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Chapter Two

By the time she'd returned home, Sang had convinced herself the woman was insane. She felt bad for coming to that conclusion, but she didn't know how else to explain it. There was no way any of that was possible. She'd must have imagined the whole disappearing act. The woman probably scurried inside as soon as Sang had turned.

Her house was just as she'd left it. Marie wasn't home and the television in her mother's room still blared across the silent household. Silently closing the front door behind her, Sang padded into the kitchen. She didn't want to go upstairs and deliver the cigarettes to her mother, so instead she placed them on the white tiled counter. With her task complete, Sang scurried upstairs to her room.

Her clothes were saturated from the rain and she stripped them off, mindful of the large purple bruise on her left shoulder. She repeated the process with her pants, but this time she winced as the denim caught on her still healing burn. That had been the worst punishment she'd received in a while. Her mother had wanted fried fish for dinner, Sang detested the stuff, but she'd tried to figure out how to use the fryer anyway.

It was safe to say she'd messed up. When she'd laid out the dish, her mother had thrown a fit before showing Sang exactly how the machine worked. Unfortunately, the ladle she'd used to stir the oil had been pressed into Sang's thigh after the oil had heated. It had been a few days ago, but Sang promised to never mess with the fryer again.

Now that she was stripped down to her birthday suit, Sang went into her shared bathroom with Marie. Locking each door, she turned the shower on before pulling the plug up and forcing the bath facet to sputter to life. The water was cool and took a few minutes to warm, but Sang eased herself in anyway. Her muscles eased one by one and Sang shut her green eyes before drifting into a soft meditation.

It wasn't meant to be, however. She didn't know how long her relaxation lasted, but the pounding on the bathroom door jolted her awake. With a hint of panic, Sang jolted up right in the chilled water and watched the doorknob shake from the pounding.

"Sang!" Her mother's yell creaked at the end, "Where the hell are my smokes?!"

Sang didn't want to answer, but she forced her mouth to move anyway, "I left them on the counter—"

"You're lying you useless brat! Did you take them?!"

"No, mother—"

"Get the hell out here!"

By now, Sang was shivering. Her heart was thumping out of her chest as she stumbled out of the tub. Wrapping a threadbare towel around her chest, she made her way to the door and creaked it open a bit. Her mother's furious blue eyes met her own before the door was yanked open completely.

"Are they in here?" Her mother pushed her to the side before marching into the bathroom. Sang's measly supply of toiletries were pushed off the counter before her mother yanked open the cupboard, "How can you be this stupid? All I asked for was one thing! You can't even do that!"

"Mother," Sang started. Her voice was timid, but she tried to control the shaking of her hands, "I remember I put them on the counter... would you like me to check?"

Sang's hairbrush was tossed to the wall before her mother turned around. The older woman snarled as she pushed passed her daughter, "Like I trust you. Lying little bitch."

"Alright—" Sang had tried to walk after her mother into her room, but instead, the older woman pushed her backwards with a firm shove. It hadn't meant to send her to the floor, but Sang lost her balance and stumbled backwards before collapsing onto her behind. Her little wince of pain was ignored by her mother.