I Left with the Traffickers

I finished one roll quickly and reached for a second.Memory hit me like a blow to the chest. I was back in that dark house, starving.It was Leo’s birthday. My parents took him out to a high-end seafood place. They didn't leave any food for me.I laid on the cold floor all night, stomach twisting in sharp knots. The fridge was bare. The pantry held plenty of imported snacks, but those were reserved for Leo. I didn't dare touch them.So I stood over the sink, gulping down freezing tap water just to fill the void.They didn't get back until midnight.My mother walked in, saw a single dish in the sink, and grabbed me by the hair."You lazy brat! You sat around all night and couldn't even wash a dish? What good are you?!"My father took off his leather belt. The strap hit my back.Once, twice, again and again.Leo stood nearby, eating a slice of leftover birthday cake, watching with a blank face.I didn't cry. I didn't dodge.If I cried, they hit harder. If I ran, they

I stared at her bloody back, tears burning down my face.The crushed leaves tasted bitter, but I choked them down anyway.Whether it was the medicine or sheer survival instinct, my fever finally broke before dawn. My head cleared.Thinking I was still passed out, the girl took my hand. Her finger traced letters into my palm, over and over.C–L–A–R–A.She kept writing it, as if reminding herself who she was."My name... is Clara," she choked out in a soft whisper.Her touch was light on my skin. A faint warmth spread straight to my chest.It made me think of another night I had been burning with fever.I was trapped in bed, heavy and breathless, unable to force a sound out of my throat.Out in the living room, my mother was frantic on the phone."Dr. Evans! Leo only ate a few bites of dinner. Is it his heart? Please, you have to hurry!"She hung up and immediately rushed to the kitchen to simmer special broth for him.No one checked on me. With the fever burning my ey

The rage faded from my parents' faces instantly.They froze on the spot. The color drained from their skin, leaving them deathly pale.---Down in the storm cellar, it was freezing and damp.I lay on the cold ground. The deep wounds across my back were inflamed and infected, giving off a foul smell.Delirious with pain and high fever, I started hallucinating. I thought I saw Clara.I pictured her breaking through the dark, leading the police right to me.Bright flashlight beams flooded the cellar, illuminating her frantic face.Clara stood in the light, reaching her hand out to me."Dora, I brought help! I came back for you!"Behind the officers stood my mother and father.They had come too.The annoyance was gone from my mother’s eyes. The coldness had vanished from my father’s face. Their eyes were bloodshot and brimming with tears.My mother was holding a sleek, white box.I recognized the logo. It was a strawberry tart from the high-end bakery in town.Leo go

Inside the bag was a small toy car, red paint chipped away from age.My mother stared at it, her pupils shrinking in terror.A memory hit her.Years ago, on our shared birthday, Leo had received an expensive remote-controlled car.I got nothing.I stared at Leo's shiny new toy for a long time.Seeing me look, my mother picked up a discarded, broken toy car from Leo’s old chest and threw it at me."Take it," she snapped. "Stop drooling over your brother's stuff."She didn't remember the expression on my face that day.It was the only "gift" she had ever given me. A piece of trash Leo no longer wanted.Yet I treasured it like gold, holding it in my hand every single night to sleep.My parents had freely showered Leo with all their love, while saving every drop of cold indifference and harsh punishment for me.My mother pressed the toy car to her chest and collapsed, passing out cold on the floor.My father sank to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably into his hands.But it was

I lost count of how many nights I crept into her bedroom, staring at her furrowed brow in her sleep, weeping in silence.I’d touch the red welts on her face, marks I had left and my heart would bleed.She was innocent. She knew nothing.But when the sun rose and she timidly called me Mommy, the hatred swallowed me whole again. I reverted back to the monster.I hated her, but more than that, I feared her.I was terrified David would find out the truth and destroy the happy home I had built.So I treated her worse. I built a wall of cold violence between us to keep her at bay.---The day she vanished, we only intended to take Leo to the amusement park.I remember her standing by the front door in her faded dress, eyes brimming with longing."Mommy, can I come too?"Her gaze stabbed my conscience. I brought her along.When she vanished, I convinced myself she was throwing a tantrum to get back at us.I said to David, "Ignore her. She'll crawl back when she gets hungry."I