The Abandoned Son
with the space under the stairs.
At first, my parents had felt guilty about it and tried to make it up to me. I always played the good son, told them it didn't matter, that I could sleep anywhere.
But being agreeable never bought me sympathy — it just made it easier for them to forget I existed. I didn't fight for anything, didn't cause trouble, so eventually they stopped factoring me into their plans at all.
Take this trip, for instance — the one to visit the family graves. My parents had driven all over town to pick up Derek and Chloe so the four of them could go together. The one person they hadn't bothered to swing by, even though I lived the closest, was me.