My wounds from tumbling down the mountain were still fresh, the skin raw and unhealed. After an entire day of climbing, I hadn’t even had a sip of water. The words my parents said on the mountain echoed in my mind and made my heart ache even more.
My heart is getting sadder and sadder. For me, the house had become more like a cold, lifeless prison. These were supposed to be the people closest to me. And yet, the only person they ever smiled at was Mateo.
I gritted my teeth as I prepared the food. Is this really the life I am meant to live?
Mateo's laughter that erupted from the living room, pulled me back to the past.
When we were kids, my mother had always favored Mateo. Back then, we still lived in my grandparents’ house with my aunt.
Mateo was a late bloomer. He was short and scrawny for his age. My aunt, who always worried about his nutrition, constantly fed him supplemental vitamins. As a result, Mateo grew up as a short, chubby and dark-skinned child. Since his feet were wide and thick, he frequently outgrew his shoes and clothes.
However, instead of throwing them away, they were passed down to me. Since my mother never once bought me new shoes, I was always stuck wearing Mateo’s hand-me-downs. The shoes were either too loose or too tight.
Before school each morning, I stuffed my socks with wads of paper to keep my heels from slipping out. That way, no one would laugh at me.
Each time, I watched other kids play basketball with envy. I wanted to join them and yet how could I, when I didn’t even have a decent pair of shoes?
My mother would sneer at me. She told me I dressed carelessly and looked unkempt. She said I wasn’t confident, that I didn’t carry myself like a man. She said I wasn’t as bold or as masculine as Mateo.
However, it always skipped my mother's mind that whenever Mateo needed to buy a new outfit or a pair of properly fitting shoes, the money to buy them came after my aunt begged her for it and yet, when it came to me, she would always say, "I don't have any money."
My aunt never had a job. Whenever she ran out of money, she would go straight to my mother. Not only that, she sent Mateo to live in our house, then she taught him how to take my things and how to ask for pocket money.