Honestly, I never imagined my own family could let me down this way, taking advantage of my trust and leaving me with absolutely nothing. In our modest two-bedroom flat in Birmingham, Mum, my sister Emily, and I each owned a third. Our grandmother, who also had a two-bedroom place not too far away, had always promised to leave her flat to her two grandchildrenEmily and mesplit equally in her will. The idea was that later, wed figure out if one of us would live there or if wed just sell up and share whatever we got. At the time, Emily had just moved in with Mum after she found out she was pregnant, kind of unexpectedly, and I was off at uni in Manchester.
Before long, Emily and her lot took over the larger bedroom while Mum shuffled off into the small one. When Id come back for weekends or holidays, Mum and I would squeeze into her little room. But I always had a feeling I wouldnt be able to move back in after graduating, mostly because things had gotten so tense with my now brother-in-law. Mum didnt want to rock the boat with Emilys husband, so she would quietly ask me to keep the peace and not make a fuss. I opened up about all of this to Gran, and she suggested a compromise: I should sign my share of our family flat over to Emily, and then Gran would change her will so I’d get her one-bedroom place instead. I brought this up with Mum and Emily, but Emily just smirked and said I could take her to court if I wantedshe was sure shed win anyway.
So in the end, I stupidly signed away my share, but Gran never got the chance to rewrite her will. Her health went downhill so quickly, and she passed away before she could put anything official in writing. That left Emily with the whole two-bedroom place and half of Grans flat, which, Ill admit, really felt like a slap in the face. I turned to Mum for help, thinking at least shed be on my side, but she just backed Emily, despite what was clearly stated in all the papers. She couldnt even look me in the eye and just muttered something about how were all living under the same roof, so there was no need for arguments.
These days, in Emilys house, Mum works as a bit of a cleaner and babysitter. Shes useful to Emily as long as she can support her with her pension, but I do worry whatll happen to Mum when shes no longer needed for those things. Seeing as I dont have any other close relatives around, Ive got nothing tying me to Birmingham anymore. Mum and Emily clearly have each others backs, and after all theyve done, I just couldnt bring myself to keep in touch. What they did cut me deeply, and Id rather not keep reopening that wound.
