The Debt I Never Owed

Summary

For most of my life, I believed my best friend was the anchor keeping me tethered to this earth.

When I was twelve, my stepbrother shoved me off the rocky ledge into the murky waters of the old quarry. It was Sadie who jumped in without hesitation, dragging my scrawny body out of the silt and cold reeds.

After my father remarried, a hot meal at home became a rare luxury; Sadie was the one who split her brown-bag lunches with me on the school steps every afternoon.