Chapter 17

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: NEGLECTED CHILD

✧FAITH ZEICAN LEE✧

I stared at Poppy after she said that. She can’t read? It all made sense now. It was clear why she seemed confused earlier when I called her. It explained why she struggled with using the cell phone. Someone who knows how to read can follow and explore a gadget by reading the prompts. But Poppy, she had no idea what was written there.

This also seemed to be why she got lost earlier. She couldn’t read the signs indicating which floor she was on, even though there were visible signages above. But why? Why couldn’t she read? Had her parents not educated her?

The thought tightened my chest. I felt a strong urge to confront Chloe right then about her sister’s situation—why they had allowed her to grow up without learning to read at seventeen. Another troubling question was whether she knew how to write as well.

“Poppy.” I took her hand and squeezed it gently. “Can you write?”

She wiped her tears before shaking her head. “N-No, I can’t.”