The Beta's Daughter

EMMA

I gathered my suitcases and headed down the stairs of my dorm where Jazmine had her car waiting. “This is it.” I lifted the last two cases into the trunk. I would miss college life, but Jazmine had convinced me to spend the last summer of college at home with her.

“Sweet. Let’s go home.” Jazmine started the vehicle. She drove a dark blue Buick Verano with a little white nose-and-whiskers decal on the back window. She loved cats.

“How does it feel to finally get a break from that place?” Jazmine asked me. “You have been going nonstop. I worry about your health.”

“Feels good. Thanks for talking me into coming home.”

“You’re always taking summer classes. What’s the rush? You’ll be done soon. Anyway, I need you back at the diner.”

I knew she meant she wanted me at home. We both knew I was growing up, and Jazmine was the only family I had. It felt good to be wanted. Jazmine was the only real mother I knew, aside from some hazy memories of my birth parents.

I took one last look at the college before we drove off. There was something about driving away this time. It was different. This time, it felt as if it might be my last time seeing this place, which I knew wasn’t true. I’d be back. I was getting that degree. I would make my foster mother proud of me.

Together, the two of us had the car unpacked and everything back in my room within thirty minutes.

“Do you wanna join me at the diner or spend the rest of the night in that room up there?” Jazmine shouted from downstairs.

We lived in a small two-story house on the edge of town. Jazmine and I had painted it a bright yellow over spring break. Flowers had been planted all around the house. It was her childhood home, and we were often working on it. Jazmine had taught me so much.

“A burger and fries sounds good.” I laughed and rushed downstairs. “I’m starving.”

She drove us the couple of blocks to the diner. After we ate, I spent most of the night in my favorite corner booth, watching movies on my phone. Jazmine hadn’t given me any tables to wait today. I didn’t mind, but I liked having something to do.

Before I’d found her, my other foster families would make me babysit and clean. I’d have done it just to pay them back for my room and board, but they never gave me the chance to offer. They’d threaten me with a belt or wooden paddle and just yell at me. The last family was the worst. They’d lock me in the basement at night, and they used me as a punching bag. Leaving the foster care system was the best decision I’d ever made.

Jazmine took care of me as if I was really her daughter. Working at the diner with Jazmine made me happy. We had so many good memories here. She was easy to joke around with. The hardest part was sneaking my tip money back into her tip jar without her seeing me do it. She told me I could keep my tips, but I knew the cooks and the other staff needed the money.

After the last employee left, Jazmine brought the cash drawer over to my booth and began counting it. I’d already cleaned the tables.

“You’re not going to believe this,” she said. “Katrina asked for more shifts. Her kid needs braces. I hope you don’t mind. I gave her the weekend. You’re off,” she said without taking her eyes off the cash in her hand.

“Sucks for Dawson. He loves popcorn.” I cringed at the thought of his favorite foods getting stuck between the wires. “Not even candy.”

I wondered what I was going to do with myself this weekend. “Your plan to make me take a break seems to be working.”

“Hey,” she said. “You’ve been pushing it too hard. You need to unwind. When’s the last time you had an evening to just relax and watch stuff on your phone?”

I shrugged. Most of the time, I studied late. I stood up.

“Don’t you go wiping down the counter, either. I already did it.”

I made a face. “Fine.”

How was I supposed to relax? What was the point of that?

I took a giant stretch. Just as my arms went behind my head, I heard a large snap.

“Ah!” I screamed in agony. My shoulder had popped out of place. Then my knee. One by one my joints began to crack and then snap out of place.

I fell to the floor and screamed. Tears rushed out my eyes and sweat poured from my pores. What was happening to me? There was so much pain that I couldn’t breathe. I felt like I was in the middle of an exorcist movie, and the demon was fighting to escape my body.

“Emma. Talk to me.” Jazmine was on her knees next to me. She brushed the hair from my face.

Every bone in my body felt like it was breaking over and over again. My skin burned. My eyes burned. Everything began to blur. Everything hurt. “I think…I need a…doctor.”

“Emma! Oh, I think I know what’s happening.” Jazmine reached into her pants pocket for her phone. “Hang tight. It’s going to be okay. Ann, I need you at the diner, now please. It’s Emma. She’s one of yours.”

I wasn’t sure what was happening. My body ached, and I could barely think.

Jazmine held my hand. She’d dropped her phone. “Emma, do you remember the night we found each other?”

I remembered running away from the foster family. I had hidden in the alley behind the diner. “It smelled like fries here. It smelled so good. Smelled safe.”

“It’s safe here. And you’re still safe with me.”

“Safe,” I said. I didn’t feel safe at all.