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.

And here I am still letting them fix my problems.”

“Beth,” I said, “you should have a lawyer. This is serious.”

“I know,” she said, “but I don’t want them to make it disappear. I want to face the consequences. I want to actually learn from this instead of having it swept under the rug like everything else.”

We talked for over an hour. I helped her think continue reading …