Stephen was counting up his spare change (of which he had plenty) when Megan approached.
“The next time I buy an ice cream,” he proudly declared. “I’m paying entirely in pennies!”
“That’s not nice.”
“Yeah, well, that’s what he gets for running out of chocolate.”
“Hey Steve,” she interrupted. “Am I a bad person?”
His mischievous smile evaporated and he looked at her with mild confusion. “No,” he answered quietly.
“Why not?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, maybe some of the stuff you do is bad. Like when you and Carrie wrecked my snow fort when I was six. But there’s good stuff too…. I guess.”
“Like what?”
His face began to redden. “Like…. I dunno. You’re a good sister, Meg.”
“Thanks,” she replied. “You’re a good brother.”

“Hey Mom,” Megan asked, not long before they sat down to eat dinner. “Am I a bad person?”
“Of course not,” Nancy answered. “Where did you get that idea?”
Megan shrugged. “I don’t know. But you’ve gotta admit, I’ve been making stuff difficult for you and Dad lately.”
“You’re my daughter,” she said. “I love you.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Well then…you have my answer.”

The more people told her she wasn’t, the more Megan became convinced that she was in fact a bad person who had simply been unaware of it for all these years. She realized, much to her horror, that she had hurt (intentionally or not) a number of people in her quest for happiness and self-fulfillment. She had also taken an inordinate number of stupid risks. Her track record was littered with bad decisions. And the whole time, the world smiled at her and gave her a pat on the back.
She was in her room letting the pain and misery of this discovery seep in when Carrie approached her about a diaper change.
“Meg?” she asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m a bad person,” Megan remarked. “Maybe not a horrible one, but a bad one.”
“I don’t believe you! You’re actually taking what Deanna said seriously? She’s crazy.”
“She’s also right.”
“How can you say that?”
“I did take her dignity. I won’t tell you how, but I did. I also put Mom and Dad through all kinds of shit this summer. I’ve taken a lot of time off from work. I encourage you to get involved with things that you probably shouldn’t be getting involved with. I’m making a guy I like wait for me out of spite. And now matter what goes right, I’m still never really happy. If that isn’t a bad person, Carrie, then I don’t know what is.”
Carrie gently patted her head. “You’re not perfect, Meg. No one is.”
“There is a HUGE difference between being perfect and….”
“I used to feel bad about everything I did, too,” Carrie remarked.
“Used to?” Megan questioned. In her eyes, Carrie had always been something of a self-made martyr.
“…until I learned that I’m not, you know, invisible. The world doesn’t hate me for what I do and part of it does care. Do you know who taught me that?”
Megan shook her head.
“You. And Mom. And Dad.”
She sighed. “I guess I can’t argue with myself, now can I?”
Carrie giggled. “Nope.”