Aunt May moved in with us, claiming her house had become too difficult to maintain. Grant and I started a security consulting business that combined his investigative expertise with the strength I had discovered within myself.
Years later, Kyle contacted me one last time. He told me he had remarried and was learning to set boundaries with his brothers.
I was genuinely happy for him.
The healing process allowed me to have hope that I would get better without needing to participate in that transformation.
I still think about the gas station: the dust, the heat, and the laughter fading away on the road. For a long time, I considered it the worst day of my life.
Now I understand that it was the day my life finally began.
Kyle and his brothers believed that abandoning me would scare me and make me more obedient. They expected me to wait for them on the sidewalk until they returned and then accept another empty apology.
