After speed walking two blocks and feeling certain that there was no chance of being spotted again, Alexa looked up to get her bearings. It was still too early to go home as she knew her roommate would still be there and wasn’t yet ready to face her after their fight that morning.

It hadn’t been about anything when thinking about it superficially, but her roommate had again been complaining about something her mother had said and it had pushed Alexa over the edge. She knew she should have just listened and been supportive as she usually was, but lately Alexa had become sensitive to anything Sylvie said creating unusual tension between them.

She needed time to process, which was what had brought her to the playground in the first place.

While she knew when the niggling started, Alexa wasn’t quite sure how to verbalize it in a way that could be rationally discussed yet. 

It was a few days ago, when Sylvie had come home complaining about her mother – again. It wasn’t uncommon for Sylvie to rage about something her mom said or did. Usually, it was a misunderstood conversation or a disapproval of something that the independent daughter had done. Alexa was familiar with that feeling herself from her own parents, but her relationship with her mom and dad was an open one, so negative feelings rarely brewed long enough to fester into a sour taste between them.

Most of the time, Alexa was a quiet supporter and listener to Sylvie’s rants, but it was when Sylvie said to her off-handedly, “I wish I was adopted like you” in the midst of her lamenting that Alexa went from quietly supporting to silently raging.

She knew it wasn’t an intentionally dismissive comment about Alexa’s life as she and Sylvie had often talked about her feelings about being adopted. However, something about this comment thrown out as if it were a choice or some kind of preferred option hit Alexa like a sour patch kid mixing sweetness and tartness in one emotional outburst. Although at the time Alexa just smiled encouragingly so as not to make the situation about her, she knew that was the moment that the spark of fury was ignited.