Page 207 of True Blue

“They’ve been together for years—since you were a kid, apparently, right under mine and my sister’s noses! Now they’re gone—oh! And Robin hates me like it was my fault. And—this is the best part—is that your father had the nerve to tell me he’s finally his true self! He’s so happy! Isn’t it great?!”

“What the fuck is this family…” I whisper, feeling my world go off-kilter.

My father has been having an affair with my aunt’s husband for years. Suddenly, every sissy name he called me, every homophobic slur he spat at me when I showed an inch of emotion, is painted with a cruel irony.

Projection.

Pathetic.

“So, the house has gotten a little dirty,” she says, fluffing her hair. “But who do I have to clean for now? No one! Your father is gone, you kids are gone, both my sisters hate me, my parents are dead, and my friends think I’m a leper. All that planning…for this,” she holds her hands out and spins in a circle. “Look at my life.”

“So, you’re miserable, and you decide to ruin the one that actually matters to me. Indie,” I shake my head, sneering. “You just decided that she wasn’t right for me⁠—”

“She isn’t right for you,” she snaps impatiently. “SHE ISN’T!”

“Because she isn’t you?”

“Yes!”

She slaps her hand over her mouth when she realizes what she just said.

I don’t even feel disgusted, because all she’s done is confirm what some part of me already knew.

“You’re sick,” I say, and the worst part is that I don’t even sound angry anymore. “You don’t love me. You want to own me.”

“I am your mother,” she says, as if that’s all the explanation she needs.

“You are Dawn,” I say. “That’s all you are to me now. That’s all you’ll ever be. The beginning, but never the end.”

“You ungrateful little bastard,” she screams, picking up things, trash, anything she can get her hands on to throw at me. She used up all her aim on the bottle, though, or maybe she’s just gotten drunker as time goes on because she misses wildly. “I gave you everything! Everything! And this is how you repay me! You were supposed to be with Lily! You were supposed to get married and buy a house in this neighborhood! You weren’t supposed to leave me!”

Her scream echoes off the walls.

I just look at her, this woman who gave birth to me—my abuser—and I feel nothing but pity.

“One day, you’re going to look around and realize no one is left, Dawn. No one cares about you. You’re going to be all alone, and you’ll have no one to blame but yourself. And I…” I huff a laugh and shrug. “I feel sorry for you.”

Her eyes widen.

She opens her mouth, and she screams at me, “Get out! You are worthless—just like your father—worthless man! Get out! Get out!”

Nodding, feeling as though I got what I came for, I turn and storm out of the house, slamming the door shut. I walk down the street, down the streets I used to run down with my friends, and I feel free.

The sun has set. The cool, early spring air blows through my hair, soothing my heated skin and the stinging cuts on my face that Indie is no doubt going to fret over.

I smile thinking of my sweet Indie, my true home.

There are many reasons to be happy, just as there are more battles to fight. Tomorrow is a big one. But with Indie, for Indie, I’ll face anything and everything. I’ll do anything and everything for her.

For the first time, I’m proud of how I handled my mother. She’ll never get that close to Indie again. She’ll never have that kind of hold over me again. I received confirmation that she was the one who reported Indie, so I can call Dunk and discuss the next steps with him.

Even if it was more for me, it was a severing that was needed.

A cancer being cut out of my body.

I don’t feel healed, but I do feel free.

“I’m coming, baby.”