ホーム / Clearance Rack Daughter / チャプター 1 - チャプター 9

Clearance Rack Daughter のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 9

9 チャプター

Chapter 1

I carried that oversized, ill-fitting black suit back to my room.Mom watched me go, her face full of quiet satisfaction. "You've always been the sensible one, giving way to your sister since you were little. You're not like her. She's always out running around all day with her head in the clouds."Whatever she said, the smile never left her face, and it was plainly doting.I didn't look back. My steps only faltered for a moment.Mom's voice chased after me. "Oh, and I never asked. How did the interview go today? Is a big company like that hard to get into?""It was fine." I pushed the door open and left those two words behind in the hallway.I hung up the suit and sat down at my desk, thinking back to the satisfied smile on Charlie Gilbert's face. Mr. Gilbert, the department head, had told me privately that he had a merit-admission spot open.If I could land it, I'd go straight into his design department as an intern and skip the usual six-month rotation.I'd been thrilled jus

続きを読む

Chapter 2

I nodded. "Go ahead and watch. Just don't touch anything else. It's a hassle if something gets lost."When I came back from dinner, Mom suddenly asked me, "How are the benefits at that company you interviewed with? Do you think Molly could get in?"I thought back over my sister's grades. "The benefits are decent, but Molly's GPA isn't high enough, and she's never gotten a scholarship. She wouldn't get in there."Mom pressed on. "So what was that merit-admission spot you mentioned before? Tell me about it."I rubbed my forehead. "Mom, merit admission depends on having a polished design portfolio. Molly can't even read a basic design draft. There's no way she'd get in on merit. Don't even think about it."Mom's brows drew together. She said, in the tone of someone imparting wisdom, "You're always putting your sister down. She's smart and thoughtful, so much better than you in ways you don't even realize."With that, she picked up her teacup and stormed off.The day before my secon

続きを読む

Chapter 3

Mom had even taken my broken computer with her, worried I'd have it fixed.What a devoted mother, going to such lengths.I went to Mom's room. She was on the phone with Molly, the wrinkles on her face folded into a delighted grin. "You'll be home tonight. Should Mom come pick you up? Don't worry, Mom's got everything arranged. Just go straight to work once you're back."She said it so matter-of-factly.I stood in the doorway and asked her point-blank, "Mom, why did the merit-admission spot go to Molly?"Mom set down her phone and said, smiling, "Your sister's always had a weak constitution. She can't handle hardship the way you can. You gave the spot to her, and now the two of you are at the same company where you can look out for each other. Isn't that nice?""That's fraud," I said, looking at her. "Once the company finds out she doesn't know the first thing about the job, they'll fire her on the spot."Mom's brows knit together at once. She hung up the phone. "Don't talk about

続きを読む

Chapter 4

Molly's face flushed red, and she shot to her feet. "What's that supposed to mean? Who are you looking down on? I'm not allowed to learn?"My voice stayed even. "You're not looking for anything. You're checking whether there's anything left here you can still steal. "You skipped every one of your classes. You can't even understand the design draft Mr. Gilbert asked for. You can't tell Photoshop from CorelDRAW. "You stole my work and handed it in, and now you're worried I kept a copy, so you want to wipe it clean. Isn't that it?"She glared at me, then suddenly grabbed the computer off the desk and hurled it to the floor.The screen shattered with a crack, cracks spreading out like a spiderweb, the keyboard popping loose and skidding into the corner.A shard flew up and nicked the top of my foot. A thin line of blood welled up.By the time Mom rushed in, Molly was already crouched on the floor, hands over her face, her cries drawn out and shrill."Mom! She's been guarding agai

続きを読む

Chapter 5

They wrote back with a simple "okay," and nothing more.I dug my suitcase out from the back of the closet. It was a small one, its wheels a little stiff, rattling every time I pulled it along.I started packing clothes: short sleeves for summer, a light jacket for fall, a few textbooks.The computer with the cracked screen was still sitting in the corner where I'd tossed it after bringing it home. I thought about it for a moment, then picked it up and tucked it into the bottom of the suitcase.Once I'd finished packing, I opened my phone to buy a plane ticket from home to Dakota.I picked out a flight and tapped to pay.Payment failed. Insufficient balance.Failed? That couldn't be right. I still had two thousand dollars in there.My hands shook as I pulled up the transaction history.The most recent charge was a two-thousand-dollar transfer.It had gone out the night before last, to my mother's account.I walked barefoot into the living room. Molly was curled up on the couc

続きを読む

Chapter 6

Stealing my spot, I'd swallowed that. Molly was bound to slip up sooner or later anyway.Smashing my computer, I'd swallowed that too. The design was all in my head regardless.But them stealing my money meant I couldn't even buy a plane ticket to get to my new job.That was ruining my future. That, I could not let go.I grabbed the purse Mom had left on the arm of the couch and turned to run for the door.Mom lunged and grabbed the strap. "You're rebelling against me now?"I shouted, "Give me back my money!"Mom's eyes went red, and she screeched, "What do you mean, your money? I raised you this whole time, shouldn't you be paying me back? You've barely graduated and already think you're too good for this family!"She swung her hand and slapped me.I heard the whistle of air before the sting exploded across my cheek. I staggered sideways, my knee slamming into the leg of the coffee table, and I went down hard.Pain shot up from my knee like a red-hot iron rod dragged through

続きを読む

Chapter 7

After I sent the messages, I tucked the phone back into my pocket and pressed my forehead against the cold train window.The rails clattered past in steady bursts. The lights outside thinned, then thickened, then thinned again. The city fell away behind, and the fields and hills blurred into inky shadows in the dark.…At that same moment, Sara got the messages.She was in the middle of helping Molly pick out a commuter bag at the mall when her phone buzzed in her pocket.She pulled it out, glanced at the screen, and her brows knotted. She shoved the phone back into her pocket.Her chest heaved once, twice. She grabbed Molly, who hadn't even finished shopping yet, and turned back toward home."We're going home! Right now! Let's see what kind of scene she thinks she's making!"When they got back, the living room was empty, and Cathy's room was empty too. Empty like no one had ever lived there at all.Sara called Cathy's teachers and friends, but not one of them knew where she'd

続きを読む

Chapter 8

After a week of coasting at the company, Molly finally got caught in a morning meeting.Mr. Gilbert praised the design draft she'd brought in and asked her to come up and walk everyone through her concept and the direction of the final version.Molly broke into a cold sweat instantly. She had no idea what the concept even was.Every class she'd skipped in college had finally come back to bite her.Under Mr. Gilbert's prompting and encouragement, she dragged herself up to the front.She stared at the design projected on the screen, her mind blank, unable to get a single word out."The concept behind this design is, um, the direction is, um..."Molly was nearly in tears, scrambling to string together anything that might get her through the meeting.Mr. Gilbert gave a cold snort. "Can't come up with anything, can you? You steal someone else's work, dress it up as your own, and you're pretty proud of yourself, aren't you?"Molly shrieked her denial. "I didn't! I didn't steal anyth

続きを読む

Chapter 9

Sara stared at the brand-new phone, then thought of the years Cathy had spent using that battered knockoff phone, and the regret inside her burned even hotter.How could she have thrown away something so precious over a fool like this?She grabbed the phone and hurled it to the ground.Molly didn't even have time to snatch it back before she watched it hit the floor and warp out of shape."You're paying me back for my phone!" She and Sara grappled with each other, and in the struggle she shoved Sara hard to the ground.Sara hit the floor, and her leg broke clean through.Something in her hardened. She cut off Molly's allowance entirely, told her to go find a job on her own, and forbade her from living at home.Molly cried and raged, but none of it earned Sara's forgiveness, and she slunk off to take a factory job.Sara kept trying to reach Cathy's friends and teachers, hoping to learn where she'd gone.But not one of them was willing to tell her.…I didn't see Sara again un

続きを読む

コードをスキャンしてアプリで読む

DMCA.com Protection Status