The Lie My Family Built That I Broke Myself

After I could understand what cats and dogs were thinking, I went from the invisible nobody of the family to its star.

My sister stopped calling me that one and started clinging to my arm.

Sis, from now on I'm counting on you to take care of the dog.

My mother, who wouldn't even let me sleep in during summer break, was suddenly all smiles at me, and even bragged about me in front of relatives.

My father, who couldn't remember my birthday, was thrilled to drag me into livestreaming.

"Livestreaming how you understand cats and dogs, that's a hit and it pays. This whole family is riding on you now."

I was so busy I only slept four hours a night, but compared to being invisible before,

having the whole family see me, cheer me on, made all the exhaustion feel worth it.

Until I found a torn-open medication packet in the trash can.

The pills treated cat and dog allergies. In overdose they caused severe hallucinations.

No one in the house was allergic to cats or dogs except me.

A terrible thought flashed through my mind.

Was the reason I could hear their thoughts that I'd been fed this drug?

Suddenly the door swung open and my mother came in.

"What are you looking at? Drink your milk first."

......

She was carrying one glass of milk and one glass of plain water.

"We're out of milk. You're the older sister, let your little sister have it. You drink the water."

For eighteen years my mother had brought my sister milk before bed.

But bringing milk to me had only started two weeks ago.

Which was exactly when I discovered I could hear cats and dogs.

Back then I'd been overwhelmed with gratitude, taking the milk and drinking it happily.

"Thank you, Mom."

Watching the little particles floating in the plain water, the suspicion in my chest grew stronger.

"We've been out of milk for a week now. If money's really that tight, you don't have to bring me anything."

A flicker of awkwardness crossed her face as she pushed the water toward me.

"Why do you fuss over every little thing? Just drink it."

I took it and set it aside, pointing at my phone.

"It's a call from the ad sponsor."

She pursed her lips and mouthed at me, pointing at the glass.

"Remember to drink it later."

Once she left, I turned and poured the water into the potted plant.

Then I opened my door, wanting to get to the bottom of it.

It was late, but my sister's room was still lit, voices drifting out from behind the half-closed door.

"Mom, why didn't you bring Sis milk? Plain water gives it away so easily."

My sister pouted, playing cute, a thick smear of milk on her lips.

"Like she deserves it!"

My mother pursed her lips and wiped the milk from the corner of my sister's mouth.

"The best of everything in this house goes to you. You take after me. You'll amount to something one day."

My father was half-lying on the couch, counting off the number on the screen with his finger.

"Being an influencer really is fast money. Her livestreams reading animal minds have brought in over a million already."

My mother gave a dismissive snort.

"That's only because your sister was clever, slipping the drug into her water on the sly. That's how we found out what she was worth."

"Otherwise, with a blockhead like her, she'd struggle just to feed herself. Right, sweetie?"

My sister nodded, grinning.

"Sis got lazy and didn't want to look after the dog, said she was allergic to dog hair."

"After she drank the water with the drug in it, her reaction was hilarious. I still can't forget it."

The day I discovered I could hear the animals, I'd asked my family in a panic, and every one of them said no.

At home, it was the dog talking to me.

Even scrolling on my phone, I could hear animals griping about their owners.

I'd clamped my hands over my ears, half-convinced something was wrong with my mind.

And all that time, my sister had watched me with a smug look, my mother had snickered off to the side, my father had sat there thinking it over.

They all knew I'd been drugged, and not one of them told me the truth.

My vision blurred. I bit down hard on my lip.

The next moment my father got up from the couch, his brow furrowed.

"Her stream traffic and sales on the platform dropped a lot yesterday. What's going on?"

My sister rolled over in bed and gave a soft laugh.

"That's because Sis's mind-reading trick keeps cutting in and out. One minute it works, the next it doesn't, and the viewers lose interest."

My father sighed.

"So what do we do? I already told the relatives' group we were getting a new house. At this rate we can't even scrape together the down payment."

My mother clicked her tongue and patted her chest.

"Don't worry, honey. Next time I'll give the girl a double dose. I guarantee the stream goes well."

A sweet, bloody taste spread through my mouth, my hand tightening around the door handle.

I wanted to storm in and confront my sister, who drugged me just because she didn't want to look after the dog.

To confront my father, who knew I'd been drugged and used me on those streams anyway.

To confront my mother, who drugged me every single day under the cover of bringing me milk.

Twenty years living side by side, and had they ever once treated me like family?

The next moment the door was suddenly pulled open.

I stumbled forward with the momentum, and my mother's voice came from above me.

"What are you doing out here? You weren't eavesdropping, were you?"

The light in the room stung my eyes into a haze, and three sets of probing stares fixed on my face.

I got to my feet slowly, my fingers curling tight into a fist.

I drew a deep breath, steadied it, and pointed at the dog wagging its tail behind me.

"I heard what Aiden was thinking, so I came out to check on him."

Now wasn't the time to tear the mask off.

An allergy-pill wrapper fished out of the trash wasn't enough to prove anything.

Even if I called the police, Mom and Dad would side with my sister.

It would get written off as a family dispute and end in mediation.

And most of all, the bank card with the streaming income was in my father's hands.

Right now, I needed money.

The house was so quiet all you could hear was Aiden panting, until my sister suddenly clapped her hands and gasped.

"Sis, I almost forgot, you didn't take Aiden out for his walk today. Go now, quick."

"He's the dog you brought home. Take him yourself. I'm going to sleep."

I turned to go, but my mother caught my wrist.

"Where do you think you're running off to? Go walk the dog, or he'll fuss to go out tonight and keep your sister from resting."

"You do nothing all break at home, and walking one dog is too much for you now? Quit being so dramatic."

I'd come home for summer break and streamed three days straight, sleeping less than four hours a night.

But my sister, out shopping with her friends every day, was the one Mom worried was overtired.

I shook off her hand and said coldly,

"Right, and when I'm being dramatic, I'm spending my own money doing it."

"You've lost your mind, talking back now."

Furious, my mother raised her hand high, but my father caught it.

His eyes searched my face, and he said mildly,

"Tessa's been busy streaming lately. It's hard work. Go on to bed."

My mother started to say something more, but the warning in his eyes stopped her.

The next day, I came back from the gym, and the moment I opened the door I heard a commotion in the living room.

I walked in and found my childhood friend Lee Gilbert messing around with my sister.

A few days earlier, Lee had asked me if I could listen in on what his dog was thinking.

"Tessa, whatever happens in a minute, promise you won't get mad, okay?"

The sudden line out of Lee gave me a bad feeling.

I looked past him on instinct, and for a second my breath stopped.

"Where are my books? Why is everything in the study gone?"

Lee shielded my sister behind him.

"Tessa, calm down and hear me out first."

"Your sister's amazing. She can hear what animals are thinking too."

I stared at him, not following.

"What does that have to do with me?"

Lee choked on that, and my sister arched an eyebrow.

"Aiden said he wants to live in the study, so I cleared out the junk in there."

I grabbed her wrist and looked her dead in the eye.

"Junk? You knew perfectly well Grandma Gilbert's letter to me was in those books, and you cleared it all out anyway!"

"Tell me. Where did you throw it?"

She couldn't break free, and with reddened eyes she turned to Lee for help.

Lee shoved me back hard, pulled her into his arms, and snapped,

"Tessa, it's just one letter. Do you really have to treat your sister like this?"

I fell to the floor, and the Lee in front of me felt like a stranger.

Back then, when his stepmother threw him out in the dead of winter, he'd huddled in a corner with his feet split open from the cold.

I brought him home to Grandma's, and Grandma heated water for him and boiled him dumplings.

Now here he was, standing between me and my sister, asking if I really had to.

My vision blurred, and I lowered my head, as if I could see that little old woman with her unsteady steps all over again.

My mother came at the noise, fussing over my sister, and shot me a glare.

"A dead person's things, so what if they're thrown out? Keeping them just brings bad luck."

I rose slowly and said, one word at a time,

"If Grandma's letter doesn't turn up, I'm done streaming."

The year the markets crashed, my parents lost everything they'd put into stocks.

My mother screamed about wanting a divorce, and my father hid in his room playing games all day. No one paid any attention to me back then.

The whole family was falling apart, and it was Grandma who stepped in.

She took me back to her hometown and raised me, pulled some strings to find my father a job, and stretched her pension a little at a time to keep us afloat. Only then did that teetering household get to breathe. A year later, my sister was born.

Everything Grandma had given meant nothing to those four people.

The only things they ever cared about were themselves and money.

Sure enough, the moment I mentioned quitting the streams, my father, who had said nothing all this time, finally moved.

He scolded my sister and tracked down the recycling center's number.

With my sister sniveling in the background, the center brought the things back.

The letter, once white and smooth, had been soaked through with dirty water and come back a wrinkled mess.

For the next few days I left early and came home late, not wanting to run into any of them.

A week later, my father suddenly told me I was expected at a family dinner.

"Tessa, honey, your sister was in the wrong last time. Think of this dinner as our apology."

"We're family in the end. Let's not drag this out into something ugly."

I took a deep breath and forced down the bitterness churning in my chest.

The second I walked into the banquet room, my mother put me to work.

My sister was in a gown and little heels, standing beside my mother making small talk with the relatives.

"Your sister just gets prettier every day. If the older one can be an influencer, this one's going to be a real star someday."

My sister ducked her head shyly, and my parents beamed.

"She's our little darling. As her parents, we bought her a house today."

Something dropped in my chest. Why had I never heard a word about this?

My father took out the contract and passed it around for the relatives to look over.

"Well, of course. She's going to be a big star, so a house is only right."

"Look at all those zeros. What did this cost?"

"Parents really do worry themselves sick over their kids. You'd better be good to your mom and dad after this."

The private room filled with laughter, but I felt cold all over.

My mother had been a homemaker for over ten years, and my father had lost his job two years ago.

They struggled to spare a single dollar. Where would they get the money to buy her a house?

I opened my banking app. The million that had been sitting in the account now showed a balance of zero.

It was like being struck by lightning. My mind went blank.

"You bought her a house. Where's mine?"

"I hate to say it, but this favoritism has gone too far."

The warm mood chilled at once. My mother twisted her lips.

"So what if I play favorites? Every time I see her looking at me with that same expression her grandmother had, it makes my blood boil."

"She looked down on me for never getting an education. Now I'm going to prove her sister ends up better off than she does."

I couldn't hold back any longer. I pushed the door open and walked in.

"You bought her a house with the money I earned streaming. Did you ever once ask me?"

"You're thieves."

My mother slammed the table and shot up, jabbing a finger at my face.

"You ungrateful little snake. We raised you all these years. What's the problem with spending a little of your money?"

My father got up, pulled me aside, and lowered his voice.

"Tessa, your sister's young. She needs a place of her own. You're capable, you can always earn more."

"Just let this house go. Stop nickel-and-diming us. There are a lot of people here, and it's getting ugly."

I let out a short laugh. Spending my money, and still looking down on me.

"I have the transfer and spending records on my phone. I'll be taking it to court."

My mother went off like she'd been struck.

"This is the end of the world, a child suing her own parents!"

"Get out. Get out of my sight."

I walked out, my mother's voice trailing after me as she laid into my father.

"Why on earth did you invite that ungrateful snake here?"

"If she didn't come, people would only laugh at us more."

That night I got home, flipped on the light, and found my father sitting in the living room. He'd been waiting a long time.

"Tessa, drop the lawsuit. Let's both give a little."

"I'll put the house in your name later on. But you have to stream with your sister."

Behind his glasses, my father's eyes flickered with calculation.

They wanted to hand me an empty promise to stall me, and I agreed anyway.

The next day my sister showed up in heavy makeup and a plunging gown.

"Oh, only a five-figure makeup artist, a diamond-studded gown worth six figures, and the jewelry could ever be good enough for our little girl."

My mother clapped with pride, then swung around and tossed a shirt at me.

"You'll wear this for the stream today. And no makeup."

Looking at the pilled T-shirt in my hands, I nodded.

"Since when is this girl so easy to deal with? She's not scheming something, is she?"

My father suddenly came out of the bedroom and traded a look with my mother.

"Tessa, sit on the left later. The water on the left is for you."

My heart lurched. While I was changing, I pulled up the home security feed.

My mother had put something in the drinking water, and my father set it on the streaming table.

For the show, for the money, they'd used a double dose.

To my own surprise, no bitterness rose up in me this time.

Without a word, I swapped the bottles. My mother, holding my sister up in her high heels, guided her into her seat.

"There, take a sip and clear your throat."

My mother twisted off the cap and fed my sister the spiked water with her own hand.

"Drink yours too. Don't ruin the stream."

I drank down the bottled water, and the stream began.

Someone in the chat furiously fired off ten Carnival gifts, asking for my help.

My mastiff Bruno, I've had him eight years. He won't eat, and he's bitten several people.

Bruno has always been so obedient, like family to me. The vet came and said he needs abdominal surgery right away, but I can't bear to see him suffer.

You can hear what animals are thinking, right? Just ask him where it hurts, whether he's willing to go under the knife.

My father kept signaling, telling me to read from the script they'd written.

I gave a small smile and offered an answer that stunned the whole room.

"I'm sorry. From now on, I can't keep listening to what the fur babies have to say."

"My ability is gone. Today is my last stream."

My parents' faces went white in an instant, and my sister's eyes reddened off to the side.

But Daryl Alexander wouldn't let it go, and pressed on:

Is it that the money's too low? If you can cure Bruno, I'll pay ten million.

The drama pulled in a flood of viewers, and the room hit a hundred thousand.

My father frantically prompted me on the teleprompter to change my answer and say yes:

Are you out of your mind? That's ten million.

I smiled calmly, drew my gaze back, and said evenly:

Sir, listen to the vet about the treatment. Don't let this drag on.

Everyone, this is my last stream. Goodbye.

I shut off the broadcast and let out a heavy breath.

I was finally free of this circus, but there was one last step to go.

My father rose from behind the monitor, his eyes full of hatred.

My sister threw herself into my mother's arms, sobbing:

"Mom, look at her. Just to keep me off camera, she gave up her own stream."

My mother snapped out of her shock, came around the equipment, and slapped me hard across the face.

"You're truly vicious. You didn't leave us a single way out."

I covered my cheek and laughed coldly:

"When you drugged my water, did you leave me a way out?"

I picked up the bags I'd already packed, boarded the earliest flight, and left the city I'd lived in for a full twenty years.