I Became the Guardian of My Five Sisters – Two Years Later, Our Father Came Back to Take Our House, but He Didn’t Expect the Trap I Had Set for Him

A year later, my mother died.

Within a week, he was gone too.

After that, Mom became everything. She worked until her feet swelled. She stretched groceries like they were miracles. I was old enough to help with the little ones, so I did. We learned quickly how to survive. How to divide laundry into piles. How to make one pot of food last two meals. How to stop looking out the window when the driveway stayed empty.

Then, when I was in college, Mom got diagnosed with cancer.

I went to class, then to work, then to the hospital. I learned how to smile for my sisters while my stomach felt like it was full of broken glass. I learned how to say, “She’s resting,” and “The doctors are helping,” and “It’s going to be okay,” even when I stopped believing any of it.

A year later, she died too.