He refused to meet my gaze.
He stared at the counter and said softly, « I just want everyone to calm down. Your brother isn’t doing well. A noisy party would only make things worse. We’ll make up for it later. »
I laughed, but there was nothing funny about it.
« I’m not doing well either. Does it matter at all? »
Ethan spoke before my father could respond.
« You’re fine, » he retorted sharply. « You’re always fine. You’re strong. I’m the one who takes the real pressure. I’m the one who works full-time at the shop, who has to deal with rude customers, who worries about the bills. I deserve a break much more than you deserve a party. »
The phrase spoken that morning hit me again like a slap in the face.
If I can’t have fun, neither can she.
I looked at my mother and asked, « So, because he missed a concert, I don’t get a birthday? Is that really what you mean? »
My mother’s voice rose a tone.
She accused me of lacking family empathy.
Ethan said he had always been more sensitive, more fragile, that he felt things more intensely, and that I had always been stronger and more independent.
It sounded like a compliment, but it was actually just a roundabout way of saying we don’t have to worry about you.
I bombarded her with questions.
« And lying to everyone by saying I’m sick. Is that also empathy? »
She replied instantly.
« I didn’t want to disturb you or your brother. It was an adult decision. You don’t understand the situation as a whole. »
The room seemed smaller and smaller.
Ethan and I started yelling at each other, his voice full of reproaches.
He kept saying that I was the reason the family atmosphere was toxic.
If only I would remain silent and let things happen, everything would be fine.
I told him that this family had never been balanced, that I was tired of seeing us all revolve around one person.
Our voices rose higher and higher until my mother yelled at us both to stop and my father muttered « That’s enough! » without taking sides.
In the middle of all this noise, the doorbell rang.
Nobody moved.
It rang again and again.
Finally, my father got up from the counter and went to open it, no doubt hoping it was a package behind which he could hide.
I heard the door open, then her surprised voice.
« Lisa, what are you doing here? »
I came out of the kitchen and saw my aunt Lisa, my mother’s older sister, standing on the front steps with a suitcase beside her, looking over my father’s shoulder into the house.
From where she was standing, she could see everything.
The garden half-decorated, the birthday cupcakes untouched, my face red, my brother slumped at the table like a storm cloud.
She didn’t need anyone’s explanation.
One look at the scene was enough for him to understand that something was very wrong.
And at that precise moment, I understood that this evening was no longer just a story of a cancelled party. It was going to become the night when everything would change.
Aunt Lisa rolled her suitcase through the front door and stopped, observing the half-hung banner, the untouched cupcakes, and the fairy lights still shining in the garden.
My father stepped aside awkwardly.
I was in the hallway, with the feeling that someone had just lifted the curtain on a scene that my family had never wanted anyone to see.
My mother appeared a second later, sporting a forced and radiant smile.
« Lisa, we didn’t know you were coming, » she said cheerfully.
Lisa raised an eyebrow.
« I texted you yesterday and this morning, » she said. « No reply, so I thought I’d surprise my niece for her eighteenth birthday. »
She looked me straight in the eyes.
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