“Olivia, stop asking questions and send the money.”
I stared into the darkness.
“Dad, what hospital is he at?”
“Why does that matter?”
The anger in his voice surprised me.
Not fear.
Not panic.
Anger.
My mother started crying again.
“He’s your brother!”
That sentence had controlled me for years.
You’re his sister.
You have to help.
Family comes first.
Family means sacrifice.
But in my family, sacrifice had always seemed to mean one thing:
Mine.
The Brother Everyone Had to Save
Mark was forty-two years old.
But somehow, my parents still treated him like a child.
Every mistake had an explanation.
Every failure had an excuse.
He was “sensitive.”
He was “struggling.”
He was “just going through a difficult time.”
That was what they said after he yelled at people.
After he lost jobs.
After he destroyed relationships.
After he borrowed money and never returned it.
After he made one bad decision after another.
My parents didn’t just forgive Mark.
They built a world where Mark never had to face consequences.
And then there was Emily.
My younger sister.
The family favorite.
The one everyone called when they needed comfort.
Emily was the sweet one.
The kind one.
The one who always tried to keep the peace.
