Chapter 3
Daddy’s smile froze instantly.
I grabbed onto my metal tag really tight, took a step back, and looked at all of them like I was ready to fight.
“Kaya, honey, that’s something really special to Betty.”
Daddy’s voice sounded unsure, and then he said: “How about Daddy buys you the newest remote control helicopter, or some Legos instead?”
“No way! I want that thing! That tag looks so cool!”
Kaya stomped his feet and wouldn’t give up, then he ran over and tried to grab my metal tag right off my neck.
“Get away from me!”
1 shoved Kaya away from me as hard as I could.
Kaya wasn’t expecting it, so he fell backward and his elbow hit the corner of the coffee table. Then he started crying really loud.
Mrs. Hayes immediately ran over and picked up Kaya, looking all worried, “Betty, Kaya’s just little! How could you hit him like that?”
Then Daddy stormed over, pointed his finger right at my face and yelled, “Betty Sullivan! What is wrong with you! Apologize to Kaya right now!”
I stared right back at Daddy without backing down, “Nobody gets to touch Mommy’s stuff!”
“Give it to me!”
Daddy was totally furious now, and his voice got really scary when he said: “Take off this dog tag and give it to Kaya!”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, so I started screaming, “Why should I? Mommy left these for me! Did you already forget about Mommy?”
You were hugging some other woman before she was even really dead!”
“And now you want to give away the only thing she left me to your replacement son?”
“Shut up!”
Daddy roared really loud.
Then his hand came down hard across my face with this really loud slapping sound.
My dieek started swelling up right away and it hurt so bad, like it was on fire.
I could see Daddy’s eyes flash with something like regret.
He took a step toward me, trying to reach for my hand.
But I moved away from him and just looked at him like he was a complete stranger.
Daddy’s fingers kind of curled up, and his voice got all suff, “You’re always living in some fantasy. Someday you’re gonna regret this
I ran back to my room and slamuned the door as hard as I could
Daddy sat there feeling awful about slapping me, like he couldn’t sit still.
Mrs. Hayes patted Daddy on the shoulder, “If you’re worried about her, maybe you should go check on her.”
Daddy shook his head “Maybe it’s good for her to face reality. She can’t keep living in the past and making stuff up. Just leave her alone. Give her a few days to cool off and she’ll come apologize.”
The next morning, I didn’t come out for breakfast.
Mrs. Hayes asked “Should I take some food to Betty’s room?”
“No.”
Chapter 3
Daddy looked really serious when he said “Betty’s being way too bratty. We can’t spoil her anymore. She needs to learn that talking back to adults has consequences.”
On the third morning, I still hadn’t come out, but Daddy figured I was just being stubborn, so he didn’t worry too much about it.
During his meeting when he saw my name on his phone, he hung up right away because he wanted to teach me a lesson.
Finally on the fourth day, Mrs. Hayes said hesitantly, “I don’t think there’s been any noise from Betty’s room, and she hasn’t touched her food.”
That’s when Daddy finally unlocked my door, but the room was totally empty.
“She must’ve run off to stay with some friend without telling anyone! This is getting completely out of hand!”
Daddy was really mad when he called all my friends, but nobody knew where I was.
Then the school called. “Is this Betty Sullivan’s father? Betty hasn’t been to class for three days. Is everything okay at home?”
Daddy’s face went white and he totally panicked.
After hanging up, he immediately called my number.
The phone rang for a long time before someone picked up, and it was this sleazy guy’s voice, “Well, well! Finally remembered you have a daughter, huh? Mr. Sullivan must be real busy with work if you can’t even answer your phone.”
Daddy’s blood went ice cold and his voice was shaking, “Who is this? Where’s my daughter?”
Chapter 4
Chapter 4
