While Doing Dishes, My Landlord Asked, “Did You Unplug The Extension Cord”

Childhood and the Reign of Terror

My cousin texted every boy at school pretending to be me, stole my exam books, and laughed while I screamed in pain from the bleach.

She put in my shampoo, so I documented every crime she committed, and now she’s mad at me for exposing her. I grew up with my cousin after losing my parents, but her wild behavior started tearing us apart.

When I was three, my parents were killed in a tragic hit-and-run accident, and there was only one place for me to live, with my aunt, Sally. She had a kid my age, Megan, and we got along super well.

I remember being 5 years old and being offered to play with her toys because I had none. We were pretty much inseparable until she turned 11 because that’s when she started rebelling in school a lot more.

At 11, she turned into a total rebel, causing chaos at school and beyond. I’m still haunted by the crazy things she did back then. She was the definition of a crazy child.

In class, she would paint her nails and hold conversations with other students, speaking so loud she was practically screaming. And after school, sometimes she would rip open garbage bags from the back and literally pour them out into the hallways.

One time, she tried to light the effing sports field on fire. When the fire trucks came, she had run away in time, so she never got caught for that one. But the rest were reported by the principal, and my aunt would find out.

At first, she tried to punish her with simple things, no TV, no dessert, etc. But then Megan got so insane that my aunt would ground her for months on end and even refused to buy her gifts for Christmas until she acted right. Meanwhile, I was a star pupil.

Teachers loved me like I was their own, and my aunt rewarded me for it. This caused a drift between me and me, but I just wanted my best friend back. I remember trying everything to set her on the right path.

I’d help her with homework, try to convince her that getting on the teacher’s good side is worth it, and even share my dessert with her when Aunt Sally wasn’t looking.

But none of it worked. And instead of taking any sort of accountability, she started blaming me. And that’s the lore for how Megan’s reign of terror began when we were both 13.

She stole my phone and texted every boy in my class that I was obsessed and in love with them and asked to kiss after school.

I only found out after all of them had replied with nos and none of them believed that it wasn’t me. I tried to talk to Megan about why she did that and she promised to never do it again. But it wasn’t even a full 72 hours before she broke that promise.

The week of a big history test, she took all my history books and threw them out. When I told Aunt Sally that I lost them, Megan told her I was lying, that I had thrown them out because I wanted a good excuse for why I would fail. Luckily, Aunt Sally didn’t believe her at all and she bought me new ones. But that was still my breaking point.

So, then came a villain arc of my own. I told me to sit beside me and she could cheat off of my test. As soon as she was done copying me, she handed it in and that’s when I erased my entire sheet.

You see, I had purposely put in all the wrong answers.

L.

I didn’t think it mattered that much because Megan would have failed anyway, but she didn’t see it that way. At first, I tried to make it up to her. I tell the teachers to mark her grades easier because she was going through something. They actually listened.

And when that didn’t work, I literally started doing all of her homework for her. but she was hellbent on hating me and continued her little antics. I could have stooped down to her, but I chose not to and instead I simply acted like she didn’t exist.

Surprisingly, this made life a heck of a lot easier for me. I started excelling in every subject and was on track to becoming validictorian. But that’s when Megan made a comeback of sorts, but not in a good way.

It was the day before our graduation and I was simply taking a shower. As I put on my shampoo, I started screaming for help. My hands felt like they were sizzling and I could feel my scalp practically melting. Luckily, my aunt was home and she managed to clothe me enough to get me to the hospital.

The entire drive there, I was shaking and crying uncontrollably. I could feel my blood pumping in every part of my body. Luckily, the nurses managed to get most of it out of my hair in time, but I was still left with the diagnosis of first-degree burns.

Turns out, someone had put bleach into my shampoo. And Megan got what she wanted because the next day, I was unable to attend graduation. But little did she know that would be her last win because while I could use my influence for good, I could also use it for bad. And she was about to see just how bad I could be.

After the hospital trip, I was stuck at home with bandages on my head. My skin itched like crazy, and I couldn’t even wash my hair properly. I stayed in my room most of the time just thinking about how to get back at Megan. I wasn’t going to let her win again.

My aunt Sally was super worried about me, but she didn’t know what to do with Megan anymore. I could hear her pacing in the kitchen, muttering to herself about how things got so bad. I knew I had to act smart, not just lash out.