Chapter 184: Tough Call

Charlotte My earliest memories of Lorian were from when I was about three or four. Most children hardly remember anything from that age, but for me, those memories were persistent, always lingering at the back of my mind. I was sure of it. Lorian’s cruelty never left me. She would often lock me up in the back of the house, mumbling incoherent things and telling me that I was just a useless paycheck for her to collect money from the system. I never understood what I had done wrong. One day, while still confined in the shed, she grabbed me by the collar and dragged me out, yelling at me for leaving the Pandora open and losing her chickens. How could I have possibly done that? I was only four years old; what did I know about chickens? But Lorian didn’t care. That was how she was throughout my entire stay with her, all the way until college. That moment, in particular, was seared into my memory. When she heard I was leaving, she screamed at me, “My money is not going to be complete bec