“It wasn’t a joke to me,” I cut in. “None of it ever was. You all treated me like I didn’t matter for years. I kept quiet. I stayed out of the way and I let it happen. But this today, sitting me at the kids’ table, whispering insults in front of a 100 people. What did you expect?”
My mom finally spoke.
Her voice barely audible.
“You should have come to us, told us how you felt.”
I turned to her.
“I did dozens of times. You just didn’t hear me. Or maybe you just didn’t care.”
She didn’t answer.
The music had stopped entirely now.
The dance floor was empty.
The celebration was over, even if no one had officially said it.
“I think we’re done here,” I said, then turned and walked to the back of the hall where my jacket hung on the chair.
“Ean,” my father said.
And something about the way he said my name made me pause.
But when I turned, he just stared at me, face hard, mouth drawn.
“You’ll regret this,” he said. “You’ll regret pushing your family away.”
I smiled.
“I didn’t push you away. You were never holding on.”
And with that, I walked out.
It took 2 hours to get back to the little rental cabin I’d booked nearby.
I ignored the texts flooding in.
Some furious, some apologetic, some unreadable in all caps.
Elise called twice.
Carson didn’t call at all.
I poured a glass of water, sat on the porch, and just breathed.
For the first time in a long time, I wasn’t waiting for approval.
I wasn’t hoping they’d notice me or hoping they wouldn’t.
I had no more illusions to protect, no fake smiles to paste on my face for the sake of keeping peace in a war zone.
I didn’t know what would come next.
Maybe they’d cut me off.
Maybe Elise would start a smear campaign.
Maybe they’d pretend it never happened.
But whatever it was, I didn’t care because now they knew.
They all knew.
And I wasn’t invisible anymore.
Not to them.
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Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction created for entertainment purposes. Any resemblance to real persons, events, or places is coincidental.