Served a Beheaded Rooster at My Rite, I Disowned Everyone

Where I come from, in Charleston, the year you turn fifteen you hold your coming-of-age celebration.

It's supposed to be one of the biggest days of your life. But on the day of mine,

my brother set a beheaded rooster down on the plate in front of me.

The whole room went dead silent, because the most important part of the ceremony is when the one coming of age bites the rooster's head, a wish that they'll rise above the crowd someday.

Instead, because I hadn't stepped aside for our adopted sister and had gone and scored first on my own, he served me that headless bird in front of everyone.

"Lucille Pruitt, you're too jealous, too selfish to give way. You don't deserve to bite this head."

He looked at me, cold.

"Consider this a small lesson. From now on, you'd better remember never to take what belongs to Marina."

There was a smug look on his face. He thought he'd ruined the most important day of my life, and he was waiting for me to burst into tears, to throw a scene and lose every shred of face.

But I just sat there, silent.

That was when the family elder set down his chopsticks and turned to my father.

"Michael Pruitt. Is this how you raise your children? For the sake of an outsider, he'd throw away his own flesh-and-blood sister without a second thought."

"How is a man like that ever supposed to inherit the family business?"

One sentence, and my brother's face went bloodless.

His fiance called off the engagement over it, and my father revoked his rights to run the subsidiary.

Henry Pruitt finally broke. "Why?! Because I put a headless rooster on her plate at her coming-of-age?"

I looked at this man who, even now, had no idea what he'd done wrong, and let out a small laugh.

"Yes. Because of that."

...

After the banquet cleared out, once Henry understood everything that had happened, his face was full of resentment.

For twenty-five years he'd walked on eggshells, working himself to the bone to perform for our father, and only then had he earned the right to run the subsidiary.

In one afternoon it was all stripped away, and the marriage alliance they'd arranged fell through along with it.

"Dad, all I did was say a few words for Marina. Is this really necessary?!"

My father looked at him like a lost cause.

"Just a few words for Marina Harding? Do you know what today was? It was your sister's coming-of-age celebration!"

"Do you have any idea how many important guests came today, and you served her a headless rooster!"

Henry's face went through every shade of green and white under the tongue-lashing, and behind him Marina had gone pale too.

As if she'd finally grasped how much trouble she'd caused, Marina suddenly dropped to her knees, hard.

"Dad, please don't blame Henry. It's all my fault. If it weren't for me, he never would have done something so foolish..."

"How is any of this your fault!" Seeing her cry like a wilting flower, Henry cut in at once. "It's clearly Lucille's fault. If she hadn't stolen your first place, none of this would have happened!"

That line seemed to enrage our father. He snatched up the cane lying nearby and moved to strike him.

"You worthless child, you still have the nerve to say that!"

The cane went up high, but before it could come down on Henry, my mother, who'd heard the commotion, came crying and threw herself in front of him.

"If you're going to hit anyone, kill me first!"

She planted herself in front of my father, ignoring his iron-dark face.

"My son was only joking. What gives anyone the right to treat him like this! If you want to blame someone, blame Lucille, that jinx. If she hadn't done something wrong, why would my son ever go after her!"

She glared at me with a face like a demon, as if I were her mortal enemy.

I'd heard accusations like this more times than I could count. And yet, coming out of my mother's mouth again,

it still sent a dull ache through my heart. Seeing me stay silent, she seemed to find her outlet. "Why aren't you saying anything?"

"Lucille, did you set your brother up on purpose? Apologize to him, now!"

My nails dug into my palms, but the pain there was nothing next to the pain inside.

I looked straight at her and said each word clearly:

"The coming-of-age celebration was the task Father handed to my brother. He arranged all of it himself. I wasn't even allowed into the kitchen."

"If he hadn't been trying to get even on Marina's behalf, he never would have caused this kind of disaster."

Mother choked for a second, then snapped, "So you're blaming Marina? If it weren't for her, a jinx like you would still be rotting in some corner somewhere!"

"Don't forget, if we hadn't found you and brought you back, you'd still be crawling through the mud, working like an animal for someone else! I should have known better than to bring you home at all!"

The cold, merciless words were like a sharp blade splitting my soft flesh and driving into my heart.

So it was true. It hurt most when your own family did it, because they knew exactly where you were weak, and they knew exactly how much you cared about them.

Before the age of five, I once had a happy, whole family too.

Loving parents, a brother who took my side, everything a child could want.

Until the year I turned five, when the nanny quietly carried me away.

Small as I was, I was drugged, dazed and slumped against the nanny's chest.

A loud high-speed train, a crowded, swaying bus, muddy country roads. I was hauled from one to the next until I ended up in a remote little village.

After that came endless hell.

That nanny could never have children of her own, and had always wanted a child. But back in the countryside, the moment people saw me they mocked her for being able to bring back only a worthless girl, not even a son.

The more they laughed, the more she came to loathe me too. Day to day it was beatings or cursing, and every chore in the house was dumped on me.

I wasn't even as tall as the stove yet, but I was already standing on a stool to cook.

The firewood was so wet the smoke stung my eyes until they burned.

The village's iron pot was heavier than I was, and if they came in from the fields and the food wasn't ready, what waited for me was a savage beating.

In the dead of winter my fingers went red and raw with cold, and the nanny only gave me a flat glance.

"Worthless thing, so slow you can't even wash the clothes."

That winter was bitter, and the room had a warm heated bed, but I was only allowed to sleep on the floor in the corner.

I curled into a tight ball and held myself, hoping to get a little warmer, but it was simply too cold. Past midnight I nearly froze into unconsciousness.

That day I was feverish and dazed, and for the first time I didn't get up to make breakfast.

A red-hot stick came down hard across my body, and in my daze I smelled the sound of skin and flesh burning.

But strangely, this time I felt no pain at all.

My head was swimming, my mind fading further and further away.

At six years old, for the first time, I understood I was about to die.

When I woke again, I was lying in the village's little clinic.

The nanny watched me coldly. "I wasn't going to bother with you. Didn't think a girl could still be worth something."

Only later did I learn that the old widower on the west side of the village had put down a two-thousand-dollar bride price to reserve me in advance, an arrangement that once I was a little older I'd become the wife of his simple-minded son.

The year I turned ten, I set fire to that ruined shack, and while they ran to put it out I escaped into the mountains.

I didn't dare take the small paths, and I dared even less to walk the main road, so I only pushed through grass and scrub that stood taller than I was.

I ate dirt and drank rainwater, and the day I finally walked out of the mountains my legs were raw and bleeding, my whole body nearly spent.

By the time the Pruitt family found me, I was already twelve.

Back then a kind person had taken me in, and I was helping in the back kitchen.

A woman in expensive clothes rushed into that filthy little alley without a second thought and held me tight.

"Lucille, my Lucille, I've finally found you."

She called me Lucille. Not worthless girl, not jinx.

Her arms were warm, and her hot tears fell on my shoulder, and I thought I had a family at last.

But when we got home I found another girl living in what should have been my room.

That was when I learned that after I went missing, my mother had nightmares night after night, until she was nearly out of her mind.

Until my father suggested adopting a child to ease her longing for her lost daughter.

"No!" Back then my brother objected almost without thinking. "Why do we need to adopt another one? I have a sister. She's only lost. One day I'll find her!"

"But your mother is suffering. She may not last until the day we find Lucille."

Father's words moved my brother, and so they chose Marina Harding.

The day my mother brought me home, Marina was sitting in the living room in a nightgown, barefoot, crying.

She was sobbing for Mommy, begging Mommy not to give her up.

Without a moment's hesitation my mother set me down and went to hold her.

"There now, sweetheart, don't cry..."

She soothed Marina in that gentle voice, every movement so tender, so full of a mother's love.

I stood off to the side, alone, tipping my head up and watching carefully, unable to stop the thought: so this is a mother? Could I have a mother's love too?

But the next second, I saw Marina flash me a smug smile, her eyes full of malice.

After that Marina would deliberately play the pitiful victim in front of my father and brother, saying I had it out for her, and no matter how I explained, my parents and brother always blamed me first.

Marina had spent ten years with them.

Spend enough time together and feelings grow. That's only natural.

I just never understood why, when I tried so hard to fit into this family, tried so hard to tell them I was not pushing Marina out, even when I laid the proof in front of them, they never once looked at it, insisting the whole time that it was my jealousy at work, that I was the one hurting Marina.

Was the debt of being raised always going to outweigh the debt of being born?

Countless nights, I lay in that tiny room and imagined a day when my parents and brother would learn the truth, apologize to me in tears, and then give me all the love I'd wanted.

But after being let down again and again, I stopped dreaming, stopped hoping for things that would never be real.

Those family members who didn't love me, I didn't want them anymore either.

"Enough!" Her father's brow creased when he saw his wife shielding both their son and Marina. "Lucille is your own daughter. Why are you always protecting an outsider?"

"After what happened today, with what Elder Abbott said, I don't see how Henry ever gets into the Group now."

Henry's breath caught, his eyes flying wide.

He was his father's only son, one of the young talents of the Pruitt generation.

The year he graduated, at twenty-three, he'd joined Pruitt Group, working his way up from the ground floor to a junior management post at a subsidiary.

His engagement had just been settled,

and Elder Abbott had been about to promote him into the head company. Now all of that was ruined.

After a long silence, her father suddenly asked, "I heard you ranked first in the whole city this time?"

My chest tightened. I nodded, and his expression eased a little. "Study hard. You're only fifteen, but if you ever take an interest in finance, you could come try your hand at the company."

Henry's eyes went wide. It was the first time our father had ever acknowledged me, and the first time he'd ever suggested I might come to the company someday.

"No!"

Mother snapped back almost on instinct, glaring at me, her voice sour.

"What business does a girl have at the company? A married daughter is water poured out the door. You promote her, and she'll only end up handing it all to some other family!"

"The important thing right now is helping Henry!"

"All we have to do is make Elder Abbott and the others see that Lucille is the one at fault. Tomorrow I'll take her to the old house and have her explain herself to everyone. I won't let this jinx ruin my son."

A shudder went through me, and I jerked my head up to look at her.

In that moment she was frighteningly unfamiliar, slowly blurring into the nanny from my memories.

I thought of my third month after being brought back.

That day happened to be my birthday, and Henry had told me early on that we'd celebrate.

"Marina's birthday isn't really today, but she's such a considerate girl. She said she didn't want us to forget yours, so she moved her own birthday to this date."

I'd nodded, not fully understanding, looking forward to the day more than anything, only because I hadn't had a birthday in seven years.

But the day before, Marina broke down in tears, saying she didn't want to celebrate her birthday on that date.

Henry fussed over her, scrambling to soothe her.

Between sobs, Marina said, "Henry, I don't want to be someone's shadow. In all these years I've never once had a birthday that was really my own."

Mother and my brother listened, their hearts aching for her, and the next day the birthday dinner they'd planned was called off.

There was a hollow place inside me. I worked up the courage to ask, "Mom, could you buy me a small cake? I've never had one before"

"Some other day."

She was picking out new clothes for Marina, and answered without looking up. "It's just a cake. What's so good about it."

And so the birthday I'd waited so long for passed without a sound.

It wasn't until six months later that I finally tasted cake, at Marina's birthday, when Mother and my brother booked out an entire hotel and had a custom nine-tier cake made for her.

I cradled a small piece carefully. The frosting was stiff, so sweet it turned bitter, and as I ate, the tears suddenly slid down my face.

So this was what a birthday cake was?

The children in the village had always bragged that cake was fragrant and sweet. Why did it taste so bitter in my mouth?

The old memories were still sharp, every one of them.

Before, Mother had only ever favored Marina, but today her eyes were full of hatred when she looked at me.

Seeing that I stayed silent,

she spoke with a flat, empty face. "If it weren't for you, how could your brother's years of hard work be ruined in one stroke? Tonight you'd better think hard about how you're going to explain yourself to the family elder. And if you don't explain it well"

"I'll cut off every cent of your living expenses. If you've got the nerve, go feed yourself."

Father barked that this was nonsense, but before he could lay into anyone his phone rang, and after the call his face went grim and he hurried off to the old family house.

The room went quiet.

"Lucille, you're pretty pleased with yourself, aren't you?"

Henry was glaring at me, his eyes cold enough to frighten.

I looked steadily back at him, calm inside.

What he didn't know was that watching Father give up on him, step by step, was nowhere near everything I wanted.

The next day, as expected, Mother summoned a whole group of family elders.

She did it behind Father's back. Just before we went downstairs, she gave the small of my back a hard pinch as a warning.

"When they ask, you tell the elders it's your own fault. You went too far and made your brother angry, and that's why he did what he did."

Then she was all smiles, helping Great-Uncle Abbott into his seat. "Please, sit, Great-Uncle. The truth is, I asked all of you here today to clear up the misunderstanding from last time."

Great-Uncle Abbott frowned. "What misunderstanding needs this many of us dragged over? And where's Michael?"

A flicker of fear crossed Mother's face, but she forced the smile to hold. "It's about my girl. At her coming-of-age celebration the other day, her brother wanted to teach her a lesson, and he meant well, but it went wrong"

A boy who'd come along with Great-Uncle Abbott muttered under his breath.

"What do you mean, meant well? That was her coming-of-age celebration. You only get one your whole life, and with everyone filming, what she got served was a beheaded rooster"

Mother's smile froze. "What would a child understand."

"Great-Uncle, you know how it is. Lucille was abducted when she was little, and she lived with the kidnappers all that time after."

"In an environment like that, of course she'd pick up all kinds of bad habits."

"After we brought her back to the Pruitt family, she was never once honest with us. Either she's deliberately stirring up trouble to compete with Marina for our affection, or she's quietly going after Marina, setting her up."

"This time she even cheated on purpose, to steal Marina's first-place spot."

"When it comes down to it, her brother only acted that way because he was afraid she'd go down the wrong road."

"If we don't keep her in line now, I'm afraid she'll end up on a crooked path someday, breaking the law. What a person goes through in childhood pretty much sets who they are. If you don't beat it out of them, you'll never straighten them out!"

She rambled on and on, not caring in the least that there was no way I could have cheated my way to first place on a citywide exam that size.

When it came down to it, she was simply dumping every bit of filth on me.

Mother's gaze settled on me, full of disgust, as if I'd done a thousand unforgivable things.

The Pruitts she'd summoned glanced at one another, and one of them spoke up almost without thinking.

"But being abducted wasn't Lucille's fault. She seems fine to me"

"How is she fine! A worthless girl, a drain on us. If it were up to me, I honestly wish she'd never been found at all!"

Mother's voice came out sharp.

Then she shoved me hard and snapped,

"Everyone's here today. You explain yourself to them!"

Every eye landed on me. Some were weighing me up, some pitying, and some full of contempt and quiet satisfaction at the show.

But the two I couldn't ignore were Henry and Marina, standing off to the side.

As if he'd caught my glance, Henry stepped forward, worked up. "Lucille, hurry up and tell them the whole thing that day was your fault, that everything your brother did was for your own good. Right?"

I looked at them, my face calm.

These were the family I had once let myself hope in, and one step at a time they had cut down every last bit of that hope.

"Great-Uncle Pruitt."

My voice was soft, but utterly serious. "Since everyone happens to be here, I'd like you all to witness something. Today I intend to sever ties with my parents, completely."