My Town Exiles One Family Every Year To Stay “Perfect.” My Father Just Got A Promotion, And Now We Are Standing At The Border With Nothing. But Someone Is Waiting For Us In The Dark.

Purpose in Survival

That afternoon, I saw my father for the first time since breakfast. He was at a construction site on the edge of the exile town helping build a new house. Eli was there too, supervising the work. My father was hammering nails into boards with this mechanical precision, like his body knew what to do even though his mind was somewhere else. He didn’t look up when I walked over.

Eli came over and explained that physical work was good for people who just got exiled. It gave them something to focus on besides all the loss and anger. He said my father needed purpose right now, even if it was just basic labor.

I watched my father work and understood what Eli meant. Dad wasn’t trying to build something meaningful or prove anything; he was just trying to survive each day without falling apart completely. The repetitive motion of hammering kept him from thinking too much. I wanted to talk to him, but I didn’t know what to say, so I just stood there watching for a while before walking back to the mobile home.

Two weeks passed in a blur of school and trying to adjust to this new life. I went to classes at the Exile Community School and tried to focus on homework even though my brain felt like static. Thea sat with me at lunch every day, and gradually I started feeling a little less numb.

My mother spent most of her time in the mobile home crying or staring at nothing. Rosa visited her a few times trying to help, but Mom just couldn’t seem to pull herself out of the darkness.

The Fight for Family

One morning, I finally worked up the courage to ask Eli about my sister. She was still in the mental health facility near the old town, and we hadn’t heard from her since our exile. I was terrified that she thought we abandoned her.

Eli listened carefully and then made some phone calls. He found out my sister had been asking about us constantly and was scared we’d left her behind like everyone else did. Rosa helped arrange a phone call for that afternoon.

When I heard my sister’s voice on the phone, something broke open in my chest. She sounded so lost and scared. She kept asking if we were okay and where we were living and if we were coming back for her. I tried to explain about the exile in the new town, but she wasn’t really listening. She just kept saying she was afraid we forgot about her.

My mother took the phone and talked to my sister for almost an hour. When Mom hung up, she looked worse than before. She became obsessed with getting my sister transferred to a facility near the exile town so we could visit her regularly. Rosa warned this would be hard and expensive since we had no money or insurance now.

The helplessness of not being able to help my sister ate at my mother. I watched her slip deeper into depression despite all the support from the exile community. She stopped eating much and barely talked to anyone. Dad was still working construction every day and coming home too tired to deal with Mom’s breakdown. I felt stuck between them both, not knowing how to help either one.