Blood Is Thicker Than Water by Maddie DiMarco

Blood is thicker than water

I've always hated that saying. We've all heard it a thousand times, from our teacher, our parents, our books, and our televisions. For as long as I can remember, that phrase pulled at me every time I heard it, rattling around my head until my fists shook. 

It never seemed right. Blood is thicker than water. I hate that pitch they tried to sell me. Your blood is your bond, and a set of shackles. Blood is thicker than water. What you're born as always has and always will override what you have and will do. These people are your wardens and this last name is your cell.

Liars.
All of them. 

I've learned I was tricked. I was hoodwinked and swindled, double crossed, fooled, duped, and deceived. They've been hiding something from us. They took the truth and cut it into their own shape, twisted it until it was as unrecognizable as it was ugly.

The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

...

The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.

The original had been hidden, and I was delighted to unearth it. It was like waking up to realize perhaps I'm my own person after all. Shackles clatter to the ground.

Blood is thicker than water?

But the bonds we forge of our own volition are stronger than the bonds forced upon us by birth. I've discovered that family doesn't end in blood, nor does it start there. No one determines my family, the bonds with the people who love and influence me most, other than myself. 

Blood is thicker than water