Spilled Milk: Based on a True Story

Content Warning: This section discusses physical and sexual abuse against a child (specifically incest).

“It was a real journal, with a lock to keep all thoughts and secrets forever bound to the person who wrote in it.”

Secrets and Denial become controlling factors in Brooke’s life as her father forbids her from telling anyone about his abuse. Brooke’s privacy is violated by her parents on a regular basis, and when she is gifted a journal, she expects nobody to read it. However, Brooke’s parents find out that she has been writing about sex, and both of them insist that she keep these thoughts secret.

“I picked dried spaghetti off of plates and splashed water inside the cups that had sour milk. The liquid soap container weighed down my arm but I finally managed to pour some into the square tray of the dishwasher. The sink was empty ten minutes later, and I used my shirt as a towel.”

K. L. Randis writes many of her scenes in a moment-to-moment style that allows the reader to visualize what Brooke is doing or feeling. After returning from the warmth and joy of her grandmother’s house, Brooke reassumes a maternal role. The depressing mood of Brooke’s house is notable as she clears the sink of dishes.

“The heaviness of the new role I played in my family was suffocating. I didn’t want it.”

Brooke cares deeply for her siblings and sympathizes with her mother’s pain, so she assumes a maternal role without question. She is a child, but is responsible for caring for her siblings, quelling arguments, and cleaning, and is forced to endure her father’s sexual abuse. She uses the metaphor of suffocation to describe how this role makes her feel.