Liliana

So we go to the doctor and they get some x-rays of my lungs.

And I remember the doctors were so nice to me because I was so little.

So they were like, you know, we're going to put this on you like a dress and you're doing such a good job.

Like they were so smiley and accommodating and whatever.

But once the x-ray came up, they got serious.

And they turned to my parents and they were like,

do you guys see all this smoke in her lungs?

Like, you guys see that, right?

She can't breathe.

She's having trouble breathing because your guy's a secondhand smoke.

Like, don't smoke around her because this is like excessive for how old she is.

And my parents immediately were like,

That's bullshit.

I don't know what you're... I don't think you know what you're talking about.

Secondhand smoke isn't real and stuff like that, whatever.

But I got prescribed an inhaler to take.

So I had one for home and one for school.

And I was meant to take it, you know, after recess, after gym class, and then at home just as needed.

But the inhaler that I had for home...

my parents kept a hold of it.