My parents forced me to cook and clean all weekend for my sister’s party with 50 guests.

rain slid down the window in silver lines.

I thought about the years I had lost trying to earn a place that should have belonged to me by default. I thought about the party, the dishes, my mother’s laugh, Madison’s phone call breaking apart in panic.

Then I thought about my apartment after I shut the door: quiet, clean, mine.

“Someday,” I said carefully,continue reading …