Grace finally spoke.
Her voice was quiet, and cold.
“Are you finished?”
“You...” Sabrina choked with rage.
“If you’re finished, then move.”
Grace walked around her and went straight upstairs.
Sabrina was shaking with fury, pointing at her retreating back and screaming, “You little animal! You have no manners! Get out! Take your things and get out of my sight!”
Grace paid her no mind.
She entered the attic and found the dusty wooden chest.
Opening it, she saw her mother’s favorite books, a few elegant silk dresses, and a photo album.
She opened the album. On the first page was a picture of her young mother holding her as a newborn, her smile gentle and content.
In the bottom right corner of the photo was a line of delicate handwriting.
‘To my Grace, may your life be filled with peace and joy, and may the world treat you with kindness.’
Grace’s fingertips gently traced the words.
Her eyes reddened against her will.
Mom, I’m sorry.
Your Grace has let you down.
She closed the album, picked up the chest, and without a single glance back at her so-called “home,” she left and never looked back.
As the car drove away from the residential complex, she glanced in the rearview mirror at the magnificent building shrinking in the distance.
The humiliation and the last vestiges of attachment she felt for this family were severed completely.
***

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