I Erased Myself From Their Empire

Summary

For as long as I could remember, my parents painted our lives in shades of gray. Money was a ghost they were always chasing, a constant source of quiet desperation. They claimed to work back-to-back double shifts just to keep the heat on, always reminding me to be sensible, to understand the weight of our poverty. So, I buried myself in my books. I studied until my eyes burned, driven by a singular, desperate promise to pull us out of the mud and give my exhausted parents the comfortable retirement they deserved.