As I sit down to write this, my heart races with the thought of laying bare my story. You might have heard rumors - whispers of a fallen family, a father imprisoned for fraud, a daughter left drowning in his debt. I’m Evelyn Cross, the girl who had it all until it was all taken away. Six months ago, I was living the dream: pre-med student with a full scholarship, comfortable apartment courtesy of my dad’s ‘generosity,’ and a trust fund that seemed like an endless safety net. Then came the FBI raid, shattering everything I knew about my family and myself.
Now, at eighteen, I work three jobs just to keep our heads above water. The morning shift at a local café (5 AM-10 AM), afternoon tutoring (2 PM-6 PM), and night cleaning offices (8 PM-2 AM) - that’s my reality. Sleep is a luxury I can’t often afford; three hours if I’m lucky. My hands shake from exhaustion and too much coffee; my mind races with calculations - could buy groceries for three days; his watch could pay rent for six months… But despite it all, there’s one place where I find solace - where the pressures of reality momentarily fade away.
It’s in these hidden moments that I rediscover pieces of myself beyond just being ‘the daughter of’ or ‘the girl who owes.’ In stolen glances at old photos when no one’s looking, remembering laughter not tainted by scandal; in late-night walks under city lights when the world seems to belong to me alone; or even in brief exchanges with strangers where no one recognizes me as ‘that Cross girl.’ These are my escapes - small windows into the life I once knew and still hope to reclaim someday.
>Soulkyn