My Parents Sold My Future For Her Convenience Chapter 05
Our city had a tradition–interviewing the top SAT scorers
every year, without fail, for over a decade.
Other parents, when their kid took the top spot, would be
scrubbing the house clean and waiting eagerly for the
press to show up.
I couldn’t figure out why my mother would turn away
what other families would kill for.
Just then, my father Robert emerged from the bedroom,
waving a hand dismissively. “Bianca totally
underperformed on the exam. Are you gonna rattle her by
that interview?”
I squeezed my eyes shut, then asked them, “That’s the
reason?”
My father frowned. “Isn’t that enough? Bianca’s your
sister. She’s delicate. And you, the older sister, you’re
supposed to look out for her.”
Right then, my brother Riven walked in. He’d been out
shopping with Bianca.
He chimed in, “Celia, don’t break her heart over some
cheap glory. You two are twins. If you get all the attention,
she’ll crumble under the pressure.”
Bianca stood there, shopping bags dangling from both
hands.
Just like every other time. She didn’t even have to say a
word. She just had to stand there and my parents and brother would charge into battle on her behalf, pushing
me into surrender.
I looked at all four of them. Didn’t say another word.
Went into my room. Started packing.
My mother followed, watching with a sneer. “Oh, so this is
a runaway act now? Go ahead and walk out. Let’s see how
you eat, how you survive without us.”
She continued, “Oh, and we’re doing a family portrait later.
If you don’t show, don’t blame us for leaving you out this time.”
Riven came in, grabbed my suitcase out of my hands, and sighed.
“Celia, stop making a scene. Does it make you happy
turning this house upside down? After the portrait, I’ll buy
you a new dress to make it up to you, okay?”
I ignored them, yanked my suitcase back, and kept packing.
The door slammed with a kick and the family portrait
hanging on the back of it crashed to the floor.
Glass shattered everywhere. The photo itself tore,
shredded and broken.
Just like that time when I was away at a competition.
They’d taken Bianca, who was feeling down, to Disney
World.
Then they took a family portrait. Four of them. No me.
I’d begged for a redo. They always had some excuse.
Eventually Riven had someone photoshop me in.
It looked ridiculously fake. But I was so happy and kept it
like a treasure for years.
Looking back now, fake was fake. And the ones who played
favorites always would.
My father’s angry voice rang out from the hallway. “Leave
her. Let her go. She wouldn’t agree to the same college as
her sister and she stormed off at dinner last night.”
My father said flatly, “Now she’s throwing a fit over some
interview. She needs to learn a lesson. We’re going to take
the portrait. One less mouth doesn’t matter.”
And they actually left. Like I wasn’t family at all.
The car engine roared outside. I zipped up my suitcase,
pulled it out the door.
When I passed the shattered glass and torn photo on the
floor, I didn’t look back.
Children never want to believe their parents play favorites.
So I fought it for eighteen years. Clung to every tiny
crumb of affection, desperate to find proof that they loved me too.
But from now on, I didn’t have to anymore.
They won. I accepted it. I was simply never a child they loved.
I called a ride to go to the airport.
My phone rang a few times. I didn’t answer and just turned it off.
The boarding announcement came. I stood up and joined the line.
From here on out; open skies, vast seas. No more trapped in the past.