The Life Game

6

"So, how is the old man?" 

My brothers had been treating breakfast as a sort of Q&A. I knew the questions were going to come after being separated for so long. Luckily, we had been in touch with short phone calls up until about 2 years ago when they stopped contacting me. 

This meant they knew some things about home life though most of it was a lie. I told them I was happy although that was only true in the moments while I talked to them. They knew I dropped high school to go online, but they didn't know the reason.

I was happy they were interested in me- I really was- but having to lie to them was the only thing our relationship had been these past 6 years. I didn't want to have a relationship based on lies. But what choice do I have? Father would be so furious if I told them.

"He's okay. Very busy as always." The breakfast laid on the table made my mouth water. Ali made an impressive amount of eggs and pancakes that now was set all over the wooden table and had been distributed onto our plates. I hadn't had the chance to taste the food yet, as the questions seemed neverending. 

"The old man, huh? What a bastard," Ali's words made my heart clench in fear. What would he have done if I said that to his face? 

"Ali, language," Kade spoke up after his comment. "He is still your father, even if his actions were questionable at times." 

Ali gave a short at his comment, "We are just lucky to not be related by blood to the asshole. Questionable didn't begin to describe his actions-"

Hiraya- who had been dozing on and off during the meal- suddenly spoke up. 

"Remember when he left us alone for four weeks because he forgot about us?" It had been about a year since Father adopted all of us that this incident happened. 

It brought a small grin to my face from the nostalgia. It had been a fun four weeks without Father. We ran around the house causing all sorts of trouble for the servants that would come in every once in a while to clean up and stock the food. We had a food fight every day because Father forgot we existed when his business had its busy season. No one there to tell us what to do was heaven.

The only reason we survived that month was because of Kane. He took initiative as the oldest and made sure we at least ate and slept. That was probably the last time we had all been happy.

 After that, everything got complicated. Mari started to get horrible fevers every two weeks, and the doctors found his leukemia. Father actually became interested in us after that which was chaotic. He made us take tests to determine our intelligence level and we all had mandatory family dinners. Father didn't let anyone skip out on those dinners even Mari when he was sick.

I hated feeling his eyes analyzing us. 

After a few months, he started to stop sending dinner invitations to my brothers. Of course, my brothers were quick to stop attending when they weren't required to.

I was the last one left in the end. It was a silent affair devoid of words or acknowledgement of any sort. The silence had been suffocating and had left my legs shaking in fear when each meeting ended. I often ate nothing at all-it became impossible for me to eat in front of anyone in fact. If anyone was watching me while I ate, I became anxious and the food always ended up coming back up.

I think that's around the time I developed my social anxiety. I had a hard time receiving any sort of attention in school and from my peers; I became an outcast. 

My brothers were the one thing that made everything okay. They paid no attention to me at all; Mari was way more important than anything else. They spent all their time with him and I tried to be there too, but Father always called for me, so I had to leave while they played.