Saved a Life, Lost My Name

Our small house always felt heavy with unspoken things. Today, it felt sharp, like a shard of glass against my skin. Grandma Susan, my only comfort, hummed softly outside. A cold dread, my familiar "knowing," whispered of coming disaster. Then I saw it: a sleek cougar, yellow eyes fixed on Grandma. I called my father, a deputy, begging for help. He was at the fair with Jessica, his favored daughter, and scoffed. "You're just trying to spoil her fun," he laughed. The town watched as I fought alone, risking everything to save Grandma from the attacking beast. My own father never came. His furious colleagues returned, reporting his indifference. Jessica, my stepsister, gloated about *our* shared birthday, her annual cake mocking my lifelong neglect. Later, I found the cougar's secret: a tiny cub, Jessica's cruel trophy, hidden in our shed. I led the enraged mother cougar away, deep into the woods, knowing I was marked. Scratched and terrified, I returned only for my father to publicly grab and slap me. "You're a disgrace, Emily!" he raged, just as the cougar lunged directly at *me*. Why did this beast hunt me? Why did my own father constantly poison my existence, always protecting Jessica's malicious whims? Then, a crumpled envelope revealed a full university scholarship. He had hidden it. As his monstrous lies about Jessica, the cub, and a lifetime of dark family secrets unraveled, everything I believed combusted. My mother's eyes, finally truly seeing me, filled with a dawning, terrifying horror. And then, the gunshots shattered the night.