LILLY'S POV
I'd been carrying the envelope around all day like a talisman.
Like if I kept it close, it would protect me. Spoiler alert: it didn't work.
I pushed open the apartment door, exhausted and hoping Mom had picked up an extra shift so I could pack in peace.
No such luck.
Mom was in the living room. So was Roger, sitting on the couch with a smile that made my skin crawl.
"Hi, Mom," I said carefully. "I didn't know you'd be home—"
The slap came out of nowhere.
My head snapped to the side, pain exploding across my cheek. For a second, I couldn't process what had just happened.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" Elena snarled. "Talking to my husband like that? Threatening him? In his house?"
His house. Not our house.
"I didn't—" I started, but she wasn't listening.
"Roger told me everything." I could smell the alcohol on her breath. "How you came onto him. How you threatened him when he rejected you."
I stared at her, my cheek throbbing, and something in my chest cracked wide open.
"Are you kidding me?" My voice came out strangled. "Are you actually kidding me right now?"
"Don't you dare use that tone—"
"He cornered me in my room!" I shouted. "He tried to touch me! He said—"
The second slap was harder. I stumbled back, tasting blood. Through the ringing in my ears, I could hear Roger on the couch. He wasn't even trying to hide his smirk.
"You ungrateful little bitch," Mom hissed. "You're just jealous. Jealous that I finally found someone. Jealous that you're still miserable and alone and nobody wants you."
Each word was a knife that plunged deeper into my chest.
"You want to know the truth?" She was crying now. Angry, bitter tears. "I should have aborted you. I should have gotten rid of you the second I found out. Then maybe your father wouldn't have left. Then maybe I wouldn't be stuck with you, ruining everything."
I stood there, blood dripping from my lip, and something inside me shattered. Twenty years of trying to be good enough. Twenty years of apologizing for existing.
All of it, pointless.
"You named me Ill Luck," I said quietly, voice shaking but steady. "You looked at your newborn baby and decided to curse her from day one. And you wonder why I'm miserable?"
"Don't you dare—"
"No." I took a step back. "I'm done. I'm done apologizing for being born. I'm done pretending you're a victim. I'm done making myself small so you can feel big."
"If you walk out that door—"
"What? You'll kick me out? Disown me?" I laughed, and it sounded broken. "You've been doing that my whole life. At least now I won't have to pretend it hurts anymore."
I ran up the stairs before she could say anything else. Before I broke down completely.
My room had never felt smaller. I locked the door and slid down to sit against it, sobbing.
"I should have aborted you." The words kept echoing, like a curse I couldn't break.
I don't know how long I sat there before I finally looked up and saw the envelope on my bed.
The envelope from Ravencrest Academy.
The escape I'd been too scared to take.
My hands shook as I pulled it out, reading through the acceptance letter again. The scholarship. The plane ticket for tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow morning like the universe was giving me a sign.
I looked around my room one more time. At the mattress on the floor. At the lock that didn't work. At the taser on my nightstand.
At the life I'd been clinging to because I was too scared to let go.
No more, I thought. No more being scared. It's time to actually live.
I pulled my duffel bag out and started packing. I didn't have much. A few changes of clothes. My notebooks. The photo of my dad I'd never met and the envelope.
Everything that mattered fit in one bag. I waited until after midnight, when Roger's snoring echoed from downstairs. Then I carefully moved the chair, unlocked my door, and crept down the stairs.
Mom passed out in her bedroom. Roger was unconscious on the couch. I stood in the doorway, looking back one last time. This was it. Once I walked out, there was no coming back.
And you know what?
I was okay with that.
"Goodbye, Ill Luck," I whispered. "May you rest in peace."
Then I closed the door and didn't look back.
---
The bus station was nearly empty at this hour.
Just me and a few other people who looked like they were running from something too. We didn't make eye contact. Just waited for buses that would take us away.
I bought a ticket to the airport with the five hundred dollars from Mr. Beautiful and Terrible then added it to the three thousand I'd been saving.
The bus arrived at 2 AM. I climbed on with my duffel bag and my determination.
As we pulled away, I watched the city lights fade and for the first time in twenty years, I felt something that wasn't fear or anger or exhaustion.
I felt hope.
"Lilly Lucky," I said to my reflection. "Nice to finally meet you."
My phone buzzed. It was another text from the unknown number.
See you soon. - Z
I smiled despite myself and texted back: Who is this?
The response was immediate: Someone who's been waiting a long time to meet you.
Cryptic, probably creepy and definitely concerning.
But I was on a bus to the airport, heading toward a school I'd never heard of until yesterday, leaving behind everything I'd ever known.
What was one more mystery?
I leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes.
Tomorrow, I'll arrive at Ravencrest Academy. Tomorrow, I'd start my new life.
Tomorrow, everything will change.
But tonight—just for tonight—I was free.
And Ill Luck was finally, finally dead.