Title Pending

Chapter 7: Logistics

**Trigger Warning: Child Abuse**

When Mom finally finishes "packing me up," or whatever this scheme is, I decide to confront her in the kitchen. I debated it for a while, since she has never been more pissed at me, but I need to figure out what the hell she's planning.

"So, what do you mean you're 'sending me away?'" I ask calmly, figuring she must be exaggerating.

"There's a boarding school. In Houston. It's free for troubled kids. You're going. End of story."

Now she seems dead serious.

"What?!" I exclaim. "I'm not going to boarding school! Not when Will has a terminal illness! Are you crazy?! What about Brett and Stephie? Who's taking care of them?"

She slams her hands down on the counter. "There will be no more questions from you. You are the one driving me crazy, and I am the parent, so I make the decisions!"

At this point, she is about two inches away from my face, her expression daring me to oppose. I take my chances because I've got nothing to lose at this point.

"Well, you've been acting a lot like a child lately! I've been taking care of Brett and Stephie, I've been visiting Will. I've been making sure they eat and taking care of them when they feel like shit."

Before I can even blink, the left side of my face burns like hell, and I realize I've been slapped harder than I ever thought possible. At this point, I find Brett and Stephie downstairs watching in disbelief. I wonder how long they've been there.

Then I see blood on my shirt. My nose is bleeding like crazy. I give Mom a death glare, then rush for tissues to stop the bleeding. Brett and Stephie follow me, clearly afraid of what Mom has to say to them.

"What the fuck was that?" Brett asks nonchalantly.

I burst out laughing somehow, because I don't know how he manages to stay chill in any situation. If the house was burning down, he would be perfectly calm. He should be a paramedic or a firefighter or something.

Still fiery, I reiterate everything Mom told me, realizing I still didn't get the answer to an important question: are Brett and Stephie being sent away, too?

......

I spend the rest of the day in my room. I stare at the wall for a while, thinking about what my life has come to, and how I had imagined myself at this age when I was little. So different. When I regain some energy, I tiptoe downstairs to get to the bottom of this situation. Mom is nowhere to be found, so I snoop on the family computer: Monarch Reform School. That's the place I'm registered to attend...looks like Stephie and Will are registered, too. My question is, how the fuck do you send a seven year old girl to a reform school?

I do a deep dive into the website. Apparently they have K-12 programs. There's a lower school (K-5), intermediate (6-8), and upper school (9-12). The lower school focuses on listening to authority and development of "sound habits." The intermediate and upper school take a military-like approach to those things.

I keep reading. There's a gazillion rules. In the dorms by 9 pm, attendance at 7 am. Every hour of the day is filled with shit, and there's basically no free time. Then I read that we can't bring any belongings with us, unless it's prescription meds. What the hell?

The three of us hang out in Brett's room for the rest of the night, playing random board games. They heard the news from Mom recently, and we're trying to pretend it's not happening. I think of anything I can possibly do. Run away? The police would find us. Report Mom's erratic behavior? They'd put us all into foster care, which I've heard nightmares about. The only way out is through, apparently.

Mom calmly approaches us as if this morning's scene had never occurred. The left side of my face is still red, and I almost have a black eye. She gives me a story to tell people when they ask what happened: I fell down the stairs and landed face-first on the hardwood floor. Wow, clever. She states that the three of us are set to leave in six days, and that she is allowing us to see Will one last time, for an hour. The woman has mad control issues. I can honestly say I hate her right now.