Chapter 3

High school. Emily found a rebellious crowd. Started smoking, skipping class.

One day, she cornered me.

"You have to help me cheat on the history final."

"Emily, I can't."

She laughed, a cruel sound.

"Oh, you will. You always do what Mom wants, right? To be fair to me?"

Her eyes were cold.

"I know all about it, Sarah. I know Mom made you get bad grades. I even know about that night she left you somewhere."

Shock hit me. A cold wave. She knew. And she didn't care.

She had watched it all happen.

"So, you'll help me," she said. It wasn't a question.

I agreed. What else could I do?

We both got A's. Karen praised our "equally good" grades at dinner.

"See? When you both try, you can both succeed," Karen said, beaming.

The unfairness of it, the lie, ate at me.

I started cutting myself. Small lines on my arms. Hidden.

A release. A secret pain only I knew.

Karen found the scars one day when I was changing.

Her face twisted. Disgust.

"What is this? Are you trying to make me look like a bad mother?"

No concern. No comfort. Just disgust.

That led to the formal diagnosis. Severe depression.

The doctor recommended therapy, medication.

Karen agreed to the diagnosis, but only on paper.

"We keep this quiet," she said. "For Emily's sake. For my career."

I realized then, with a chilling certainty: Karen's "fairness" was the illness. It was the root of my depression.