Alle Kapitel von They Gave My Room to Their Chosen Daughter: Kapitel 1 – Kapitel 10

After pressing the acceptance button, I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes.Deep down, a small part of me was still hoping someone would notice.I wanted Mom to ask why I was staring at my phone. I wanted Ryan to look away from Sophie’s curtains long enough to see that something was wrong. More than anything, I wanted Ethan to come out of her bedroom and ask why I looked like I was about to cry.No one did.Ethan emerged from Sophie’s room with sweat shining across his forehead. I watched him for a few seconds before calling his name.“Ethan, you’ve been working all afternoon. Come sit down for a while.”I hated how hopeful I sounded.He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, but his eyes had already shifted toward Sophie’s doorway.“In a minute. Her curtain rod is crooked, and it’ll bother her if I leave it that way.”He set down the bottle and walked past me without looking at me once.I remained on the box, listening to him ask Sophie to stand back while he adjusted th

Three days after we moved in, I learned that even the storage closet was not really mine.Mom mentioned it over breakfast as casually as if she were discussing a minor renovation.“Once Nora leaves for graduate school, we should knock down the wall between the storage closet and Sophie’s bedroom. It would give her enough space for a walk-in closet.”“A young woman needs room for her clothes. One wardrobe will never be enough.”Dad frowned.“Where will Nora sleep when she comes home?”“She can sleep on the enclosed balcony. She’ll only be back for a few days during the holidays. There’s no reason to keep an entire room for her.”For one second, I thought Dad would object.Instead, he nodded.“We can buy her a folding bed.”Ryan immediately continued, “I’ll have someone come measure the space in a few days and draw up a design for Sophie’s closet.”Then they moved on to another topic.I watched them talk and laugh as though they had not just decided where I would sleep in a house that wa

The final thing that broke me was my brother’s phone.Ryan had left it on the couch while he took a shower, and the screen lit up with a new message as I crossed the living room.The group was called Sophie’s Family.The members were Mom, Dad, Ryan, Ethan, and Sophie.My biological parents, my brother, and the man who had called himself my boyfriend for three years had created a private group with Sophie and named it Family.I opened the chat.The group had been created on the day we moved into the new house.The first message was a photograph of Sophie’s bedroom beneath the words:Our Sophie finally has a little home of her own.Ryan had replied:Anyone who hurts my little sister will answer to me.I kept scrolling.They had discussed her mattress, her lamp, her shelves, her birthday cake, and whether Ethan could drive her to art class.They had spent more time planning Sophie’s comfort than anyone had spent wondering whether I could keep sleeping on a concrete floor.Then I found a v

Mom searched for me like she had lost her mind.She called my university, but the registrar said I had already graduated.She called Dr. Harris, but he only told her, “Nora accepted a position with a secure federal program. I am not authorized to disclose anything else.”She contacted hospitals, government offices, and anyone she thought might know where I had gone.Then she insisted on reporting me missing.Dad tried to stop her.“Nora signed a contract and left voluntarily. She wasn’t kidnapped.”Mom refused to listen.At the police station, the officer spoke gently.“Your daughter is an adult. She accepted a job and left by choice. This is not a missing-person case.”“But she never told us where she was going.”“She is not legally required to tell you.”Outside the station, Mom could barely walk.Dad held her arm as she stopped every few steps, but neither of them spoke.When they returned home, Mom opened the storage closet and stood in the doorway.It was barely forty square feet.

The days without Nora cut through the family slowly.During the first month, Mom still called everyone she could think of.By the third month, she stopped.There was no number for the facility. No address they could visit. No person willing to tell them where I had gone.By the sixth month, she could no longer sleep.The doctor called it anxiety-induced insomnia and prescribed medication.Every night, Mom took one pill and lay awake staring at the ceiling.Sometimes she would suddenly get out of bed and stand outside the storage closet.The door was always open.She refused to let anyone close it.As though an open door meant I might still come home.Dad aged quickly.Most of his hair turned gray, and his shoulders seemed to fold inward.He rarely spoke, but one night at dinner, he set down his fork.“I went through all our old family photographs.”Mom looked at him.“After Sophie came to live with us, Nora slowly disappeared from them.”His voice broke.“She was always there. We just