MY BODY OR MY HEART

Amber Fields trudged through the snow wearily. She was shivering and her breath came in short gasps. Her chest heaved as well as she struggled under the weight of her grocery bag, but she was happy. She had just picked up her paycheck from the departmental store where she worked after school and she was excited to be able to contribute to the upkeep of her foster family, the Bryces’. Sheincreased her steps as she imagined the look of amazement on her foster parent’s face when she showed up at the dinner table with the groceries. Suddenly, the screech of car tires jolts her out of her reverie and she hears a loud cackle. “Amber Bunny, walking home alone from work as usual?” the voice taunts. Amber froze for a moment then resumed walking really fast. She knew the voice all too well and nothing good ever came from the owner. The voice belonged to Hilary Bryce, the school’s cheer leading captain and her foster sister. She was the biological daughter of Mr and Mrs Bryce, her foster parent

Amber leaned forward and watched her foster mom with concern. This was the third day she had been bedridden with a ‘cold’. The other day, she was coughing up blood into the kitchen sink. Whenever she questions her about her health, Mrs Bryce just responds with a weak, “I’m fine honey. No need to worry, it’s just a cold.” Yet she had been losing weight steadily for the past three days. She now looks so frail compared to her old self.Mrs Bryce senses Amber’s gaze from across the sofa and tries to reassure her with a weak smile. Not reassured, Amber returns the smile albeit haltingly. She gets up quickly and offers her a glass of water. Mrs Bryce waves it aside and beckons on Amber to sit closer to her on the sofa.She begins, “Amber honey, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you …”“...What is it mom?”Eleanor Bryce closes her eyes in weak resignation. What she was about to do wasn’t easy, but she had run out of options. She had given a great deal of time thinking about it and

Amber stood outside the brick building and hesitated. The sign on the building read “The Dusty Snag”, the lights flickered on and off and to the best of her knowledge she could tell that it was the right building. Snow fell around her in waves and it was pretty cold. She looked down at her outfit and sighed. She had gotten a new pair of sneakers and a new pair of jeans, she had also gotten a better fitting jacket to ward off the cold. She didn’t want to show up at her mother’s establishment looking less than a very good if not best version of herself. Yet she hesitated outside the building. It’s was one p.m, she had chosen a time when she was certain the place wouldn’t be in business, yet late enough for employees to be present in the building. From the window she could sense movement inside and she also saw shadowy figures, so she knew there were people inside. Still, she hesitated.It was weird and unnatural that she was going to meet her biological mother this way, she thought to h