At Fault

Prologue

'Go ahead John, take it. You earned it, my boy.' Father said giving him an envelope containing money.

'But father, what about me?' I asked silently, making sure to avoid eye contact.

'How dare you! You have no shame, after all your failures, you think i'd give you a reward? You have failed me!' He yelled at me as I flinched away from his hand that found it's way in the air.

My brother, John, smirked in my direction as he flashed the money he got in my face.

Failed?

I failed him?

My mind was running as I thought of ways on how I could have possibly failed him.
Is it because I didn't get that scholarship he wanted me to have?

Yeah, that's probably it...

I won second place at that competition, but only the one who took first place would get the scholarship.
I tried my best, I really did.

'You don't understand, Rika. We cannot support that child of ours anymore! We can barely support John.' I heard my father argue as I was about to step into the room.

'She is your daughter, Jason! You can't be this unfair to her. She tried her best to get that scholarship, she really did!' My mother shot back.

'But she didn't try harder! That's the problem woman!' He said storming out.
His eyes landed on me as I looked up at him.

'Failure.' Was the word he uttered as he left.

'Hah! Loser! Dad loves me more than you!' My brother teased as he entered the room.
My mother, clearly signalling him to drop it, cleared her throat.

But my brother, being the ass he was, kept going.

'Dad never loved you, loser. He favors me! He says he's sending me abroad.' He announced, puffing his chest out proudly.

'He'll probab-- wait, are you crying?'

My head was down, my bangs covered my face as I stormed up the stairs and into my room.
I opened up a bag, putting all that could fit inside.

My breath was heavy as I slammed the door open to see my brother in front of me.

'What are you doing? Hey! Get back here!' He yelled as I walked away from him.

I couldn't take this.

His hand grasped my arm as he held it firmly.

'Where the hell do you think you're going? Huh!' He yelled in my face.

I shrugged my arm away from him as I continued downstairs.

'Luka, honey, where are you going?' My mom asked as I avoided her eyes.

'Away from here.' I simply told her, forcing my way through.

'Luka! Wait!' My mom screamed for me.

'I'll handle her mom.' I heard John say.

'Where do you think you're going, Failure?' My dad said as he loomed over me.

'None of your business.'

'Fine! Go away! Don't come crying back here!' He screamed at me as he stood by the door.
My brother, seemingly looking a bit worried, held my dad back.

I'm going away, and I'm never coming back.

...

'Ugh, look at Luka, she's such a mess.'