His Celebration Left Me in Debt

"When it comes down to it, you just don't want to give me the money! How can you have the nerve to call yourself my older sister when you're trying to keep all of Mom's life insurance payout to yourself?"

Alvin Bellamy, the younger brother whom I'd painstakingly taken care of for ten long years, was now glaring resentfully at me. My throat tightened. I couldn't speak.

Our relatives, who'd come for the party, all assumed I'd been caught in the act, so they started chiming in at once.

"You're definitely in the wrong here, Sandra. Sure, you've worked hard taking care of Alvin all these years, but what kind of older sister doesn't look after her younger brother? Keeping the money for yourself is such a heartless thing to do."

"Alvin scored 1400 on his SAT! Just give him the money. As long as you two maintain a good relationship, he'll definitely repay you in the future."

"That's right. We know you've had a hard time all these years, but that's no excuse to keep all that money to yourself."

Their doubts and accusations came crashing over me, making it hard for me to breathe. "I'm not trying to keep the money from him…"

After Mom died, I ignored my teachers' advice and gave up my education. Throughout these years, for Alvin's sake, I worked all kinds of jobs, even waiting tables and standing for hours on end along factory assembly lines, doing whatever I could to earn money. At my most desperate, I even sold my blood.

But in the end, what did I have to show for it?

Alvin, my own brother, chose to put me on the spot at the celebration party I organized. Right in front of all our guests, he accused me of keeping Mom's life insurance payout to myself.

This is what I got in return for all my years of sacrifice.

Perhaps my expression had turned stormier than Alvin anticipated, for he relaxed his stance a little. "I only want to use the money to study abroad, so just give it to me. I'm all grown up now. I can make my own decisions about how I want to spend the money."

"Your SAT score is good enough to get you into a decent college right here in the country. There's no reason for you to study abroad instead," I advised.

Regardless of everything, he was still the brother I'd loved and protected for years now. I didn't want to see him go down the wrong path.

"Discounting the fact that you'd be all alone in a foreign country, your health won't allow you to—"

"At the end of the day, you're just coming up with excuses not to give Alvin the money!" Jimmy Sloan shouted even before I could finish speaking. "Half of the payout belongs to Alvin. How can you think about stealing your mom's life insurance payout from him?

"Do you even have a conscience? What did he do to deserve a sibling as despicable as you?"

"This is none of your damn business."

I glanced icily at Jimmy, our biological father, who'd ignored us for years. I couldn't find it in me to show him even the slightest semblance of courtesy. In fact, I wouldn't even have let him into the party if Alvin hadn't insisted on it.

"You didn't show us an ounce of concern all these years, so don't try to butt in now either," I declared without holding back.

"Why, you!" Jimmy turned purple with rage, but he couldn't find the words to retort.

"That's enough!" Frowning, Alvin walked over to Jimmy. "No matter what, he's still our dad. How can you talk to him like that? How can you be this cold to your own family?

"All these years, you kept using my health as an excuse to control what I do. Don't tell me you've lied so much that you've even fooled yourself into thinking it's true. Why wouldn't I know how my body feels, huh?

"I'm going to be straight with you now. I didn't bother submitting any college applications, and the deadlines have passed. If you don't give me the money to study abroad, you'll be ruining my future."