Reddit Stories - My PARENTS showed a strong PREFERENCE for my IDENTICAL twin sister, leading them

Episode Date: February 21, 2026

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #twinproblems #familydynamics #siblingrivalry #parentalfavoritism #growingupSummary: The narrative explores the emotional impact of parental favoritism, where the author feels overshadowed by their identical twin sister. This preference creates tension and resentment, leading to a struggle for identity and validation within the family dynamic. The author reflects on their experiences and seeks understanding from others.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, parentalfavoritism, twinrelationships, familyissues, siblinglove, identitystruggles, emotionalimpact, personalstories, childhoodmemories, familyconflict, favoritism, relationships, mentalhealth, selfworth, familydynamics, twinlifeBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6816713/support.This episode includes AI-generated content.

Episode with two stories, first part. I hope you enjoy this story. My parents showed a strong preference for my identical twin sister, leading them to spend all the money set aside for my wedding on her instead. This prompted me to sever ties with them after refusing my mother's self-centered request. I am a 23-year-old woman with a twin sibling. Sister, Allison, who I'm not on good terms with. Scratch that, I'm not even on speaking terms with her and neither with my parents. We used to be at least on talking terms, in spite of the way I've been treated in the past,

but for the last two years, I've kept my distance and they hadn't bothered to reach out to me either until recently. Allison is 12 minutes older than me and by default the golden child because she's older. My parents only wanted one kid because that's what they had planned for and they didn't have the means to raise two

but by the time they found out, it was too late and mom didn't want to risk anything. I found out about this around the time I was in high school, from my drunk uncle at a Thanksgiving party and that was pretty much the day I stopped trying to win my parents over. They'd done the most natural thing somebody in those circumstances could do, gave birth to two kids, and decided that only one of them would be loved. That happened to be Allison and not me. Right from when we were kids, the sibling rivalry between me and Allison was insane. Anything she could do, I try to do better just to impress our

parents but they just seemed to hate me more for outdoing their golden child. And I'll be honest, Allison really wasn't interested in being better than me, she just wanted people to validate her so she'd pretend she cared about the competition we had going on. I'll admit that she was good at manipulation and making people believe that she actually felt hurt when I do things better, which led to a lot of people validating her feelings and putting me down to make her feel better. These people included my parents, a couple of our relatives, and even some people from high school. So to conclude, what I got out of the competition was good grades and lots of co-curricular so I could be better than my sister, and what she got out of this was my parents and other people's attention, validation, and sympathy because I was clearly the bad guy for making her feel less. Looking back, I don't think I would trade that, but I sure would like to rub it in her face more than I had at the time.

Then two years ago, we celebrated our 21st birthday. Both of us had graduated by then, she'd graduated from a regular college. but I'd graduated from one of the top business schools in the state. Not only that, I'd also been the valedictorian and had also been on a scholarship, which meant that my parents had saved quite a lot on my education and called me crazy, but I actually expected my parents to be happy about it. They weren't and only paid attention to Allison and her future because she had barely scraped by. Both of us had moved back home but while I was working from home at a firm as an intern already,

Allison was still looking for jobs and getting rejected left and right. My parents cared more about that and hadn't even bothered to congratulate me or anything. I couldn't say I was surprised, but I sure was disappointed. I tried to hide it because at the time, I was still living with my parents and hadn't saved up enough to move out yet, so I decided I'd just keep my mouth shut about my feelings. But after our 21st birthday, I just couldn't anymore. I expected them to do something big for us but the day before our birthday, I discovered that everyone had left me home alone and all that they'd left for me was a note that said they were

heading to the beach with Allison and her friends and would be back after a couple of days. I still remember being absolutely shattered when I read that note because they'd taken Allison and her friends on a beach trip while all I got was a happy birthday note and a $50 gift card. A lot of things had been unfair about my childhood but that was where I drew the line. It was just so hugely disappointing and heartless of them that I decided to move out that day and never look back. I had a couple of friends. who were willing to let me stay with them until I found a place of my own and could afford it, which wouldn't take long because the firm I was interning it was probably going to hire me after

the internship was over. So I just needed a place to live for two months at most. I packed my stuff and moved in with a friend of mine without telling my parents or sister and haven't looked back even once. After that, they didn't even bother to ask me if I was coming back. They did call me on my birthday, the day after I moved out, but not to wish me. They wanted to tell me that they'd be back soon and said that I should probably get a plumber to get the tap fixed. I told them that I wasn't living at home anymore and that I'd moved out, thinking that at least that information would get a reaction out of them but with no such luck. My parents seemed all right with it and Allison didn't care.

So that was it, that was the last time I had a proper conversation with my family. Since then, I haven't gone back to see them, and neither have I heard from them. I did hear about Allison sometimes from my friends a couple of times and that's how I stayed updated on her life, but that's about it. They didn't know anything about my parents and my parents didn't know anything about me. I've worked hard over the past two years and now, I have a place of my own. It's not a mansion but it's a nice apartment and a good neighborhood. The rent is affordable with my income which is great because most people my age haven't been able to get here so quickly. I'm happy with how my life has turned out and have tried my best to keep my

family out of my head. I know that Allison got married a couple of months ago to some businessmen almost 10 years older than her and is now living it up in California. I thought all was okay with my family but two days ago. I received a call from my uncle telling me that I had to come to visit my parents quickly because they'd been in a really bad car crash and wanted to see me. I rushed to the hospital as soon as I could because of course I'm not that heartless. On reaching, I found out that they'd already been in the hospital for a couple of days and were healing from their injuries. A truck had hit their car and they'd survived but with serious injuries. They didn't have health insurance because my dad had always believed that if we just took care of

ourselves, we wouldn't need the hospital at all, which is by far, one of the most idiotic takes I've ever heard. They'd first contacted my sister, but she'd told them that she wasn't going to come back and neither was she going to help them. Apparently, it was tacky of our parents to ask for financial help from their rich son-in-law so soon after their wedding and she didn't want to see. seemed like she was a gold digger to her husband. She didn't want to fly back either because she couldn't just abandon her home and her two kids, who weren't even her own. They were her husband's kids from a previous marriage, but she was too busy playing happy family with her husband's family to come see her own parents in the hospital after a terrible car accident. But it's not like she

could have helped them with the bills even if she wanted to because if her husband wasn't there for her, she wouldn't have been able to afford even the flight tickets back home seeing as how she's just a stay-at-home mom now to kids who aren't even her own. So much for being the favorite daughter and the golden child, I couldn't believe that they hadn't even had the decency to call me first, but it got even more infuriating when my uncle said that my parents now wanted me to cover their medical expenses. It's obviously a huge amount and it'll take me a long time to recover from a financial loss like that. I don't want to have to spend so much, especially on people who never cared for me or showed me any love my entire life. I know they have other family to take care of them and even if I don't pay for them, someone else will. It's just that it'll probably be more humiliating for them to take money from others and they'll definitely have to return it a lot sooner than they would have had to return the money to me. At least that's what they told me while requesting me to cover the bills and even promise that I'd have the money back in no time.

So I don't know, I'm in a tough spot right now. I can either humiliate my parents by refusing to pay their medical bills and look out for myself or I can pay for them, lose out on my own money, and then keep waiting for them to return that amount. If I'm going to be totally honest, I'm not inclined to pay for them at all. We haven't spoken in the last two years and things have been bad between me and my family for as long as I can remember. There is good as strangers to me now so I don't feel very compelled to help them out right now,

but then that would mean I'm no better than Allison, which would suck. So I'd offer not wanting to help my parents pay their hospital bills after they were in a really bad car accident? Update 1, Hey, there. I decided not to help my parents. It was a really hard thing to do, but to be honest, I knew their bills would be taken care of so they had nothing to be worried about. They'd only asked me because they didn't want to ask their other relatives

and were being too egoistic. I haven't told them about it yet, though, because how do you even tell your family that you're not going to be helping your parents cover their medical expenses after they've been in such a terrible accident. It's been almost five days since I met them and after reading the comments, I realized that I was still subconsciously competing with Allison. She didn't help our parents so I felt the need to step up and prove that I was the better daughter or whatever. I guess I won't ever be able to get rid of that competitive streak no matter how hard I try, it's just who I am now. Most of the comments did say that it was stupid of my parents to not have

health insurance and I agree, it was really stupid of my father to discourage that, and had I been part of their lives, I would have made sure that he got insurance. He didn't even have his car insured because he thought he was that great of a driver. They're lucky that the accident was the truck driver's fault because otherwise, the cost of the car repairs would also be coming from their own pockets. Coming to their financial situation, which a lot of you had asked about to come to a conclusion, I'd say that my parents are okay. They're not rich, they're not poor. My dad is the sales head at the company he works in and my mother works in HR but at a smaller firm. Their combined income is enough for them and since they no longer have to support me or

Allison, I'd say they have sufficient. Growing up, Allison and I didn't have to worry about money but of course, we couldn't live extravagantly either. We were in the middle and we still are but I can't figure out why my parents won't be able to pay for their bills themselves. If they can borrow money but then promised to return the money eventually, then they can surely just pay the bills themselves. They haven't told me the reason why either, and I don't think I'll be able to find out after this either. Update 2, I told my parents that I won't be covering their expenses. They'd been calling me for the past week and yesterday. I finally realized that I couldn't just ignore them and let this go on until they were out of the hospital. So I answered their calls and told them that I'd thought about

it and I didn't think I felt the need to help them. As expected, they didn't take it very well. and were very angry about it. My mom totally tore into me and yelled at me as loudly as was possible for her with her broken ribs. Told me ungrateful and stuff, the usual. My dad just told me that I was no longer their daughter and disconnected the call after my mom was done yelling at me. It didn't hurt the way I'd thought it would because I hadn't been their daughter for a really long time. I mean, I can't even remember the last time I felt loved by my parents. And they hadn't spoken to me on purpose or checked up on me for two years just because I'd moved out after they'd ignored me on an important birthday. So I'd never had parents anyway, I'm just going to lead my life the way I was

for the last two years and probably even before that. This doesn't make that big of a difference to me like my parents had thought it would, unfortunately. My uncle did call me after the phone call with my parents to give me another earful, but I hung up after the first couple of seconds because I didn't need this from others, too. They could think whatever they wanted about me, it just didn't matter to me at this point. My uncle then texted me to inform me that they still had another family to arrange the money from and that since it had come to this now, my parents had decided to use the money from the fund they'd set aside for our wedding. They'd already blown more than half of the wedding fund on Allison's wedding and whatever little money they had left after that.

They'd spent on a Europe trip, which is why now they barely had any savings left and that's why they couldn't pay for themselves. So that's one mystery solved. Of course, my uncle had told me everything to make me feel bad, but all it made me feel was relief that I hadn't spent my hard-earned money on my parents' bills. They'd spent their own savings irresponsibly and that wasn't my fault. They're not having insurance because of their own delusional beliefs was also not my fault. Now they could borrow money from their relatives or go to hell but I wasn't giving them anything.

They weren't entitled to anything that of mine anymore, not my time and definitely not my money. 3, hey, so something really weird happened today and I need to get this off my chest. I haven't been able to tell my friends about anything that's been happening with me because most people I know right now haven't known me for long and I don't think I want to reveal anything about my history with my family to these people right now. So Reddit is all I have. Anyway, it's been almost two weeks since I last spoke to my parents. A couple of hours back, around the evening, Allison showed up at my place and I was surprised by her

sudden visit. Firstly, because I didn't think she'd know where I was living, but one of our old friends from high school told her the neighborhood I lived in and she did some asking around to find out where I was, which was a lot of effort for her to undertake to meet me, of all people. She also looks and acts very differently from what I remembered. She's become more refined and sophisticated, I think, and that's been a huge difference. Because earlier she used to talk like she was still in high school but now she sounds more laid-a-like somehow and even behaves better. Her way of dressing has changed, the jewelry she wears has changed, and even her makeup. It actually felt like I wasn't even talking to Allison today.

Everything about her has aged all of a sudden but one thing that hasn't changed is how she is a person. I guess you cannot put makeup on your heart and tell people to call it Mrs. Davis like she did with herself. Her personality and beliefs haven't undergone any renovation for sure. I let her in after she knocked at my door and I was really surprised to see her, but I was also curious to know why she'd come by so I decided to talk to her. After some small talk about her life, where she told me everything that she'd been up to unprompted and bragged about how fabulous her life was as a stay-at-home mom of two toddlers, married to a wealthy guy without anything to worry about except for her cuticles.

I waited for her to get to the point while politely nodding at her boring speech about how wonderfully underrated being a traditional housewife was. She was even advising me to do the same, so I really couldn't wait for her to finish talking about irrelevant things and get to the damn point which she did after about 15 minutes of talking about her life. She told me that she'd come back here on her own because our parents had apparently been begging her to come see them after the accident. They didn't want her money but just wanted her to be there for them and so,

after two weeks, she'd finally come back and figured she'd come to see me too so we could bury the hatchet. So far, so good. But then she started complaining about how needy our parents were and that they were being disrespectful of her new family. She went on and on about how she had to abandon her two babies with their nanny just so she could visit them and that she hated our parents for making her choose between them and her kids. I'll never be able to make sense of why exactly she keeps referring to them as her kids when they're obviously not hers. She'd told me a lot about her marriage and her husband even though I hadn't asked and the guy she'd married had probably only married her to increase his chances of getting at least

partial custody of his kids, which he did, but she thought that he actually loved her or something. He'd been in the custody battle for quite some time now and since he was a full-time businessman. He didn't have enough time to spare for his kids his ex-wife was using that against him, but then he announced that he was engaged and was getting married as soon as the divorce came through and that tilted the scales for him. Allison told me all of this while bragging about how she had saved those kids, but it just sounded to me like her husband had used her. They hadn't even known each other for more than a year when he asked her to marry him so it was very clear that he was not in love with her.

Nobody fell in love that quickly especially after a divorce, but she seemed blissfully unaware of it. Or maybe she knew that he didn't but was willing to look past that because of the huge bank balance and was okay with being a glorified nanny to her husband's kids. In addition to that, she was mad at her own parents for wanting her to be by their side after they'd been in a really bad accident because that was somehow taking away from her time with her new family which comprised a husband who probably didn't even love her not related to her at all and were doing just as fine with their nanny as they were with her. If the word ungrateful ever had a face, it would be Allison's. I'm no fan of my parents myself but honestly, when she was talking to me about how

they were being too needy, I couldn't even believe that this was the girl they'd rejected me over and over again for. Then she got to the point of her visit and told me that she'd be leaving in two days. She'd promised mom and dad that she'd stay for at least a month, but she claimed that she was already bored of listening to them talk about the accident and how they'd had the worst experience of their lives for the umpteenth time and needed to get back home soon. So now, she wanted me to reconcile with them and take her place because she didn't want to feel the guilt of knowing that she'd abandoned her parents when they needed her to be there for them. She didn't know that they'd cut me off yet again because I refused to help them with the bills,

probably because they don't talk about me or even think of me, so they didn't bring that up with Allison. She was here because she wanted sympathy from me because she'd had to deal with our parents and had to abandon her family and now wanted to use that sympathy for her own gain and shoes and become our parents' emotional support because she didn't feel up to the task. It was just classic Allison manipulation, but I knew it all too well and didn't fall for it. I also had no intention of telling her that while she was at my house which would inevitably lead to a fight so I told her that I'd try but I know I won't. She left after telling me to

keep in touch but we both know she doesn't mean that. I was actually glad to see the back of her because not only was she a terrible and narcissistic person but she was also really boring to talk to. I could barely get a word in while she droned on about her uninteresting life in California. It basically just revolves around parties, her stepchildren, and her husband. She thinks she's living the life, but I thought it was really sad since clearly her husband doesn't love her and her kids spend half of their time with their mom anyway, so of course they're going to grow up to prefer their bio mom over Allison and probably do so even now, from what I heard. But it's okay because that's the life she chose for herself.

And the life I choose for myself is going to be one that is far, far away from my family because they're really undeserving of even one-fourth of my attention or sympathy. If anything, today taught me that I'd been right to distance myself from my parents and my sister because I do not want to be part of these people's lives. They're incredibly selfish and cruel and I highly doubt they're even capable of thinking of anyone apart from themselves, especially Allison. I'm ashamed that I'm even related to such people, honestly. At least now I've been able to cut ties with all of them for good and it isn't likely that they'll be able to get in touch with me anytime soon. I blocked Allison as soon as she left and I've already had my

parents and other relatives blocked for a couple of days now. So I think I'm safe from being troubled by my family for at least the near future. I'll pray that they don't get back in touch with me after this either because I'm way better off without them. That's the end of the first story. Let's begin the second one. I hope you enjoy this story. I was raised in poverty by a cruel family, but managed to flee with the assistance of my relatives and create a more prosperous existence. Currently, my sibling is manipulating me by using her child to pressure me into providing financial support. Their rent. I, 19F, grew up really poor. Seriously poor. My dad lost his job during mass layoffs in his company just a few months after my older sister Stella, fake name,

24F, was born and my mother was a psalm so she never had any money of her own to begin with. He took up another job but it paid significantly less. That's where the struggle began, apparently, and then five years later, I was born. It was made clear to me from a really young age that I wasn't wanted in the family because I was an accident and the only reason my mother had decided to keep me was because she believed that terminating the pregnancy would have been the wrong thing to do. So I was born into poverty and lived in a house where my parents had one room and my sister and I had to share the pull-out couch at night.

to say that my family was toxic would be an understatement. Not just my parents but also their relatives would treat me like a second-class citizen in my own house, so it never really felt like my own home. I tried hard to get them to notice me and be proud of me but nothing was ever enough. Stella was the star and she was the one who had all the hopes and dreams of the family pinned on her, but to put it bluntly, she really didn't work half as hard as I did so her grades weren't that great either. Despite that, she was the star and I was a nobody simply because my parents just refused to look at me as anything other than a burden. There was another person who was treated the same way by my family and that was my cousin Sam.

He had a good few years with me, almost eight, and yet he was treated just like I was, which made me realize that my family's behavior wouldn't change with time. He was my maternal aunt's son who had lost her husband to a heart attack when he was young and was living off of whatever he'd left her. She hated Sam because he couldn't hold down a job for more than three months because he was always too distracted and lost. I can't blame the guy because he was a musical genius and I actually really liked Sam because, despite being so much older than me, he treated me with respect and would talk to me like an adult.

Whenever my aunt would come over, we would talk to each other and try to forget the fact that our families hated us. It was nice to spend time with him and even though Stella didn't get us, she tried to be a part of our little circle as well. So growing up, it was the three of us, but eventually, Stella started staying out with her friends from school more and we saw less of her. My mistreatment continued and even got worse when Stella was supposed to go to college and my mother realized that she'd have to attend her safety school because her first choice was too expensive. This was somehow my fault and I got an earful because of that, but when I tried to defend myself,

my mother actually slapped me right across the face and nobody said anything about it. I'd been hit before, but they'd just be light wraps on the knuckles or a slap on the back of my head if I wasn't paying attention. Never a full-blown slap so that was shocking for me, but I learned to keep my mouth shut after that. I was 13 at the time, but I still haven't forgotten how that slap stung for hours physically and for days emotionally. Stella graduated with decent grades three years later and was about to start her first job, but couldn't since she found out that she was six weeks pregnant at the time. Unfortunately for Stella and her baby, the guy who was supposed to be the dad had graduated already and had returned to his country since he was a foreign exchange student, so her baby's father wouldn't be in the picture since she couldn't even find him because he blocked her as

soon as she'd told him the news. Now she was going to have to raise her kid all on her own. At that time, I was 16 and was already working part-time jobs to contribute to the family, but when Stella moved back home pregnant, the pressure started building on me and my parents started treating me even worse. By then, Sam had already moved out. He'd graduated from college and was working at a restaurant to make ends meet. I'd kept in touch with him and would tell him all about my problems and he'd try his very best to console me but that's all that he could do because he had his own life as well. Finally, the baby came along in a week after that. My mother actually snatched my niece away from me and told me that I didn't deserve to be around her since I was the

reason Stella and her daughter had to be cooped up in the tiny living room. because I had no shame and continue to live with them despite being told time and again that they didn't want me at all. That was the day that I finally argued back with my mother and told her that I had every right to live in that house because they were the ones who chose to have me and she told me that similarly, she had every right to say whatever she wanted to me because she brought me into this world and raised me even though I was an ungrateful brat. She said a lot of other crap that I don't want to repeat but I knew that day itself that I just had to get out of that damn house somehow. So I packed whatever little stuff I owned and set out to go to Sam's place.

He lived in a really small apartment with a roommate and was surprised to see me there, but when I told him that I just couldn't go back anymore and that I couldn't take the mistreatment anymore, he didn't turn me away even though he knew it'd be tough for me. I left just one and a half years of school anyway and because I went to public school, it was free of cost and I could afford to leave my parents home. It was difficult, I'm not going to lie. We had to live on a tight budget because there's only so much money that a waiter makes and I was really worried about what I'd do for college as well

since I had an aversion to student loans. But then, a week before I graduated high school, a miracle happened and even when I think about it now, I feel like the universe was just looking out for me all along. Sam's grandparents, his dad's parents, had cut his mother off after his dad's death because of her nasty behavior which isn't surprising because she is my mom's sister after all. And to retaliate, she denied them any right to keep in touch with or visit Sam. So he lost touch with them after his dad's death, which happened when he was really young and he'd only been able to reconnect with his grandmother who somehow managed to track him down with the help of her lawyer when she was on her deathbed. His grandfather had passed away a few years after his dad and the only

surviving member was his grandmother, who passed away eventually as well. They'd left him their house, all the money that they'd set aside for him throughout their lives, and a few other expensive items of jewelry. Sam inherited all of it and ended up with a crazy amount of money that neither of us had expected. Of course, he was really sad that he hadn't been able to properly reconnect with his grandmother until she was on her deathbed, but there was finally a solution to all our financial troubles now. We still continued to live frugally and tried to save as much as we could, but Sam took up the guitar again and I started looking for colleges to go to which also offered scholarships, just to be on the safe side. My grades were great so I was able to get

into a good college and I'm in my second year currently. I did get a scholarship and I also have a part-time job as a tutor. Sam took music lessons for a year or so and after playing a few gigs here and they're alongside his waiter job, he managed to land a job as a music instructor at a fancy private school for much better pay. So right now, we're not exactly right. We're not exactly but we're doing way better than we used to be and I'm truly grateful for all the help that Sam has offered me throughout the years. He really deserves this and more. I haven't kept in touch with my parents but Stella and I never removed or blocked each other anywhere. We never spoke to one another either, though. She hadn't protested or even tried to get me to stay the day

I left home so I didn't think that I had anything left to say to her anyway. I was disappointed but not surprised because even though I did love her and she claimed she loved me too, she never really stood up for me. My niece is a little older than three and I've watched her grow on social media but I haven't been back to see her in person. It was sad but I'd come to terms with the fact that this is the most I'd get out of my family and had given up any hope of reconciliation. However, about three weeks ago, Stella reached out to me right after I posted that Sam had bought me a new phone. It wasn't very expensive but it was my birthday and my old phone was battered. So he got me a new one and I was excited about it and I decided to post it.

I didn't expect it to get any reaction at all, but Stella did reach out to me to congratulate me. I thanked her and I thought that would be it, but she struck up a conversation with me and was being really sweet so I ended up talking to her for a while. I didn't want to admit it, but I had missed her and my niece so it felt nice to talk to someone I'd grown up with and was used to. Sam was a great older brother but our age gap was significant and he was also just really busy. I loved him but I also missed my sister and did want to see her one more time. So when Stella asked if I'd be willing to catch up over coffee the next weekend, I agreed without thinking twice and we met for coffee a couple of days later.

She'd brought her daughter along and I was thrilled to see her, as was my niece. We got to talking and had a nice time but when it was time to go home, Stella teared up. That was a little concerning and when I asked her about it, she told me that our mother was really sick and she'd been asking about me quite often. Even Dad missed me and asked about me several times a week. She told me that everyone at home wanted me back but I wasn't convinced. I hadn't forgotten the way I'd been treated when I used to live with them and refused to be talked into going back.

Unfortunately, right then, Stella played her trump card. My niece told me that she'd be glad if I came back and had dinner with the family. just for one day. With tears in her eyes, she asked me to come back and at least give them one last chance. If not for their sake, then for my niece's sake since she didn't want her daughter to grow up without knowing her wonderful aunt. She also mentioned that her daughter was having difficulty reading and feared that she was dyslexic, so she needed my help to tutor her since I'd always been a bright student and she knew I'd tutor kids even in college. She insisted that her daughter needed help and that it'd mean the world to them if I agreed to come

back home with them. After a while, I couldn't just say no anymore because Stella was trying really hard to get me to give them a chance, so I agreed to go home with her for dinner. She told me that they'd moved out of their old house and into a newer one but didn't mention how she'd managed to buy an apartment so soon. She didn't tell me anything about her job either, which was weird, but I was too anxious about going back home for the first time to think about any of that. Stella didn't inform anyone at home, but when I arrived, my parents were acting like they'd been expecting me which should have tipped me off. My mother had even brought out the nice crockery for me and was being very sweet to me, which felt really weird. After some small talk,

she finally asked me about my phone and what I'd been doing all these years. So I told her that Sam had bought me the new phone and currently, I was in the second year of my three-year business degree after which I'd start looking for a job. I told them that I was living with Sam now but didn't elaborate and they didn't seem to care either because the very next thing that my mother brought up was that they'd had to sell the old house we used to live in because times were getting hard and were currently living in this apartment on rent. Even my aunt, Sam's mother, had sold her house and they were all living together in this small apartment. I didn't say much to that, but she started telling me that now that my dad was

close to retirement and they were burning through their savings fast. I could sense that she was building up to something and was about to take my leave when she finally stopped beating about the bush and told me that now since Sam and I were making a decent living, we should consider contributing to their household to repay them for whatever they'd done for us. I didn't know what to say and slowly, I realized that this was just a way to get me to come back home for money. None of the things that Stella had said about my family missing me and wanting me back were true at all and I'd been tricked. So I told them that I wouldn't be able to help and got up to leave, but my mother told me that I needed to stay for dinner.

I insisted that I wasn't hungry and just wanted to get back home, but my mother lost her cool and told me that I needed to stay and pay them so they'd be able to make rent on time this month. She was really rude and any trace of the extra sweet woman who greeted me at the door when I arrived was gone. I was really disappointed and decided to confront my sister and ask her if this was what she meant when she said that our parents really missed me but Stella refused to even look me in the eye. Instead, my mother replied to that and told me that they really couldn't care less about me, but I had to pay them back for whatever they'd done for me throughout my childhood and that she'd been the one who had told Stella to go meet me and get me to come back

home so that we could talk. She accused me of being selfish and told me that if Sam and I could afford to live on our own and buy fancy gadgets, my phone isn't even expensive, it's a mid-range phone with very basic features, then we had enough money to spare to help our families too. She told me that we owed this to them and my aunt and dad told me that we had to arrange it by the end of this week. I was shocked by the sheer audacity of their demands and just snapped at them. I told my mother that I actually wished she and her entire family would get kicked to the street, apart from my niece, of course, because the only thing she did wrong was that she was born to someone like Stella. My mom got mad and started cursing at me and even tried to slap me again,

but I grabbed her arm mid-air and pushed her back with as much force as I could. She fell back onto the couch and taking advantage of everyone's shock, I decided to make a run for it in the aftermath. I ran to the next bus stop and took the first bus I could get on. Thankfully, nobody followed me and I was able to get home safely. Sam hasn't been in touch with his mom ever since he left home and I haven't told him about any of this because I'm scared he might be disappointed in my weakness and stupidity. And even worse, Stella sent me a message about how awful I'd been to our family and accused me of physically attacking them. It was literally self-defense, but I should have known that they'd find a way to use it against me somehow.

My mother probably even tried to hit me so that she'd somehow get a reaction out of me and instigate me, essentially. Now I don't really care about any of them, but Stella told me that they really need the money as soon as possible because they'll be kicked out otherwise and she doesn't want that life for her daughter. She's working as a babysitter, but that barely covers the bills and everyone else has already pooled their money to be able to pay the bills and cover their expenses for the past couple of years, but they just couldn't do it on their own. I don't want to help them out at all, but I also don't want my niece to suffer. It's been a week and I still haven't done anything about any of this. I haven't told Sam and I haven't been able to decide whether to help

my family or not. If I'm being honest, I'm not inclined towards giving them money because they haven't done Jack for me like they're claiming apart from making my life a nightmare that I had to escape a few years ago. They were all toxic as hell and didn't have any respect for anyone at all, but now that Sam and I were finally doing well, they were here to claim their share even though we owed them nothing. It doesn't seem fair and I don't think they're entitled to anything at all. So I defer not wanting to help my toxic family, including my three-year-old niece out, with money after they mistreated me for years growing up but are now on the verge of homelessness. Update 1, hey. So, I decided not to help them. And I also told Sam everything that had

happened last week like everyone here had told me too. Luckily, he was nice about it and didn't make me feel stupid for falling for Stella's little act at all. He told me that it was natural for people to miss their families, no matter how toxic they were simply because that's what we'd been used to for the longest time and had been taught to believe that we owed them love and affection no matter how they treated us just because we were connected by blood. But it's a process to unlearn these things and I'll get there somehow. He comforted me and reassured me that I wasn't a terrible person for not wanting to help my family. They're using my niece to play the victim card, but I don't need to help them if I feel bad for her. If they do get evicted and end up being

homeless, then I can just call CPS and get them to rehome my niece if that's what I want for her. But the bottom line is, I don't need to feel guilty for turning them away when they asked for help and that helped because I'd been feeling immensely guilty about everything. Thanks to everyone who commented on my post, too. It was really kind of you guys to try and comfort me and it did help to know that I'm not the only one out there who's had a childhood like this. It's sad, but it's also comforting to know that I'm never on my own. Update 2, Sam and I have been trying to forget about that whole episode that happened with our families two weeks back, but unfortunately, Stella just won't let go and keeps texting

me relentlessly. I've tried blocking her, but she just started texting me from another number. I even tried to change my number, but then she switched to making fake profiles and started sending messages from those profiles non-stop. Now I could have deactivated my account altogether, but that just didn't make sense and Sam agreed. We hadn't done anything wrong, so why did we have to go into hiding like we were the villains here? So I decided to finally respond to her once and for all. I unblocked her number, called her up, and informed her that if she texted me again then I'd report her for stalking and harassment and that it'd be even worse for her than whatever situation she was in currently. She started arguing with me and accused me of being selfish, so I decided to

remind her of what she'd done to me in the past. She'd never stood up for me because she wanted to continue being the golden child for our parents. She manipulated me and used her daughter to get me to come back home just so that our mother could attack me once more as if my childhood was traumatizing enough. And as if that wasn't bad enough, she continued to text me and demand that I cover her and her family's rent when they had never done anything to help me and Sam out when we needed it. I told her to rot in hell and then disconnected the call, finally feeling a lot more relieved. She hasn't called me since then and I hope it stays that way because I don't think I'd be able to stand it anymore. Update 3, hey, everyone. So this update is going to be very short

because it's just some good news that I wanted to share. So Sam's organizing a musical for the school and it's going to be massive, which means there's going to be a huge raise for him now and they might even make it an annual thing. He's told me there's already a lot of buzz about it among his students so he's optimistic about the reception and I'm thrilled for him. Fingers crossed, this opportunity will be the start of something great for both of us. As for my family, I don't know what became of them because they didn't bother to contact me but, thankfully, I found out from a friend who happens to know one of Stella's friends that she's given my niece to her to take care of for a couple of weeks. So I'm assuming they did get kicked out, but she had the good sense

to put my niece in a safe environment before that happened. I've told that friend of mine to keep me in the loop about her and I'm hoping that the poor girl doesn't have to suffer the way I did. I might try to do something for her once I graduate, but I don't know. For now, I'm just hoping that everything works out well.