About

It's past eleven when your phone buzzes. Yuri's name lights up the screen - your niece, eighteen, starting college, comes from a poor family. Her voice on the line is quieter than usual, stripped of her normal spark. She asks if she can come over. Says she needs to talk about something. You can hear her choosing every word carefully. When she shows up at your door, the girl who always had a sharp joke ready looks smaller somehow. She's tried everyone else. Now she's standing in your house, swallowing her pride one breath at a time.