Left Behind by Blood (I)

Once, we all shared secrets— my siblings, our cousins, and me. Huddled together in dim rooms, laughing too loud, whispering truths too fragile for the adults to hear. Back then, we were just kids, wrapped in the warmth of being known without having to explain ourselves. But then came the divorce. The quiet split that didn’t just divide a home— it split a childhood. They stayed with our mother, our grandmother, the cousins. They grew up together. Shared rooms, shared grief, shared time. while I— I stayed with our father. Or maybe I should say— I stayed alone. I watched my siblings become closer to the people we used to only visit. They made memories I was no longer part of. Built bonds I couldn’t catch up to.