CHAPTER 1 - the end of beginnings
My life is a series of chain reactions, and you’re about to find out why.
“Amnesty! Come down for a moment. Leroy, you too! your dad and I need to talk to you two,” Mom called out.
Leroy and I opened our doors at the same time. We looked at each other, and I already knew we were wearing the same face. On the way down, he asked, “Sis, how many times has this happened? Seven? Eight?”
I’ve always felt sorry for Leroy. We share the same fate, but he’s never had my ability to fake being fine about it. “Nine,” I said. “To be precise.”
The silence in the living room stretched long enough that I started counting ceiling tiles. I already knew what was coming I could see it in the way Dad wouldn’t quite meet my eyes, the way Mom’s hands were folded too neatly in her lap. That posture. Thatwe have newsposture.
Finally Mom cleared her throat. “Listen, all of us know our financial situation hasn’t been easy. At times like this, it must be fate that your dad’s received an offer from a really good multinational company. In Tokyo, this time. Isn’t that great?”
Like seriously, Mom at least change the script. This is offer number nine. Nine “really good multinational companies.” I used to get excited. Now I just get tired.
Leroy stood up first. “Yeah, fine, I’m cool with it. I’ll head up.” He said it easily, like it cost him nothing. I knew better.
“Wait! there’s more.” Dad leaned forward. “The company covers three-fourths of school tuition for employees’ children. Amnesty, I found a school for your first three years there. One of the most elite in the world. Odin Academy.”
I stared at him. Odin Academy. Even at three-fourths off, it would still eat through everything we had.
“Dad, what are you saying? You need to be rich or brilliant to get into that school, and I’m neither. What about Leroy?”
“I’ll find Leroy a good school.” Dad’s voice was steady, the way it always got when he’d already decided something. “You know why I keep changing jobs. So you two can have better lives, so you don’t have to fight for the things I had to fight for. These next three years will define your future, Amnesty. I’ll watch your grades the first year. If they’re not doing you any good, we’ll talk about a different school.”
I got up and left without a word. I never argue with Dad about this, not because he’s strict, but because I know exactly what it costs him to say it. I know how hard he’s worked to become who he is. He would do anything to keep Leroy and me from knowing that kind of hard. I’ve never once given him the kind of pride a parent deserves. This time, I told myself, I would.
I went to Leroy’s room first. He understands this better than I do, even though he never says so. Every move makes it harder for him to let people in. He’s got it in his head that there’s no point opening up to someone you’ll only have to leave. “Tomorrow’s our last day,” I said, keeping my voice light. “I’ll ask Mom for money. We’ll treat everyone, one last time. Okay?”
He smiled, the small, forced smile he’d perfected over multiple schools and end less goodbyes and said okay.
Each one of us possesses a thread known as destiny. These threads meet, intervene, and create bonds. Those bonds either grow stronger with time, or entangle and eventually break.
Leaving everyone is surely sad, but not sad enough for me to give up everything and stay. Give up my family.
