Chapter 23 Do It

• As I stand here, trapped between my mother’s vice-like grip and the dark water below, a long-buried fear claws its way up through me. Every inch of my body wants to twist away, run from this hellish, familiar grip. But it’s like being eight again, clinging to the hope that it’s different this time, that she’ll look at me with something other than contempt.
• “Let me go,” I say. But her nails dig deeper into my skin.
• “Not until you make that promise.”