"You brought this on yourself," she said, word by word. Typical of her—pretending to be innocent. In fact, if she killed me, I bet everyone would believe it was suicide.

The next thing I knew, the allergic reaction kicked in. I started to feel a burning sensation in my throat, and I felt like I was being set on fire. My skin was breaking out in hives. I was choking, trying to gasp for air.

I reached out to Charlie, begging him to help me, and he almost didn't. He looked like he was going to kick me away again until he saw how bad it was.

I barely heard Mom say, "I need to wash the puppy. Can you guys take her to the hospital?"

She didn't even come downstairs to see me. Dad didn't care, either. He just grumbled, "Clean her up first. We don't want people thinking we abuse her."

As if they didn't.

When I was barely hanging on, nobody gave a damn about me. I mean, not about me—not my safety, not how I felt. All they cared about was how I might embarrass them.

I didn't even rank higher than her dog in my mom's eyes. I remember just slipping into this deep sleep and all the wanting, all the aching I had for their affection... It just disappeared.

I was done. I didn't want it anymore.

When I woke up in the hospital, the room was empty. Of course, it was. I should've been used to that by then, but honestly, it still stung.

I pulled the IV out like it was nothing, reached for my phone, and for the first time in years, I called my dad. I don't even know why I did it. Maybe I was still hoping, even after everything.

His voice, when he answered, wasn't concerned. It wasn't even curious. Just pissed, like I was a chore he couldn't wait to get rid of. "Get out of the hospital already! Do you even want us to come fetch you?"

I laughed. I couldn't help it. I thought about how Ginny scraped her knee once, and they acted like the world was ending. But me? I could be dying, and they'd probably still tell me to get over it. She's always been the favorite!

So I just asked him straight, "Dad, I want to go abroad. Can I borrow some money?"

He paused. I could hear the surprise in his silence, but it didn't last long. He said yes, really fast. "Yeah, I can cover that," he said. Honestly, that's a wise decision. Oh, you don't know how much trouble you've brought into this family. Finally, you're doing us a favor!"

I smiled through it. I should've felt crushed, but all I felt was relief.