was completely lost, caught between the crushing memory of the prison cell and the impossible reality of

ding gesture. His eyes were wide and watery, a look he

me look he' d given

schools in the city are the only way to get into a good college. If we stay here i

sentence. He meant he' d end u

his ambition as a reflection of my own hopes. I had felt a surge of

me words, all I felt was

. The man who would watch me get dragged away to prison without a flicker of emotion. The man who built his

ll so he could have the best of everything. I remembered the pride on his face when he showed me his first tech gadget, a gadget bought wit

about achievement; it was about escaping his humble origins at any cost. I wasn't his mother; I was his

ger a fresh, bleeding wound. It had

" I

ng in the air between us with

d expression faltering for a se

looked him straight in the eye, seeing the flicker of irritatio

eplaced by a cold, calculating teenager. "Why n

e was used to. "This is my life, and I' m not uprooting it. If you wan

r I had seen on graduation day. It was shocking how quic

venom. "I don' t need you anyway. I' ll

ent, slamming the door so hard that a cheap picture

se of peace settling over me. The cycle was broken. The future w

this time, I would be t