2: 2
2
The storage room was sealed up tight, hot and stuffy as a steamer.
The air smelled of dust and damp, and on that thin yoga mat I tossed and turned all night.
It was almost dawn before I finally fell asleep.
Half-conscious, I thought I heard someone push the door open and say something.
I didn't catch it. I rolled over and kept sleeping.
Then a basin of cold water crashed down over me.
My mother stood in the doorway, plastic basin in hand.
"Sleep, sleep, sleep, that's all you know how to do. Your sister's about to land at the airport and here you are lying around like a dead pig."
My father leaned in for a look, his face dark.
"Are you doing this on purpose? Trying to make it clear your sister isn't welcome home?"
"You ungrateful little thing. Selfish since the day you were born, only ever thinking about yourself, can't even stand your own sister!"
I was fully awake now. I muttered under my breath.
"Nobody told me she was coming back first thing this morning."
To them, I was invisible.
Nobody ever bothered to tell me about anything that mattered.
But the moment they needed the whole family gathered to put on a happy little reunion, of course they expected me to show up on time.
I dragged myself up off the mat, a soaked mess.
"Hurry up. Don't hold us up going to get your sister."
By the time I'd pulled myself together and run downstairs, I saw the rain was pouring outside.
Carter was already waiting in the car by the building.
My parents sat in the back seat, the front passenger seat empty.
I reached for the passenger door without thinking, but Carter tossed a bag onto the seat.
"That seat's saved for Nellie Sullivan."
"The lumbar cushion's brand new. She's a clean freak. If you sit there she probably won't want to sit in it anymore."
Rain dripped onto my head, down my neck.
I lowered my eyes to hide the sting in them.
I opened the rear door. My mother sat there by it, not moving an inch.
"Could you slide over a little?"
"That middle spot's for Toffee."
Rain slid down my hair and dropped off the ends.
"It's not even here right now. I'll just sit for now—"
My mother's face went cold at once.
"Do you have any sense at all? Don't you know Toffee's a clean freak just like Nellie?"
My father's brows drew tight.
"A grown woman with no self-awareness. What's wrong with taking the bus yourself?"
I had plenty of self-awareness.
My place had always come after Nellie. Now it came after her dog too.
"Can I just not go?"
My mother shot me a look and said coldly,
"Nellie's finally back in the country. If her own sister doesn't come, how do you think she'll feel?"
"Did you learn nothing in all your years of school? A waste, raising you this big!"
Carter said nothing, head down, refreshing the flight status over and over.
He fastened his seatbelt without so much as a glance at me.
"That's enough. We'll be late if we don't leave now."
"Nellie's been on a flight for over ten hours. She must be exhausted. We can't keep her waiting."
"There's no room in the car. You take the bus."
My mother yanked the door shut, the car started, and it pulled away without looking back.
The spray splashed all over me.
In the driving wind and rain my umbrella bent out of shape, and I was already soaked through.
I walked twenty minutes, then squeezed onto a packed bus.
The whole ride jolted along, my head spinning.
By the time I finally reached the airport, I was drenched, shivering under the blast of the air conditioning.
I sent a message to the group chat. "Where are you? Can someone share their location with me?"
I waited a long time. No one answered.
I called my mother. She didn't pick up.
I called my father. Same thing, no answer.
Finally I called Carter, and he picked up.
"We're already on our way back. I need the phone for navigation, hanging up now."
Watching the people streaming through the airport, I suddenly laughed, and the laughing turned into tears.
I couldn't understand it. We were both their daughters, so why were they so cold, so heartless toward me?
All my care, all the ways I tried to be good, meant nothing to them.
I was worth less than a dog my sister had picked up on a whim.
"My birthday's the day after tomorrow. Don't forget, everyone, get ready in advance."
My father's reply popped up right away: "We won't forget. It's all been ready for ages."
Carter added a line too: "I've got a surprise ready too."
Something stirred in my chest.
The day after tomorrow was my birthday.
