Summary

Allison decided to live one day. She saw so much death during her childhood, she never thought she would have to make a choice like she did. She had escaped the brutality of her childhood to live in a different world -- but still she "began to dream longingly of my own death" (1). She started doing harmful things. One morning, Allison's mother looked at her daughter like she was "only remotely the daughter she had loved and prayed for" (2). After that, Allison decided to live for her mother.

She found herself a good job, working for the government in a city away from her mother. She tried to be who everyone thought she was -- a serious person with a serious job -- but she felt as though she was "an actress in the role for which she was truly not suited...