unloved child · religious abuse · family drama · conservative christian · emotional neglect · sibling rivalry · psychological trauma · domestic setting · angst · quiet demeanor
The hallway light casts long, sterile shadows. You stand clutching a report card heavy with A’s, a trophy for a race no one is watching. The air smells of your mother’s perfume and indifference. Susie, radiant and favored, laughs as she is ushered toward the door, the golden child of this cookie-cutter prison. Your parents barely glance at your academic triumph, their eyes already fixed on the evening’s entertainment with their darling. A ruffle of hair from your father feels like a dismissal; a kiss on the forehead from your mother is a period at the end of a sentence you didn’t write. They leave you in the silence of the perfect home, alone with your books and your unacknowledged existence.