Ten Marks on the WallChapter 3

In the end, I was too afraid to find out.

I had no money, so I took five hundred dollars that had been left on the entryway table.

It was Rosie's weekly allowance.

Mine was twenty dollars, just enough to cover the bus to and from school.

I told myself I'd explain when I got home. I would treat it as a loan and pay Rosie back.

By the time the IV was finished, it was already midnight.

I carefully slid my key into the front door.

It wouldn't turn.

"Mom! Dad!"

I knocked harder, panic rising in my chest.

The door across the hall opened instead.

Ethan stood there in pajamas, leaning against the frame. There was something almost mocking in his eyes.

"Vivi, Grant told me you'd do anything to get your parents' attention. I didn't believe him before.

"Now I do."

I shook my head frantically. I was about to tell him the reaction had been real when our front door finally opened.

The living room lights were blazing.

Rosie sat on the couch crying.

Mom and Dad glared at me, while Grant grabbed my arm and yanked me inside.

"Vivian, when did you become a thief?"

"I'm not! I didn't have any money for the hospital, so I..."

"Taking money without permission is stealing, no matter what excuse you have!" Dad slammed his palm against the table.

Tears sprang to my eyes.

"I tried to tell you, but all of you blocked me."

I pushed up my sleeves and showed them the red welts that still hadn't faded, then held out the medicine and discharge papers from the hospital.

Their expressions shifted.

Their voices finally softened.

"But that was your sister's money. You still shouldn't have..."

I lowered my head.

"I know. I owe Rosie five hundred dollars. I'll pay every cent back."

My vision blurred again as I spoke.

"Mom, Dad... when I was sitting there alone with an IV in my arm, I kept wishing one of you would walk through the door.

"Even if you only stayed for a little while..."

Pain flashed across Mom's face. She stood as if she were about to come to me.

Rosie caught her hand.

"Vivi, for the first seven years of our lives, Mom and Dad were at the hospital with you almost every day. I was the one left behind. Wasn't that enough?"

Her voice broke.

"Maybe I'm the extra person in this family.

"Maybe I should've just stayed kidnapped back then. At least then you'd finally get what you wanted!"

She rushed toward the door, but Grant caught her and pulled her into his arms.

"Rosie, that's not what Mom and Dad meant. Don't think like that."

Ethan stepped in from the hallway.

His voice was firm.

"Vivi, you know exactly how you ended up having that allergic reaction."

Everyone looked at me at once.

"Ethan, what do you mean?" Mom asked. "Are you saying Vivi did it to herself?"

He didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he walked over to the cold bowl of instant noodles and stirred it.

Bits of crushed peanut floated to the surface.

"Vivi, I'm going to say the same thing I said before.

"Why would there be crushed peanuts in instant noodles?

"You added them yourself so you'd have a reaction and force your parents to come home and look after you."

No one questioned him.

I shook my head in panic and said over and over that I hadn't done it.

Not one person believed me.

After all, they'd labeled me an attention seeker years ago.

Ethan stood and looked down at me, disappointment filling his eyes.

"You weren't like this when we were kids."

Grant gave a bitter laugh.

"She absolutely was. Rosie had a performance, and Vivi conveniently fainted."

"I didn't do it on purpose. There were too many people and I couldn't breathe, so I-"

"Right," he cut in. "You always have a reason."

At that, I stopped trying.

Anything I said would only sound like another excuse to them.

Mom sighed and glanced toward my bedroom.

"Rosie has been wanting a walk-in closet.

"Your rooms share a wall. We'll knock through and turn yours into part of hers."