My younger brother, Nico, always said I was the most boring person in our family.
Because every time he wanted to “play” with me, I was the one who ended up crying.
He pressed chewed gum into my hair, and I cried.
He yanked my chair out from under me as I was about to sit down, and I cried then too.
That time, I landed hard on my tailbone and had to sleep on my stomach for two months.
Mom and Dad just said he was messing around. That I was too sensitive.
That since I was the older sister, I shouldn’t hold it against him.
After a while, I learned not to cry.
When Nico scooped a spoonful of sauce onto my pasta, I even managed a smile.
It had peanuts in it.
The second I shut the door to my room, my throat started to close.
I couldn’t breathe.
Hives bloomed across my skin.
I collapsed onto my bed, my iPhone screen still lit.
My Google search history was frozen on my last entry:
“can a peanut allergy kill you”
My consciousness started to fray.
Next door, Nico was laughing his head off, headset on, playing Call of Duty.
In the living room, Mom and Dad were watching football.
In this house, no one paid any attention to me once my door was closed.
And no one knew their daughter was dying.
If I got a next time, I didn’t want to be the butt of someone else’s joke.
I just wanted to be treated like a person.
Even just once.
No One Came Chapter 19 After Nico was born, that feeling faded, a little more each year. It faded so much that by the end, I wasn’t even sure it had ever been real. But now I knew. She had loved me once. It was just that somewhere along the way, she gave all her
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No One Came Chapter 18 It was late again. Mom sat at my desk, the little lamp casting a warm glow. A photo of me as a child sat on the desk. In the picture, I was maybe three years old, with two little pigtails, smiling for the camera. She reached out and touched the
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No One Came Chapter 17 “Nico, Mom came to see you.” No reaction. “Nico, please say something to me.” Still no reaction. Mom crouched down and tried to take his hand. He snatched it away. “Go away.” Nico finally spoke. His voice was barely a whisper. “Sis died because of you.” Mom froze. “If you
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No One Came Chapter 16 “Nothing.” Mom’s voice was a raw whisper. “I dreamed of Adriana,” Grandma said. “She told me to tell you to live a good life. She said she’s fine where she is, and that we shouldn’t worry about her anymore.” Mom’s tears started falling again. “Mom, I did her so wrong.”
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No One Came Chapter 15 It had no title, just a few lines of writing: “If I die one day, will anyone find me?” “Will Mom regret it?” “Will Nico cry?” “Will Dad remember the promise he made me?” “Forget it. No one will probably ever find me.” “They never come into my room.” Mom
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No One Came Chapter 14 And my grave sat on the hillside, washed by the rain, day after day. Later, Mom moved back into the house alone. She cleaned my room until it was spotless. She changed the sheets. She wiped down the desk. She even opened the curtains, letting the sunlight pour in. I
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No One Came Chapter 13 Mom turned to look at him. “What did you say?” “I said I want a divorce.” Dad lit a cigarette. “Adriana is gone. There’s nothing left for us. Let’s just end it.” He threw the cigarette butt on the wet ground, crushed it with his shoe, and walked away. Mom
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No One Came Chapter 12 Grandma walked up to Mom. Her voice was quiet, but her words were sharp. “Angela, Adriana was a good girl, right from the start. I always saw how much she was hurting. But you never listened to me.” “You always said I was taking her side. Well, now she’s gone.
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No One Came Chapter 11 Mom’s voice was very soft. “Do you know that joke killed your sister?” Nico’s expression froze. “What… what do you mean?” “Your sister is dead. She died last night. From the peanut allergy. She suffocated. They couldn’t save her.” Nico just stood there, his mouth opening and closing as if
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No One Came Chapter 10 The hallway fell silent. They stood just a few feet apart. But it felt like a gulf that could never be crossed. That afternoon, the police came. They asked Mom a lot of questions. When was the last time she’d seen me alive? Had I mentioned feeling unwell? Did everyone
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