While Lily lounged on the sofa watching TV and crunching potato chips, I scrubbed floors until my knees bruised. I washed dishes, hauled trash, hung laundry.
On our birthdays, Lily unwrapped brand-new princess dresses and porcelain dolls. I received her cast-offs—stained clothes and broken toys she'd grown bored of.
I was young then. I didn't understand the cruelty of it.
"Am I not good enough?" I once asked Grandma, tears stinging my eyes.
Grandma smoothed my hair, her expression pained. "It's not that you aren't good, child. It's that you're too sensible. You don't make enough noise."
Her words only confused me. At school, teachers praised the obedient students. Why did my obedience at home make me invisible?
Desperate for their approval, I threw myself into my studies. I thought if I was perfect, they would finally see me.
I was wrong.
The memory of my first year in middle school remained etched in my mind like a scar. I came home clutching my final exam results—a perfect score—and the "Top Student" certificate.
My heart hammered as I placed the certificate on the living room table, right where they couldn't miss it. I didn't need a gift. I just wanted a smile. A hug. Good job, Savannah.
Instead, Mom's hand cracked across my face.
The sting was sharp, immediate, blinding. I stumbled back, clutching my cheek, staring at her in horror.
"Don't you know your sister failed her exam?" Mom screeched, her face twisted with disgust. "How dare you show off your grades? You did this on purpose to humiliate her!"
Dad didn't defend me. He sneered, eyes cold. "Exactly. So young, yet so vain. Your thoughts are dark, Savannah. Always scheming."
Vain. Scheming.
The words nailed me to the floor. I opened my mouth to defend myself, but no sound came out.
Dad snatched the certificate from the table. Without breaking eye contact, he ripped it down the middle, then tore it again and again until my hard work was nothing but confetti on the floor.
He raised his hand, letting the shredded paper drift to the floor like snow. Watching the confetti fall, Lily finally stopped crying. A smile broke through her tears, triumphant and cruel.
Memories of the injustice clawed at me.