I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, you mean an adult who silently accepts betrayal and continues to pay the bills?” I shook my head.
“Mom, don’t pretend. This is exactly what you wanted.” Dad took a step forward and tried to push himself toward me, just like he did as a child…
Jacob, we raised you. We fed you and clothed you. We gave you everything you have.
He raised his eyebrows. “The least you can do is help us now.” I met his gaze.
“I’ve already helped you. For years.” I approached him. “And you thanked me by banishing me from your lives.”
Mom’s lips trembled. “We thought… you’d understand.” I exhaled deeply and shook my head. “Oh, I understand.”
I looked at her. “I realize I was never part of your family. I was just a wallet.”
Silence again. But this time it was oppressive and suffocating. I turned to Eric, who had been acting as if he hadn’t been there the entire time.
“And you? Do you have an excuse?” I crossed my arms. You’ve had years to grow. Take control of your life.
I had just started doing something. But you didn’t.” I paused and, looking him straight in the eye, said the last thing I could think of:
“Because you knew they would always take care of you.” I narrowed my eyes. “And when they left, you thought I would take over.” “What should I say?” Eric finally blurted out.
“I didn’t ask for it.” I nodded slowly. “Of course you didn’t ask for it.”
“You just took advantage.” He opened and closed his mouth. I didn’t say anything.
Mom made one last attempt at compassion: “Jacob, we’re family. And in a family, we take care of each other.”
I stared at her for a long moment and then replied slowly, “Exactly.” “Then why didn’t you ever take care of me?” She stopped.
No words. No apologies. Nothing.
I took a deep breath. I felt lighter than I had in years. “We did it.”
I turned around, walked back to the building, and slammed the door in his face. I hadn’t even reached the couch when my phone vibrated. A text from Dad:
After all we’ve done for you, are you really abandoning us now? I smiled and replied, “No, you abandoned me.”
“I finally accept it now.” I hit send and blocked his numbers. But I had no idea that this would only make the situation worse.
Less than a day later, everything got out of hand. I started reading Facebook posts. My parents were never particularly tech-savvy, but somehow they knew how to create havoc on social media, especially when things were going well for them…
At first, I thought it was just another one of his ploys, because that was his modus operandi: publicly disclosing family matters. But when I checked my news feeds, it dawned on me. It wasn’t just that I was no longer receiving financial support.
The posts were disguised as expressions of family affection. In reality, however, they were veiled attacks on me. My mother wrote something like, “I didn’t raise my son to be this selfish.”
