The Unsent Appeal Chapter 01
I got back from my business trip, dragging my suitcase behind me and carrying gifts for my family.
I slid my key into the lock, but it wouldn’t turn.
I thought the lock was broken.
I was just about to knock when an iMessage from my sister, Allison, popped up on my screen.
*Mom, don’t forget to buy a few pink throw pillows for my new room.*
I hadn’t even had time to reply before she unsent the message.
I stood there, phone in hand, my finger hovering over the keyboard.
They had moved. And no one had told me.
A second later, Mom called.
“Chloe, things have been such a whirlwind with the move. I can’t believe I forgot to tell you.”
“The new house is in Wellesley. I’ll send you the address. We’re—”
My brother, Tyler, cut her off.
His voice was distant, but his words came through perfectly clear.
“Why tell her? There’s no room for her here anyway.”
Then he reminded Mom, “The room with the best light is for Allie.”
“Don’t go giving her the wrong idea.”
My breath hitched.
“Right,” I managed to say. “Well, as long as you all like the new house.”
My phone screen had already gone dark.
Only then did I realize Mom had hung up before I’d even finished speaking.
Fighting back tears, I opened a rideshare app and put in the address for my boyfriend, Kieran Whitaker.
He was the only person I felt I could still trust.
Ever since we were kids, Allison had been the center of everyone’s world.
Standing beside her, I often felt like an invisible piece of furniture.
But Kieran had told me that in his heart, I would always come first.
While I waited for the car, I opened Instagram and saw a post he’d just uploaded.
*When a pretty girl wants a princess room, your only job is to haul paint cans for her.*
The photo showed a freshly painted, pale pink wall.
Plush pillows were piled beside it, their price tags still attached.
The man who swore I would always come first was decorating Allison’s room.
I canceled the ride, opened my work email, and accepted the position of Deputy Managing Director at the Dublin branch.
The company had already arranged my work permit, but because I’d turned them down before, everything had been put on hold.
They all thought they could live without me.
Fine. Starting today, I was on my own side.
…
In the end, I still got the address from Mom.
I needed to get my passport, clothes, and the rest of my things.
She opened the front door of the new house and gave me a single, cursory glance.
There wasn’t a trace of apology on her face.
“You got here just in time.”
“There’s dust everywhere after the move.”
“Go clean up, especially Allie’s room.”
“The paint smell is still pretty strong, so spray some air freshener in there, too.”
She said it all so naturally, as if that phone call had never happened.
In this family, Allie was the name I heard most often.
Since I was little, I’d had to do things for her, give up things I liked for her.
Now there wasn’t even a place for me in their new house, and Mom still expected me to clean it for them.
Before I came, I’d held out hope that Tyler was just trying to get a rise out of me, or that my family had just been too busy with the move to tell me.
But when I’d asked for the new address, Mom had gone silent for a few long seconds.
She hadn’t wanted me to come in the first place.
Allison came out of the pink room and whispered something in Mom’s ear.
Only then did Mom finally look at me, a flicker of awkwardness in her eyes before she looked away.
“You’re always away on business, gone for ten days, two weeks at a time.”
Her tone hardened. “Even if I’d told you in advance, would you have come back to help?”
I didn’t know how to answer.
She used “you’re never home” to explain away every instance of neglect.
The truth was, she only ever put Allison’s needs first.
It reminded me of the year I finished elementary school.
After the ceremony, I got caught in a hailstorm at the bus stop. I ran back to the school and used the office phone to ask my family to pick me up.
Mom refused. “Allie needs to go to the bookstore for her summer reading.”
“Take the bus home yourself.”
The bus never came. I walked home in the pouring rain, losing my key somewhere along the way.
I couldn’t get inside, so I waited on the porch all afternoon.
By the time they got back, my clothes were almost dry.
In the middle of the night, I came down with a fever and started talking nonsense.
Mom just told me to keep it down so I wouldn’t disturb Allison before her dance class the next day.
Back then, I was little. I just thought my parents didn’t pay me enough attention.
Now I understood.
That hailstorm, the locked door, and this new house with no room for me were all telling me the same thing:
I wasn’t wanted here.
Looking out at the unfamiliar lawn beyond the window, I said softly, “No. And I won’t be coming back to help anymore.”
There wouldn’t be a next time.
Soon, we wouldn’t be a family at all.