I Traded My Life to Free My kidn*pped Mom

My mom, it turns out, was an heiress—kidn*pped and sold. The moment I understood that, it hit me all at once: I had to get her home. That day, when I got back, I asked her. "Mom, do you want to run?" She flinched, hard. "Run? Where to? If I run, what happens to you?" I grabbed her cold hand. "Mom, you deserve to be free." That night, I started planning her escape. We'd almost made it to the edge of town when her whole body started shaking. And that was when Dad came storming after us, swearing. "You worthless b***h—where the hell do you think you're going!" Seeing him closing in, I shoved my mom. "Mom, run!" She froze for a split second, then bolted past the town line like her life depended on it. I threw my arms around Dad's legs and held on, watching her shape shrink into the distance. His wooden club came down on me, over and over. I gritted my teeth and held on, refused to let go. It hurt—a pain that went straight to the bone—but I didn't make a sound. "You little b***h! I never should've let you set foot in a school!" He dragged me back into the yard and threw me down. My back caught a rock, and pain exploded through my chest. "If I'd known you'd turn on your own blood, I'd have sold you off years ago! I do you a favor putting you in school, and this is what I get—my own enemy under my roof!" The pain in my chest was familiar. Probably another cracked rib. But it was fine. As long as Mom got away, none of it mattered. Seeing me half-dead, Dad muttered a curse. "If somebody hadn't already put money down on you, I'd have beaten you to death for real." Then he tied me up with rope, threw me into the falling-down shack, and walked out. My chest went tight. 'Run, Mom. Before they catch you—get to the city, find your family.' I lay there on the moldy straw, every part of me aching like it had come apart. I knew my ribs were probably broken. My head started to fog, and it all came flooding back. I remembered how, when I was little, Mom was always vacant and far away, and everyone in town made fun of her. But when it came time for me to start school, she came unglued. That night, she smashed every bowl in the house. When Dad went to hit her, she threw herself at him, wild. "Send her to school! Send her to school!" Dad, scared she'd actually do something, and figuring a girl who could read might sell for a few hundred more down the line, gave in.