Page 66 of Under the Waves

I wished I was anywhere but inside this house with her.

24

Poppy Wells

“It should’ve been you.”

I know.

“Why did you have to let him die?”

I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I didn’t know.

“You are a disappointment and that is all you will ever be.”

I was a disappointment. That was all I was. That was all I would ever be.

“You eat too much, you should lose some weight, Poppy.”

Eat. Eat. Eat.

Don’t eat, Poppy.

You don’t deserve to.

She knows it, everyone knows it.

Stop overreacting, Poppy.

You aren’t skinny enough.

You aren’t enough.

YOU

AREN’T

ENOUGH.

25

Poppy Wells

“SHUT UP!” I yelled, covering my ears, blinking back tears.

I was a complicated problem that no one cared enough to solve.

The scrubbing brush fell.

It splashed as it hit the water.

I felt the droplets coat my skin.

I wanted to wash them off.

I wanted to wash my skin off.

I wanted to tape her mouth shut, I wanted to scream, I wanted to do something other than rot away in this house.