Whispers of the Stars

For the past year, Ryan had covered most of my tuition and living expenses.

“A girl shouldn’t have to work so hard,” he would always say. “I’ll take care of you.”

Back then, those words moved me deeply. I truly believed I’d found love.

Now, I see it for what it was: another method of control, a way to keep me dependent.

“Mom, I don’t have any money,” I said, my voice ragged.

“No money?” My mother’s voice shot up an octave. “What about that rich boyfriend of yours? Get it from him! Don’t tell me you broke up with him, Nicole. If you dared to dump him, don’t you ever call me your mother again!”

I could hardly believe what I was hearing.

To them, I wasn’t a daughter and Ryan wasn’t my boyfriend—we were just an ATM, ready for withdrawal whenever they needed cash.

“He… we’re done,” I forced out.

Silence hung for a moment before her curses exploded, sharper than glass. “You ungrateful little snake! Throwing away a catch like that—are you insane? I don’t care how you do it, get me two thousand dollars today, or start planning your brother’s funeral!”

“What happened?” My heart seized.

“He got into a fight and cracked the other boy’s skull! Now they want fifty thousand in compensation, or they’ll go to the police! The money from your phone was our last resort! And you let him leave you? Are you trying to destroy this family?”

Fifty thousand.

A number I couldn’t even begin to face.

I hung up, my whole body going cold.

I had no home.

That place had never been a home—only a black hole, always pulling, always taking.

And the one piece of driftwood I’d clung to… had just been swept away.