The words Chloe spoke hit close to home for Jordan. He hated the loss of rights, power, and authority he had. He never thought he would have to live through being so completely and utterly emasculated. Just days ago, the idea of having your rights discussed so flippantly without being able to have much say-so was foreign.
Now, as Jordan looked over at Sara, it was the reality. His voice was powerless against hers, and his strength insignificant in comparison to hers. He wanted to shout back that Chloe was right. Jordan wanted to scream from the rooftops that he should have the same rights he had last week as nothing had changed.
However, in the same breath, the reality is a housecat almost killed him. A spider nearly ended his life. He was powerless to stop a twelve-year-old from using him like a doll. Sara could have easily run him over with the lawnmower in the yard.
He was, in the eyes of Sara, a responsibility. He was someone she cared for. He was someone who she had to watch over and take care of. She decided what was right and wrong. His property and his things are all under her name. Any money is hers; she decides what to do with it. In many ways, Jordan is but a child to her. It’s sickening. It’s sickening that he has to live this way. It’s sickening that the reality is every instinct Jordan has in his body says he wants to live.
That will to live is what makes it possible for Jordan to accept his loss of rights, as the reality is as much as he values his freedom, you can’t have freedom in death. Rights and privileges don’t fill the stomach or provide shelter and warmth at night. Jordan knows Chloe will never be able to understand that point of view. As she will never have to live it.
Jordan felt Sara’s hand wrap around him at that moment as he was lifted up from her locker shelf. She slammed the locker door shut, locking it with her free hand as her two friends walked with her down the hall towards their first-period class. The moment to say anything was gone. Jordan hated that he felt relief, and he was thankful he didn’t have to say anything. Unfortunately, that luxury wouldn’t last for long.
Sara smiled at Jordan as she lifted him up to her shoulder. He stepped off her hand and sat down. He grasped the collar of her sweater with one hand and slid his hand in between the gaps of her knit sweater with the other as she walked down the hall. As he looked from left to right as the trio spoke with one another as he was being further assimilated into Sara’s life.
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