''You're a reminder of everything that went wrong in my life.''
It wasn't like she hadn't hear it before. She just closed her mouth and stared into their soup.
Letter-soup. She tried to find the letters of her name.
M-E-G
The E was the easiest one. There were several in the soup. The M wasn't that difficult either. She spotted one on her spoon.
Meanwhile her father started talking about the one time he met Randy Newman.
The G was harder to find. She started stirring.
''Meg if you aren't going to eat your soup you can go to your room.''
Wordlessly she shoved the plate away and stood up. Nobody bothered looking at her.
She went to her room pulling down the blinds and lied flat on her bed.
She liked the dark. It was relaxing in way that made her not wanting to think about it closer. She buried her face in her pillow and tested how long she could hold her breath.
Twenty-one, twenty-two she counted.
Outside of her room she could hear her Dad screaming something.
Twenty-four, twenty-five
A door was closed forcefully. There was the sound of something breaking..
Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine
She wondered how long it would take to suffocate. She had read about people going into the water but she had also heard that drowning was a terrible way to die.
Thirty-seven.
The sound of a car being started. She wondered if it was the family car.
Forty-one, forty-two, forty-three.
A brake squealed.
Forty-four
Her record was forty-eight.
Forty-five
She was starting to fell light-headed.
Forty-six.
Her lungs were burning. Black spots appeared for her eyes.
Forty-sev...
''Meg! Come down we're going!''
Her head jerked up and she breathed heavily, greedily drawing in the fresh air.
''Coming.'' she tried to scream, but all she managed was a stertorous gasp. ''Meg! What's up. We all know you're ugly make up won't help you!''
Her breath got even.
''Coming.'' she said. ''Coming!'' she screamed. She grasped the suitcase and ran down the stairs. Her Dad waited at the front door.
''About time.'' he said.
She stared at the waiting car. They had forget her.
''Don't do that again.''
But they had come back.
''You giant-fat idiot you would have left me here and drive alone to grandma and grandpa right?''
They'd always come back right before she could suffocate.