Changing My Flight, I Canceled the Toxic Family Forever Chapter 01

Changing My Flight, I Canceled the Toxic Family Forever Chapter 01

On the morning of our family vacation, I woke up early and found the house empty.

For a second, I just stood there, confused, until a message from my younger twin sister, Chloe Brooks, popped up in the family group chat.

[Shoot, I forgot to tell this group the departure time got moved up!]

A second later, she deleted it in a panic.

I stared at the empty chat screen, my eyes stinging.

So they had another family group chat, one that existed without me.

While I was still frozen in place, my mother, Sarah Brooks, called me.

“Sorry, Emma. The departure time got moved up by an hour. I forgot to tell you. Call an Uber and get here now. Maybe you can still make it…”

My brother, Ethan Brooks, cut in from beside her.

“If she didn’t make it, then forget it. Chloe has always wanted the whole family to herself for once. Just let her have it.”

I sniffed and forced down the ache in my chest. “I won’t go, then. Have a good trip.”

After hanging up, I immediately changed my flight plans, switching my destination from Miami Beach to Montana.

I had already made plans with my childhood friend, Noah Carter, to see the open plains there.

Now I could finally keep that promise.

For the past eighteen years, my family had always favored Chloe.

She was smart, pretty, and easy to love.

I was the ordinary one.

Only Noah had never seemed to mind, quietly staying by my side all along.

Excited, I was about to tell him the good news.

Then I saw his latest Instagram post: [Off to chase waves with my princess!]

The photo beneath it was an intimate-looking selfie of him and Chloe on the flight to Miami Beach.

The last thread of hope in my heart snapped.

I opened my laptop and changed my college list, replacing the local school Noah and I had once agreed on with Charleston University, a school hundreds of miles away in the South.

Then I clutched my updated ticket and took an Uber to the airport alone.

If no one cared about me, I would go find my own light.

…

The day I came back from Montana, my parents’ Miami Beach trip ended too.

The moment Sarah walked in, she glanced at the empty kitchen.

Then she started complaining, “You knew Chloe gets motion sick and can’t eat on the road. Why didn’t you make dinner ahead of time? You don’t act like the older one at all.”

Her scolding left me speechless.

Yes, I was technically older.

But only by one hour!

Since we were little, I had been expected to take care of Chloe, give in to her, and put her first.

If I failed even once, they branded me cruel.

Besides, I had just gotten home less than ten minutes earlier. I hadn’t even had time to drink water.

Getting an Uber from the airport had been almost impossible.

I had even messaged my parents in the group chat to ask when they would get back.

I hoped they could pick me up on the way.

But my message disappeared into silence.

In the end, I had no choice but to wait in line.

I stood under the blazing sun for two full hours before I finally got a ride.

Just then, Chloe gently nudged Sarah’s arm.

She mouthed for her to check her phone.

Sarah paused.

Then she opened the family group chat and finally saw my message, a flicker of guilt crossing her eyes.

But she still frowned and snapped at me, “Next time, call directly if it matters. Who has time to stare at random group-chat junk all day?”

I knew that she wasn’t too busy to check.

They had simply created another group chat for their beloved younger daughter, a special little circle of love where the unwanted extra did not exist.

If I guessed right, that group had existed since eighth grade.

That year, I was hit by a car on my way home from school and passed out.

A bystander who didn’t know what had happened tagged my parents dozens of times in the family group chat.

No one answered.

In the end, a police officer found my parents’ number through police records.

Only then did they come and take me to the hospital.

Chloe, on the other hand, never had to say a word in that group.

My parents always knew exactly where she was and what she was doing.

Back then, I didn’t want to believe they didn’t love me.

So I never let myself think in that direction.

Now I finally understood.

In that group chat and in this family, I was the unwanted extra—the one nobody needed.

I lowered my head and answered quietly, “Got it. There won’t be a next time.”

I wouldn’t bother them again.

And I would never again expect anything from the illusion of family love.