Dear Tabitah

	“Do you have to go?” nagged Tabitah, in her parent’s bed-room. “Really? Reeeeally?”
	“Tabi, silence, please! We’ve already discussed it. We need to prepare our luggage.”
	“I just can’t believe it! I mean, I don’t get it! Tomorrow’s my graduation! You’d miss your daughter’s—”
	“Puh! Lease! Stop raising your voice. This house is a mess! A! Mess!”
	“Daughter, we don’t want to go either, but if this conference goes well it could mean a whole new lifestyle for our family…”
	“Does it have to be so far away…?”
	“I’ve gotten an idea,” said her mother. “Come, come both of you. Come, come. Lesse, smile and… Cheese!”
	Tabitah laughed as the family photo was taken. The image started coming out from the instant camera.
	“Oh, golly! I came out with red eyes!”
	They all laughed.
	“Oh, well…” Tabitah looked away, too proud. “You’re guilt trpiping me. I can see you need help with the luggage, am I right?”
	“Actually, we’re fine, daughter. Thank you,” said the father.
	“What?” Tabitah lost her smile.
	“Huh?”
	“Why do you think I can’t help? Am I that useless?”
	“Now, daughter, nobody said that.”
	“No, but it’s true, isn’t it? You are so typical!”
	His father was about to shout back, but her mother placed a hand on his shoulder. They locked eyes that seemed to hide a se-cret. Tabitah changed her tune.
	“Oh, so that’s how it is… All roight, let’s see—“ And she re-moved a piece of paper from her pocket. “What is this?”
	“Tabitah, listen…”
	“No! Don’t try to stop me, mum! I want this explained!” A prescription was flaying around in her hands. “What’s BPD? Dad, what does this mean?”
	“Tabi—it’s what your doctor said. BPD could be why we argue so much—We want to understand it to be able to be more patient with you. It happens when you prioritize yourself too much, you don’t value others enough, and any trespass from the other results in an overreaction—Borderline personality disorder means—“
“Disorder? Are you saying I’m broken? You think labelling me is going to make things better? Well? Whose fault do you think this is?”
“Ours,” said her mother, her voice breaking. “We were told this condition isn’t genetic… It appears as a response to some childhood trauma.”
Tabitah laughed with sorrow.
“Guys… no! What trauma have I gotten? You’ve made me happy my entire life! Please, I tell you from the bottom of my heart. You’re the more wholesome people I’ve ever known.”
“But before us—“ whispered her father.
“Before what?” Tabitah laughed again, nervous. “Before?”
Her mother covered her moist eyes.
“Tabi… please. We leave for the airport in a couple of hours. We have to check our luggage.”
Tabitah screamed out and fell to her mother’s feet, weeping.
“See what you do? See what you’re doing to me? I told ya I didn’t want to stay with me uncle and you do your luggage all the same. See why I get these diagnosis? You’ve GOT to stay now.”
“Tabi, no—no,” his father shook his head. He grabbed her by the shoulders, made her stand up and removed her from the room. “No,” he sentenced, and close the door.
“All roight, brilliant!” screamed Tabitah. “That’s so Mur-phy’s—miss my graduation! Like I care!”
And Tabitah ran to her room. She couldn’t hold her tears, which flowed in the night. She had lost count of time when her door was opened. Tabitah recognized the sound of her mother’s heels and her smell. She felt a kiss on her head.
“Let’s make up, all right?” said the whisper.
When Tabitah opened her eyes it was daytime already. The first thing she saw was the sun through the window; the second the ring on her bedtable. What’s up with that? She gave it a closer look. It was Green, with a three-rings circle that she didn’t under-stand. She’d never seen it before. Could it be mum’s forgiveness gift?
“Yo, mom!” she shouted.
There was no answer. Oh, right—they were at the plane al-ready. Crap. Let ‘em do whatever they want. Don’t come back, she thought.
She got ready for the graduation ceremony, the house silent. She dressed up all pretty, but she was feeling rebellious, so she skipped make-up.
“If I had one day when I didn't have to be all confused and I didn't have to feel that I was ashamed of everything. If I felt that I belonged someplace. You know?” Tabitah quoted her favourite movie to the mirror. She was just like James Dean, only that day she actually had a cause to be a rebel.
But she wasn’t going to miss out. She went to the ceremony and had a great time with her friends. The ring jumped around inside her pocket during the dance.
“H-Hi, Tabi…” stuttered Jake. “Uh, I wanted to ask if you’d, uh…”
“Yes? Wait. Is that my uncle?”
Tabitah went pale. As soon as she saw her relative she knew something was wrong. She could never remember that moment; her mind was shook too badly. Only the first words. “There’s been an accident…” It was all mixed together. “The plane… Only twenty survivors…”
Tabitah shrieked; she ran for the exit.
“Don’t follow me!” she cried.
She went into her house, alone. The morning’s silence re-turned, but it was deafening this time.
Tabitah crawled to her parent’s room, climbed up the bed and felt her mother’s smell between tears. She sniffed her side of the bed, her pillow. She spent several hours like that.
Before she knew it was already dark. She was a little more calmed down. She got up and started looking at the framed photos, the memories.  She moved closer to the wall, staring at the wed-ding photo. Wait. Was it her imagination? Mum had something green in her left hand. It looked like… the green ring. How come she’d never noticed it?
She started looking at the rest of the photos. Her mother was wearing it in all of them. Tabitah took it out of her pocket and wore it, curious, as she went through the photos. Finally, she reached the latest one. The family photo they had taken before the trip, the last one there’d ever be.
Mom wasn’t wearing the ring. She had taken it off and then—then—the plane. Tabitah stared at her hand. She could ne-ver take it off. Not as long as she wanted to extend her life.
In the room’s corner, the mirror reflected Tabitah as the looked at her hand. The reflection of a perfectly bare hand, ring-less.