The Monster They Made Me

Catherine was born a test-tube baby after years of struggle; her younger brother Anthony arrived seven years later as a natural miracle, and their mother never lets her forget the difference. When Anthony panics over an insect, their mother slaps Catherine and locks her in the freezing woodshed, convinced she tormented him on purpose.

Anthony sneaks out an apple to her, and a poisonous thought takes root: if he died, perhaps some love would be left over for her. The fruit knife slips, blood blooms, and their mother's rage falls on Catherine alone. Their father's cold question about her grandmother's death cuts deeper than the firewood, and the woodshed's chill drags her back to the night her grandmother froze beside her.

Yet Anthony keeps returning, feeding her in the dark, hiding his own bleeding hand so their mother will not hear.