my hand, screen black, my reflection staring back.
“No one needs you to come this Christmas.”
The words replayed viciously in my head. For years, I had built my entire December around that house, that table, that carefully curated illusion of a happy family. And with one sentence, I had been erased.
The ridiculous part was how she said it like she was doing me a favor, as if cutting me out were some kind of mercy. That’s the kind of woman my mother is. She breaks you, then acts
