My parents forbade me from celebrating my 18th birthday because my sister didn’t feel special enough. So I moved out that night. A year later, their golden girl saw how successful I’d become, and her jealous meltdown shattered the family.

something crack open inside me.

“I guess I never thought about it that way,” I admitted. “I just thought maybe I wasn’t trying hard enough to be what they wanted.”

“That’s exactly what victims of neglect think,” he said. “It’s not your fault. None of it was ever your fault.”

We sat in his car in the library parking lot while I cried harder than I had continue reading …