I glanced at my family. Rachel was standing there,\u00a0laughing<\/i>. My mother stood right next to her, holding her drink, not moving. My daughter was underwater. My dad had his arm crushing my throat.<\/p>\n
I kicked backward into my dad\u2019s legs so hard he lost balance for half a second. I tore myself out of his grip and threw myself into the pool.<\/p>\n
Haley\u2019s eyes were open, wide, panicked, searching for me. She was still conscious, but barely. I wrapped my arm around her chest and kicked us both up.<\/p>\n
When I got her out of the water and held her, shaking, coughing, choking, trying to breathe, I looked back at them.<\/p>\n
My sister smirked like she did something iconic. My dad fixed his shirt like nothing happened. My mother rolled her eyes and said, \u201cDrama queen. Over one dip.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over one dip.<\/i><\/p>\n
I held Haley tighter. That was the exact moment something shifted inside me. Something hard, something final. This wasn\u2019t a family anymore. This was a threat.<\/p>\n
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