Tears She Never Shed

Summary

On my eighteenth birthday, all I wanted was a slice of cream cake.

Instead, because I didn't crack the top ten in my mock exams, my mother told me I might as well be dead.

I sat on the rooftop, crying quietly. The firefighters spent ages trying to talk me down. But my mom? She slapped me across the face, shoving me while screaming, "Why don't you jump? Go ahead, jump!"

She pushed too hard. I fell.

The firefighter broke down in tears.