Each time I became upset, Kyle told me to develop a sense of humor. His brothers called me difficult, and his mother said I should feel grateful to belong to such a cheerful family.
Sitting in the desert, I admitted the truth.
I hated how they treated me.
More painfully, I hated the person I had become while trying to please them.
Then I remembered that Kyle had borrowed an old phone earlier that morning and placed it in my jacket pocket. It had almost no battery, but one message appeared before the screen went dark.
Don’t be angry. It’s only a prank for the channel. We’ll come back later. Relax.
His brothers ran an online prank channel and were desperate to become famous. Kyle wanted their approval badly enough to turn his wife into entertainment.
I made my decision before the phone died completely.
I would not wait for them.
