I think about the phone conversations we’ve had with my parents. Looking back, it’s hard to even remember what we’ve talked about. I wish I could just call them right now and ask for their opinion. Or better yet, I wish I could see them, talk to them face-to-face and figure out the answers to these questions together.

I’m lathering my arms with a sponge, my hair covered in shampoo, when all of a sudden I hear it—a loud, piercing scream. My sister’s scream.

I shake my head desperately, running my fingers through my hair to get the shampoo off. My sister screams again, and a horrible image appears in my mind—Child Protective Services at our door, taking Sophie away. I can’t think of anything else that could be making her scream like this.

The entire world starts spinning. I don’t know which way is left or right, or where to even find the knob to shut off the water. When I find it, I turn it all the way and let out a scream of my own. I must’ve turned it the wrong way, so for a second a stream of scalding water hits my back. I turn it around quickly and step out of the shower in such a hurry that I almost slip.

“Sophie!” I yell out as I wrap a towel around my waist. “Sophie, I’m coming!”

I rush out of the bathroom, prepared to face whoever has come to take us away from our home, but I find no one. There’s only Sophie, and she’s standing on top of a chair.

“Sophie, what’s wrong?” I ask.

“A cockroach,” she says. “I just saw it. It crawled under the stove.”

I let out a small sigh. A cockroach. Normally, that thought would’ve made me jump on a chair just like Sophie did. But today, I welcome it, I’m glad that’s all it is. At least the intruder in our home isn’t here to take us away.

“Wait there,” I tell her. “I have to go get dressed.”

“N-no!” she stammers. “Don’t go!” My sister’s always been scared of bugs, but she has a special terror reserved for spiders and roaches.

“I have to. I can’t kill it like this.” I gesture at the towel around my waist, and she nods quickly.

“Just hurry.”

I turn around to walk back into the bathroom, and a minute later I come out wearing my pajamas. Sophie is now kneeling on top of the chair, looking as though she’s about to faint.