It didn’t take long for her to realize sometimes, the only way to forget everything was to go to sleep. When she was still in elementary Alicia learned that people were cruel. They stole and cheated. By middle school, she realized that her only job was to protect her sister. At the start of high school, Alicia knew she had to keep going forward. One foot in front of the other. Nothing else mattered. Keep her sister and friends safe, and do as her mother asks. It became a checklist. Go to school, come home, wait for their sister to be picked up to go out with her boyfriend, and sit alone in the house. Clean the kitchen, rewash the floors, and do her homework. Go to bed before her parents got home. She sleeps late enough on the weekdays that they are already off to work and goes to sleep before they get home. By Junior year, Alica understood.

Sleep. Her parents’ arguments couldn't reach her ears when she slept. Nor could her sister’s constant reminders that she could take care of herself. No. Just the strangely crafted dreams of impossible amazments. We're there people who need her mothering and others who are by her side instead of off down the road. Two lives. One where she could keep up with whatever was thrown at her. Another she fell and was left to pick up pieces.