“So the two of you decided that destroying her property was an appropriate punishment because she didn’t sweep fast enough?”
Melissa shrugged as if the answer should have been obvious. “It’s just a machine. She’ll get over it.”
Harper’s sobs tore through me in a way I could not ignore, so I knelt beside her and placed my hand gently on her back while her whole body trembled under my touch.
The pool water shimmered peacefully above the machine, mocking the chaos that had just happened, and I felt something shift inside me that I could not undo.
I looked up at Melissa. “You think this teaches her respect?”
“Yes,” she said confidently, folding her arms again. “That’s exactly what it teaches.”
“Perfect,” I replied as I stood up slowly, my voice calm but edged with something sharp. “Then you’ll understand when I teach you how it feels to lose something that matters.”
Her smile flickered, just for a second, and that was enough.
That night, I lay awake staring at the ceiling fan as it spun slowly above me, each rotation dragging the memory of that moment back into focus.