I hate that automatic responsibility that falls on the oldest sibling. I didn’t ask for a sibling so why do I have to take care of the kid you had? She’s not even my sister. I miss the days when I was the favourite. I miss the days when it was only me, my mom, and my dad.

Rei signed herself out at the office and headed to Natsumi’s school. The ten year old had a half day at school but her dad and Yukari didn’t trust her to get home herself. Since they couldn’t take time off to watch her, Rei was forced to leave school early to bus all the way downtown to pick her up.

Rei would have been there on time if her locker wasn’t broken into. Her jacket and outdoor shoes were stolen and she spent an hour looking for them. By the time she arrived in Saponaria she saw her father leave with Natsumi in the back of the car. Rei was so in trouble.

Back at the apartment, Hachiro Mizuhara waited for his daughter to return. He sent Natsumi to her room and tried to calm himself down a bit as he waited. The calming did nothing as when Rei returned he exploded in a mixture of Japanese and English, yelling at her for leaving her sister downtown and unable to do the one task he asked her to do.

“Mizuhara Rei! How could you leave your imotou downtown? I asked you to pick her up from school but then I get a call from Na-chan saying she’s been waiting for an hour!”

In a quiet whisper, Rei said, “She’s not my sister.” She never was and never will be was what she wanted to add.

“Sister or stepsister, you have the responsibility as an older sister. Do you know how important my meeting today was? How can you know, all you do is stay in your room. Sending you there isn’t a punishment is it. It’s been three years already, why can’t you get along with your stepfamily?”

“Otosan,” she called her dad in a defeated tone, “why do you care? I know everyone is just waiting for me to graduate and move out. Isn’t that why Yukari-san is pregnant? I’m sorry for what happened today but I had my reasons.” Rei tugged at her jacket trying to hide the dirt stains on it.

Feeling like she was going to cry, Rei grabbed her bag and ran out to the balcony and up to the roof. She threw her bag down and sat on the table looking up at the sky. She took deep breaths and blinked rapidly. She couldn’t cry, she wouldn’t.

“Cry.”

Rei turned around to see Diego watching her from the fire escape.

“Why would I cry?” She asked, blinking even faster to keep the tears away.

“Because you’re sad and when you’re sad you cry.” Diego took a seat behind her and leaned on her back. “I won’t look.”

Rei didn’t mean to cry but it just happened. She didn’t cry because of her dad, he didn’t deserve her tears, instead she cried because of Diego. Not because he caught her in a vulnerable state, instead she cried because of his words. It had been such a long time since she felt cared about.

The whole time she cried Diego sat there next to her in silence. At first he had his back to her to respect her privacy but he turned to pull her into a hug and stroked her head.

“Do you want to talk about it?” He asked when she was calming down.

“No, not really. What about you? Why are you here?”

“The same reason as you, I needed to escape.” Diego lay down on his back with his face by Rei’s knee. “It’s nice up here. You can see the sky.”

Rei looked up to see the blue cloudless sky. It was nice. Taking a page from Diego’s book, she too lay down on her back. The both of them stayed up there until the blue sky because a beautiful pink.

“Hey,” Diego said, he turned his head to face Rei.

“Yeah?” Rei said, not turning around.

“It’ll get easier right?”

“No,” Rei said. She turned her head to face him and Diego reached over to move her hair out of her face. Shocked by the close proximity their faces were to each other, she turned back to look at the sky. “It doesn’t get easier, you just start to forget. But sometimes the memories come back and it gets hard again.”

“But I don’t want to forget.”

“Time doesn’t give you that option.”

“That sucks.”

“It does.”

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you want to stay over? You don’t seem like you want to go back there.”

“Thank you.”

Rei and Diego stayed like that on the roof a bit longer. Diego gave her his hoodie to cover her legs from the wind but when that wasn’t enough the two headed down one floor to Diego’s unit. His mother Clarissa could be heard working away in the office and his father Miguel was preparing dinner.

“Hola Rei.”

“Hello Mr. Alvadaro.”

“Rei’s staying over today. She’s using my room, I’ll use, I’ll use the one across the hall.”

“Ah. Okay.”

Diego led Rei to his room and cleaned it up a bit for her to use before he headed to the phone to inform her household.

“Rei, your stepmother wants to talk to you,” Diego said.

He handed her the phone and she played with the cable as Yukari spoke, “Rei-chan, I’m so sorry for what your dad said to you. It was our fault really, we should have planned better. I talked to Hachiro and you won’t be punished for anything. Enjoy the night at Diego’s but please come home soon.”

“Bye.” Rei hung the phone back onto the wall and waited for dinner.

*

There are no perks of being the middle kid. You can’t use your age as an excuse. You can’t be bratty when there’s someone younger than you. You can’t be in charge when there’s someone older than you. You just have to accept the fate that’s been handed to you. You will never be number one.

Isaac placed the chicken he bought for himself on the counter as he rushed to the washroom. When he headed out to the kitchen, excited to eat the chicken he waited four hours for, he almost fainted when he saw his sister and brother gnawing away at it.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? That’s mine!” Isaac ran over to take the chicken back and slapped the rest out of his sibling’s hands.

“What’s wrong with you!” Miriam asked.

“Me? What’s wrong with you? That’s my chicken. I waited four hours for this. Why are you eating it for?”

“It’s a fricking chicken, give it back!” His older sister took the drumstick back and went back to eating it.

“It’s. Not. Yours!”

“What’s going on?” Esther ran out of the office at the disturbance.

“Isaac won’t share,” Jacob said.

“I paid for this chicken and I don’t even get to eat it? Those two ate the leg. That’s my favourite part. And now they’re yelling at me.”

“Isaac aren’t you overreacting a bit? Look at your younger brother, he’s not even this bratty,” said his mother. She was rubbing her temple trying to prevent the headache from getting worse.

“Of course he isn’t. The brat doesn’t have any emotions unless it’s related to that rat.”

“His name is Albert!”

“See.” Isaac wildly gestured.

“Isaac it’s a chicken. You can buy another one. Share this one with your siblings now.”

“Thank you,” Miriam said, grabbing the drumstick back.

The vein in his head ticked and Isaac finally reached his melting point, “No. No. No. No. I can’t do this anymore. Isaac, why can’t you be more like your sister? Isaac, why aren’t you like your brother? Isaac, learn to share. Isaac, Isaac, Isaac. I can’t do this anymore. Nothing in his house is mine. It’s either hand me downs from my sister or I have to share it with my brother. I waited four hours for this chicken. I paid with my own money. It. Is. Mine.”

Isaac finished his rant and ran out to the backyard with his chicken. He jumped over the fence and climbed up the fire escape to Asher’s house. The blond was eating an instant dinner before Isaac arrived and threw the chicken down.

“Take some. You’re an athlete you need to eat better.”

“Siblings?” Asher asked as he broke a wing and handed it to Isaac first.

“Yup.”

“You staying over today?”

“Yup. You’re lucky you’re an only kid.”

Was I? I’ve always been told that I was lucky for being an only kid but I beg to differ. I always wished I had a sibling, someone who would understand what I was going through with my parents. Pros of being an only child: you don’t have to share anything with anyone. Cons of being an only child: you don’t have anyone to share things with.