Second Chance
When my folks shipped me off overseas, it
was during the big freshman basketball
tourney. My own sister and, get this, my fiancée, were there cheering on this kid, Jake
Miller. That was supposed to be my moment,
you know? And the signed jersey he was
sporting, that was supposed to be my freakin‘
14th birthday gift.
I spent a lifetime competing with Jake, and no
matter what, if he just put on the waterworks,
my parents would always rush to his defense, making me the bad guy. But I was their actual
son! It wasn’t until I was dying alone and
forgotten overseas that it finally hit me. If I got a do–over, I’d never again fight Jake for
their warped, already–biased affection.
- 1.
<
The next time I opened my eyes, I was 13
again. It was the day Jake became officially
part of our family. Jake was my uncle’s only
kid. My aunt and uncle had died in a car
crash while taking him for a day out. Jake
survived, but he was frail after the accident.
My dad and his brother were tight, so,
worried about Jake ending up in foster care,
they took him in, making him their own.
Jake was sitting by Mom, his voice full of
hopeful excitement. “So, I really have a mom
and dad now? Nobody’s gonna call me a stray
anymore, right?”
Mom patted his shoulder with a soft look.
“That’s right, honey. We’re your parents now,
and this is your home.”
<
I stood on the staircase, watching the scene
below with cold eyes. Dad finally spotted me.
He frowned, a guarded look on his face, like
he already assumed I was going to give Jake
a hard time.
“What are you doing up there? Do I need to
ask you to come down?”
“Jake’s your little brother now, he’s delicate
and’s been through a lot.. You need to cut him
some slack and don’t let me catch you
picking on him.”
I heard those words just like I did last time,
and my stomach sank. Jake’s frail, so as the older brother I need to give him special
treatment. I heard it a million times in my last
life.
<
I was the golden child before Mom and Dad
adopted Jake, but afterward, they were all about him. Because he had a sob story, and he was always sick, I had to bend over backward to accommodate him. In the end, whatever love I had left was gone, given to Jake. But I was only older than Jake by two weeks! And besides, he was my cousin. Why was it that he had a right to whatever he wanted just because he was pathetic?
I remember last time, after Jake set me up, my folks didn’t even listen to my side of the story, they were too busy coddling him. Then, after listening to his sob stories, they shipped me overseas, saying they just couldn’t look at me anymore. They even had the nerve to say they’d been more than fair and that they
didn’t want a son as rotten as me.
<
Maybe I spaced out a bit, lost in those
memories, because I didn’t answer my Dad,
Mom started scolding me too. “Danny, be
reasonable. Don’t pick on Jake anymore.”
Jake’s eyes flickered with a hint of smugness.
Seeing I wasn’t going to speak, he added
more fuel to the fire.
“I won’t go into your room anymore, Danny, I
don’t want you to hate me.”
Oh yeah, just a couple of days ago, he had
waltzed into my room, and right in front of
me, he trashed one of my collectible figurines.
But when Mom and Dad came, he switched
into “poor, fragile” mode, crying that he
wanted to go back to the orphanage because
I didn’t like him. And, of course, Mom and
Dad didn’t even hesitate to yell at me.
<
I snorted and went back upstairs. Mom called
after me, but Dad cut her off. “Leave him.
Just keep an eye on Jake, make sure he
doesn’t get hurt.”
“He’s getting too big for his britches.
My grip on the railing tightened for a second,
but I went back to my room like it was
nothing. Even though I had decided from the
moment of my rebirth to write off their love,
my dad’s words still stung.
