𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 ✾ (𝐣𝐞𝐧𝐳𝐢𝐞)

TWO !

DIFFERENT !

mackenzie ziegler.
15 years old.

GRETA Was dead.

nobody knew how. nobody knew why. the chiffewa police department found her passed out in her van, in the supermarket parking lot. the same one that held so many memories. so many scavenger hunts.

her biological daughter, a fairly decent woman, was now in charge of all eight of us girls. i didn't see how a twenty year old could handle all of this, but i guess that was the least of my worries at the moment.

the foster girls of Greta's Home for the Abandoned Youth had never been closer than the night of greta's death. except for me. in fact, i'd never been so distant from the other seven.

i doubt anyone in that house shed nearly half the tears i did that night. lost their minds like i did. grieved like i did.

i'd lost the woman who took me in when my mother, nor any other orphanages wanted me. the girl who taught me how to survive. taught me how to be an okay human being. bought me clothes that fit, fed me. bought me my first bra and had to describe to me how to put a tampon in as she stood outside the bathroom door (not without many giggles). my only form of love and affection. my best friend.

it was at least a week after her death when i was pleading for a way out of this hell called grief. i nearly killed myself, but i didn't have the guts. after that, i began to cry more. calling myself a pussy, a bitch, and then realized i had more important things to cry about.

then i remembered, from all those years ago. i don't think you could call them 'words of wisdom'. probably more, 'words of truth', or 'words of pure stupidity'.

"bad for the lungs, good for the soul," i whispered to myself, staring at the pack of marlboros sitting in the top left kitchen drawer. stuffing the pack into my leggings waistband, i searched the cupboards for anything that said alcohol on the label.

whiskey. i grinned to myself, "bad for the brain and liver, good for the soul."

KARLEIGH SPEAKS !
my mom made me the best hot chocolate 🤤

hold up i just remembered i have pre algebra homework-