Chapter 254: Lottery
Margaret crossed her arms, standing her ground.
"Then maybe you could just kick me out!" she retaliated.
In that moment, her stepfather Darrel came into the fray and urged, "Can we all take a breath? Margaret, let's talk about this. It's just hair."
But as Darrel attempted to de-escalate the matter, Margaret felt suffocated by the impending conflict.
"You're not my dad!" she screamed. "You don't get to decide what I do with my life!"
The moment the words left her mouth, she saw the hurt on Darrel's face and the anger that was soon to erupt from her mother.
"That's it!" her mother yelled.
"Honey, wait," he said quietly, hoping not to escalate things. "We're all in this together..."
"No!" her mother argued. "That was my last straw."
Margaret still hadn't let down. She began to scream the more as the other two began to retaliate with shouts of their own—accusations and misunderstandings fueling the fire that had already ignited between them.
Desperate for an escape, Margaret turned and retreated into her room. There, she paced back and forth as if the walls were closing in on her. Heart pounding, she hastily began to pack her belongings—the essentials she'd need if she were to leave.