After I Blew Out My Sister’s Candle, My Parents Stopped Loving Me Chapter 03

After I Blew Out My Sister’s Candle, My Parents Stopped Loving Me Chapter 03

The bedroom window was open, the curtains fluttering in the dim light. A small, motionless lump sat centered beneath the duvet.

Earlier that day, while I was playing house with my favorite stuffed bunny, I had tucked it under the covers.

My father kept his voice patient. “Ellie, you’re not a baby anymore. You can’t keep acting like this.”

“Come out, apologize to Chloe, and then we’ll all go to the amusement park together.”

The next second, my mother stormed in, anger written all over her face.

“Ellie Whitmore, let me make one thing clear. This family does not orbit you.”

“We kept excusing you because you were little. We spoiled you, we indulged you, and I’m just now seeing the shadow you’ve forced your sister to live in.”

Maybe it was my silence that pushed her over the edge.

Her whole body trembled with rage. She grabbed the framed family portrait off the cabinet by the door and hurled it to the floor.

Glass shattered everywhere.

Breathing hard through gritted teeth, she bent down, picked up the photo, and tore my part right out of it.

“You ungrateful little thing. Don’t call me Mom ever again. I don’t have a daughter like you.”

Then she turned and walked out without looking back.

From outside the room, Chloe called, “Dad, if we don’t leave now, we won’t have much time to have fun.”

My father shook his head. In the end, he said nothing and followed her out.

I stared at the torn-up photo, and something twisted painfully inside my chest.

I wanted to pick up the pieces and put them back together, but I couldn’t.

It felt as though my entire existence had been a series of tremors shaking this house.

Even before I was born, my mother used to say I had nearly killed her.

She had hemorrhaged carrying me, and the doctors had issued critical warnings more than once.

After I was born, I cried every night. It took the adults in the family taking turns caring for me just to get through it.

When I got a little older and started school, I knocked over classmates, broke a potted plant, and gave my teachers headaches so often that my parents had to keep going in to apologize.

Maybe my death really would be a relief to all of them.

Once I thought that, I didn’t feel quite as sad anymore.

So I decided I would stay through Chloe’s birthday, and then I would leave for good.

The moment that thought crossed my mind, I found myself in the birthday room at WonderPier Adventure Park.

It was a place specially set aside for children’s parties.

My mother lit the candles and carefully placed them on the cake.

A crowd of smiling adults gathered around Chloe and sang “Happy Birthday.”

Chloe made her wish with a bright smile and blew out the candles.

My mother beamed at her.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart. I want my Chloe to grow up healthy and happy, and from now on, Mom’s going to give you all the love she has.”

My father followed with a smile of his own. “And I want my brave, sensible girl to enjoy life as much as she wants. Dad’s always going to be in your corner.”

Before I could offer my own birthday wish for her, Chloe had already cut the cake.

My voice caught as I whispered, “Chloe, I love you. And I’m sorry…”

After the cake, my parents took Chloe around the park and rode everything with her.

By the time they were heading home, she still looked like she wanted to stay forever.

She asked, “Mom, Dad, do you know what I wished for today?”

“I wished that every year on my birthday, you’d both come to WonderPier with me.”

My mother stroked her hair. “Of course. The three of us will come together every year.”

Then she added pointedly, “Without that little ingrate.”

Only my father seemed distracted. He kept glancing at the Nest cam on his phone, worry etching lines into his forehead.

“This is strange. Ellie’s room lights are still off.”

“She’s scared of the dark. If she were home by herself, she would’ve turned the lights on. What if something’s wrong?”

“We should go back and check.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he hit the gas.