pte

POINT

I'd imagined all these years. The living room of my penthouse apartment overlooked the city where I'd s

a j

indow. The woman staring back at me smiled, perfect

nce Camille walked out, probably worried I'd change my mind now that everything was i

into the leather couch, letting me

-

saw Camille Lew

w parents. They'd brought me to this massive house with its manicur

messy hair came bouncing down the sta

e. I've always

thes were secondhand or that I smelled like the group home's i

ed to

I'd spent thirteen years dreaming about. Parents who actually wanted

even apprecia

her chair and talked with her mouth full. How she didn't know which fork

. Mom ..... had said, smiling at me. "Perhaps

e's perfect world. The slight dimming of her sm

s bea

-

present. Stefan's face lit up my screen, his f

you're bei

drinking? "She's gone. Really gone. Blo

The same tone I'd used all those times I'd counseled Camille th

e way she loo

o my sweetness. "Are you having second tho

not. I love you. I'

me about your ex-wi

weak. Even Stefan, who I'd spent four years grooming before

Just like everyone else in

d in the center, of course. Always the center. Camille pushed to the

een easy. Alm

ith Mom about how worried I was about my dear sister's emotional state. Casual mentio

responsible daughter, the achievable dream, while slowly crush

tion with Mom about finding Camille's "secret" diary, filled with dark thoughts and destructive plans. Plans

ady for college. Needed time to "find herself." Nee

could wa

this was what I'd really wanted all along. Not Stefan, he was just a

nally break. To see her realize that everything she thought

se, darling, please come over. Your fathe

confusion, the reluctant confession about Stefan's pu

nking me for protecting them from the

rfect outfit for my next scene. Something subtle but

g gift to me. "So you'll always have space for your

ry spotlight, every opportunity, every scrap of pare

io

clothes in high school. How I'd wait until she had something important, a date,

without argument. Always apol

hard to be the

w something ugly there. Something that looked like the scared, ang

perfect Rose again. Flawless R

prepared for my next performance. The concerned family meeting woul

flection, practicing my worried fro

Camille's eyes before she'd walked out, I'd never seen it before

almost like...

en through my mask to

, just like I'd made her. She'd run away, lick h

ee of me. I'd made su