After a lifetime of silence, my father had finally, on one piece of paper, told the truth out loud.

Three days later, he packed his personal clothes and moved out of my mother’s apartment, taking up temporary residence at his brother’s house across town.

My mother called me that night, her voice shaking with fury.

“You destroyed this family!” “No, Mom,” I said.

“You did.” “Your father walked out on me because of you!” “Dad left because he finally decided to leave.” “You brainwashed him with your lies!” “I showed him official documents with his own signature on them.” And then she said the thing I will never forget, the curse she flung at me like a stone.

“When you finally take this apartment, if you even can, you’re going to sit in those empty rooms all by yourself and realize you gained four walls and lost a mother.” I looked over at Sophia, asleep in our small rented room, one sock on and one kicked off under the blanket.