The police are ready to chalk up her story to the ravings of a hallucinatory drunk but Paloma knows something is deeply wrong.

In the cold, sober light of day, Paloma is ready to return to her apartment, call the cops and report Arun’s death… only there’s no trace of a body or blood or other foul play. Then what the hell had I seen in my apartment last night?įear flooded through me, the pounding in my head getting harder and faster. Mohini was just a story we told ourselves in the orphanage. I had spent years in therapy understanding just that. The reality of what happened slapped me hard in the face.

A disapproving neighbor finds her in the morning and wakes her: Worse, an apparition she thought she’d left behind in Sri Lanka appears, causing her to flee the apartment and lose consciousness in the stairwell. When she finally feels ready and staggers back to her apartment to plead for mercy, she’s horrified to find her would-be blackmailer dead at their kitchen table.

So what if she shouldn’t be drinking while on her medication for psychiatric disorders? She just needs a drink or two in order to build up her courage before facing Arun again. After an unsuccessful attempt to con a bank clerk into forwarding her the money she needs, Paloma stops at a bar. Unfortunately for them both, her bank accounts are frozen, and the wealthy parents she’s been having such a hard time talking to won’t be unfreezing them any time soon. Arun, the immigrant roommate she’s been illegally subletting to, has discovered the secret she’s spent so many years hiding, and is trying to blackmail her. Secretly, she was also glad to be able to escape the terrifying future she saw in store for her under the sadistic discipline of Sister Cynthia, who would take over her care once she aged out of the home.įast forward eighteen years and the now Sri Lankan American Paloma Evans is an alcoholic barely holding herself together. It felt like a dream come true, even if it meant leaving everything and everyone she knew and loved behind. Evans from San Francisco took an interest in her and wanted to take her home as their daughter. She could hardly believe it when rich and beautiful Mr. When Paloma was growing up in the Little Miracles Girls’ Home in Sri Lanka, all she wanted was to be adopted.

My Sweet Girl by Amanda Jayatissa