MY PARENTS USE ME AS THE MAILBOX

Dear Delyara, I am fourteen, and I know more about my parents’ divorce than either of them knows about me. Dad says, “Tell your mother I’m not paying for that.” Mom says, “Ask your father why he can afford a new truck but not your braces.” Dad asks whether Mom’s boyfriend sleeps over. Mom asks whether Dad drinks when I’m there. They both say, “You can tell me anything,” but what they mean is, “Bring me information from the other house.” I have started lying to both of them. I say Dad stayed home when he went to a bar. I say Mom was alone when her boyfriend stayed. I hide letters in my backpack until the deadlines pass. At school, my counselor asked why my grades dropped. I told her I was having trouble sleeping. I didn’t tell her that every Sunday night, I sit on my bedroom floor and decide which parent’s truth will hurt the other one less. I’m their daughter. They have turned me into evidence.