'll book our flight tickets right away. You can make another birthday wish next year."

Everyone else looked pretty excited about the trip, but all I felt was a knot in my chest. Ever since I was nine years old, I'd made the same wish of wanting to see the ocean.

I was 19 years old now. A whole decade had passed without my wish being fulfilled.

Next year, huh? Would I even be around next year?

Mom nudged me toward the kitchen.

"Anyway, Cheryl spent the day shopping for clothes with your dad and me. Her feet are swollen from all the walking. You didn't do anything today, so that's not fair at all. Hurry up and clean the kitchen."

I didn't argue. I was simply too hungry. I thought I'd go to the kitchen and see if there was anything I could eat.

But when I opened the fridge, I didn't even get a chance to take a good look before Dad hurried over and shoved my hand away.

"What are you doing?" he snapped. "Your mom told you to clean the kitchen. She didn't say you could sneak food for yourself. Cheryl used her allowance to buy the fruit in the fridge. If you want some, you can buy some with your own allowance."

My allowance?

Oh, right.

As always, in the spirit of fairness, Cheryl and I got the same allowance every month. But whenever Mom ran out of salt or any other groceries, she'd send me out to buy some without giving me any money. In fact, even the household's monthly phone bill came out of my allowance.

Meanwhile, Cheryl got to use her entire allowance to buy her favorite clothes and snacks.

I'd tried hiding my allowance before and refusing to use it for the household expenses, but it made no difference. Mom and Dad would go into my room, dug out the box I used to keep my money, and rebuked me for not contributing to the household.

But Mom and Dad never went through Cheryl's things.

Ten years ago, the door to my room was removed. We'd just moved into this house then, and Mom realized that the two bedrooms Cheryl and I were supposed to use weren't the same size.

In the spirit of fairness, she immediately hired someone to smash the door off the smaller room, opening it up to the hallway.

"This way, the space will be bigger. You two can take turns using this room. That'll be fair to the two of you."

Cheryl immediately insisted on using the room with the door first. However, when it was time for her to move into the room without a door, she wailed her heart out, grabbed a fruit knife, and tried to cut herself with it.

Mom clenched her jaw, grabbed the knife, sliced my wrist open with it, and took us both to the hospital.

After we were discharged, Mom stroked my bandaged wrist, her gaze tender.

"I did the math. Actually, the two rooms are about the same size. Your sister has gotten used to hers after a month, so I'm sure you're used to having a room with a door by now. It'll just be your room from now on, then."

Just like that, I ended up spending ten years in a room without a door.

"Stop standing around. Why aren't you cleaning up the kitchen like you're told?"

Dad's words pulled me out of my thoughts. Then he shoved me aside and locked the fridge. Evidently, he was making sure I couldn't open it.

I bent down and wiped down the kitchen counter. As I was straightening up, my body swayed, and I almost collapsed onto the floor.

Dad, who'd been keeping an eye on me to make sure I did the work, gave a look of pure disappointment.

"Look at you. Stop pretending! If you don't want to do the housework, just say so. Must you try to fool us with a stunt like that? Forget it. I'll clean up the rest myself. You can go to bed."

I was in so much pain that I didn't even have the strength to defend myself. With the help of the wall, I slowly dragged myself back to my bed.

Staring at the doorless frame, I tried to reassure myself.

Mom and Dad were giving us our allowance tomorrow. While that was nowhere near enough for my cancer treatment, at least it was enough for me to buy a ticket to the neighboring city of Langerton to see the ocean.