Forgotten Kinship - Chapter 6

They didn’t rush Ashley to the emergency. Instead, they started banging on my door. I calmly opened it and stared at my mom, who was about to explode.

“Maybe you should take Ashley to the hospital.”

“She’s working really hard at it.”

I didn’t think I’d said anything wrong, but my mom turned red.

“Autumn, your dad and I are already giving you both the same treatment. What more do you want?”

Honestly, I had no clue what she was on about.

“I used to ask for equal treatment. You always said no.”

“Now you’re buying the same fruit, which wasn’t even my idea, and you’re yelling at me. Why?”

My dad came over, looking tired. He sighed.

“Autumn, apologize to your mom. Ashley got sick because of you.”

I wasn’t in the mood to argue. I bowed to my mom.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come back to this house. It’s all my fault. Take your precious daughter to the hospital.”

“Any later, and she might actually get better.”

I closed the door before my mom could say anything. I could hear them arguing in the living room. I didn’t try to listen, but I caught a few phrases:

“Autumn’s getting out of hand. She’s trying to make us give in.”

“We’ve already given her what she wanted. Now she’s just acting up.”

I stared at that for a moment. Then it hit me. They thought I was acting different. They

thought I was trying to make them feel bad. I didn’t get it. When I did argue, they told me to stop. Now that I wasn’t arguing, they were telling me to start.

I put in my earbuds and kept reading. By the time I was tired, it was dark. The living room was empty. I was hungry.

When I went downstairs to grab takeout, I ran into my dad. He frowned at the food in my hand.

“Autumn, don’t eat that. Your mom’s coming back to make you dinner.”

He tried to grab my food.

I took a step back.

“It’s okay. The last time you said that, I waited all day and ended up with low blood sugar. No one came back.”

Dad sighed. “Autumn, I know your mom and I haven’t been paying as much attention to you lately. You’re upset.”

“But you know Ashley’s not well. We’re doing this for you.”

He looked at me.

I nodded. “Yeah, I know. I’m going back upstairs.”

My dad stopped me. “We left in a hurry. We didn’t bring Ashley’s medical records. Could you get them for me?”

I smiled. “Sure.”

After eating, I opened my laptop and reviewed the classes. I was having fun, and time went by fast. When I shut down, my mom was sitting on the couch.

I stared at her. “What are you doing back?”

Mom pointed to the takeout container on the table.

“I thought I said I was going to make you dinner. What is this?”

I didn’t know what to say. After a few seconds, I started cleaning up.

“It’s nothing. I was hungry.”

Mom watched me. She seemed like she wanted to say something, but she didn’t. They used to tell me to eat something quick because they had to take care of Ashley.

Now I was doing what they wanted, and she was still mad. I threw out the trash and went back to my room.

The next day, Mom and Dad came back with Ashley. I didn’t expect that.

Her illness was related to how my parents focused on me. If they were nice to me, she would be sick for a day or two.

If they said that I was great, she would be sick for a few days. I thought she would stay in the hospital for a week.

It was okay, because I was going to leave soon.