Home Entertainment Game Technology Advertisement Part 2: For eight years, my parents made me leave the house every time my brother brought his fiance over; Mom said, “She comes from a good family, don’t embarrass us”; Dad added, “Just disappear for the weekend”; I did; then one weekend, I never came back; it took them four years to find out where I went.

And my father had used her death to steal my life.

***

That evening, Avery found me in the nursery.

I was sitting beneath the hanging baskets, staring at a tray of seedlings.

She sat beside me.

For a long time, neither of us spoke.

Then she asked, "What do you want to do?"

I looked at her.

"About what?"

"Everything."

I thought about my parents.

The money.

The false death certificate.

The stolen years.

Then I looked around the nursery.

At the flowers.

The soil.

The little wooden sign Ruth had made for me.

**STACEY'S GARDEN — EVERY ROOT DESERVES ROOM TO GROW.**

I swallowed.

"I want my name back."

Avery nodded.

"I want Nina's family to know what happened."

She squeezed my hand.

"And I want to stop being afraid every time a car slows down outside."

My voice broke.

"I don't want to spend the rest of my life proving I have the right to exist."