They Saved Him, Not Me

I've decided to leave the country. I'm done competing with the son my parents raised in my place. I'm done begging them to love me. But the parents who always favored him are suddenly panicking. "Bennett, why don't you fight with your brother for our attention anymore?" A week ago, an earthquake hit while we were on vacation. Dad scooped up the son they'd raised, still fast asleep, and ran for the exit. Even as Mom fled in a panic, she didn't forget to grab the stray dog he'd brought home. They flew back to Port Ellery that same night and posted more than a dozen family photos, celebrating that they'd made it out alive. Not one of them remembered me. I was their real son, and I was still buried under the rubble, waiting to be rescued. That night, I called my mentor. "Professor Everard, I'll go to Valdoria with you. I'm going to settle there, and I'm never coming back." Chapter 1 A full week after the earthquake, I finally made it home, covered in cuts and bruises. Music was blasting through the house, and the place was packed with relatives and family friends. They were throwing a party to celebrate Mom, Dad, and Alistair surviving the disaster. When my parents saw me, their expressions were hard to read. When the earthquake struck, they had remembered everything except me. Mom's eyes reddened, and she pulled me into a tight hug. "Oh, Bennett... what you've been through..." There was a time when I would've given anything for that hug. Now I just took two steps back, put some distance between us, and said politely, "Thanks for your concern." Mom froze, her arms still open. Alistair shot me a look full of malice. A second later, his voice came out small and wounded. "Dad... Mom... I'm sorry. This is all my fault. If you hadn't been so busy saving me, Bennett wouldn't have gotten hurt... "Bennett, go ahead and hit me if you want. Just please don't pick today of all days to come back and embarrass Mom and Dad. I'm the one who owes you..." A few words from him were all it took for the guilt on Dad's face to harden into fury. "You picked today, of all days, to show up, right in the middle of our party? Do you want everyone to think we abused you? "You're barely an adult, and you're already this manipulative! You're nothing like my son!" I stared at him in disbelief. This was my own biological father. I had spent five days trapped in the pitch-dark rubble with no food and no water. There was nothing but endless fear. As time passed, the cries all around me grew weaker and weaker. When I thought I couldn't hold on any longer, I unlocked my phone to send my parents one last message. Instead, I found more than a dozen posts from them. "Blessed beyond words. Every one of us made it out safe!" There were photos of Mom, Dad, and Alistair together in their cozy home, along with a dog, the picture of one big happy family. Meanwhile, alone in the dark, I had used every ounce of strength I had to drag away one broken brick after another until my hands were raw and bloody, all for a narrow chance to survive. In Dad's version, I had "picked" today on purpose, as if my fight to stay alive were some petty stunt. Suddenly, I didn't want to explain anything. I turned and went to my room. Behind me, Alistair's syrupy voice tried to comfort Dad. "Don't be mad, Dad. Bennett just wasn't raised right when he was little, that's all. We have to be patient with him." Dad snorted. "I really regret ever bringing him back. He's not half as considerate as you, Alistair!" Hiding in my room, I heard every word, and the tears I'd been holding back finally poured out. Chapter 2 There had never been a place for me in this family. I should've gotten used to that a long time ago, shouldn't I? I picked up my phone and called my mentor. "Professor Everard, I accept. In a week, I'll move to Valdoria and focus on my studies there. I'm never coming back..." The next morning, Mom came into my room, already sounding annoyed. "Bennett, you really shouldn't have walked off to your room yesterday while your father was disciplining you. Do you know how much that undermined him? You've really let me down—" She stopped mid-sentence when she saw the clothes I'd taken off. The lights had been too dim the night before for her to notice. Only now did she see that my light gray sweater was almost completely soaked in bright red blood. It was only then that she began to understand what I'd been through. Dad came in and saw it too, and his lips gave the faintest tremble. "Bennett, I wasn't paying enough attention. I didn't know—" I stared at the ceiling, my voice cold. "Could you leave? I need to change." They never noticed me. If Alistair so much as scraped his hand, they'd notice right away and rush him to the hospital. But when the wound on my knee got infected and oozed again and again, they pretended not to see it. They even thought I was faking it to compete with Alistair for their attention. They weren't careless. They just didn't care. Noticing how cold I'd become, my parents looked panicked for once. I used to be so eager around them. Their eyes darted anxiously to the dining table, where I used to put a fresh sunflower every single day. They'd always thought it was pointless. Dad spoke up quickly. "Bennett, there's no sunflower on the table yet today. How about I drive you to buy one later?" "No need." Every day, I used to set out a sunflower to keep my spirits up, determined to make my parents finally love me. I didn't need to anymore. I didn't care anymore. Three days later was my birthday, and Alistair's. Twenty-three years ago that day, we'd been switched by mistake at the hospital, and that was the start of a nightmare that lasted twenty-three years. Earl Pruitt, the man who raised me, abused me in ways no child should ever have to endure. His wife, Darlene, made my life a living hell. Just thinking about it made it hard to breathe. Mom excitedly wheeled a huge cake into the living room. Only Alistair's name was written across that enormous cake. Mine was nowhere on it. The staff set off party poppers all at once. Dad placed the only birthday hat on Alistair's head. "Happy twenty-third birthday, son! If it weren't for that mix-up twenty-three years ago, we never would've gotten such a wonderful boy!" Mom chimed in. "That's right! Thank goodness that nurse mixed you up. That's how you came into our lives. We should thank her!" My heart sank, and I clenched my fists as hard as I could. The mistake I resented more than anything was, to them, a blessing. I looked around at the staff jostling to hand Alistair their presents. They were the same people who used to warn me. "Don't even try to compete with Alistair for attention!" "Got it? There's only one heir in this house. As far as Mr. and Mrs. Holloway are concerned, you're just a servant with a slightly better title. Know your place!" Now they were all smiles around Alistair, practically groveling. Alistair stood in the middle of the crowd and raised an eyebrow at me in triumph. Then everyone cheered together. "Happy birthday, Alistair!" Chapter 3 I didn't want to wish someone else a happy birthday on my own birthday. So I went back to my room and took out the gifts I'd stashed in a flimsy plastic bag. If I didn't give them now, I'd never get the chance. When I came back to the living room, Alistair's eyes were red, and he sounded hurt. "Dad, does Bennett not like me? Why won't he wish me a happy birthday?" My parents' faces darkened, and they were about to scold me for being so inconsiderate. Then, to their surprise, I handed them two scarves I'd knitted myself. Their eyes lit up. Our neighbor, Mr. Patterson, was always bragging about the scarf his son had knitted for him, and every time, my parents looked so envious. So I had spent more than six months learning how to knit. Mom held hers like she never wanted to let it go. Dad wrapped his around his neck right away and dropped the matter of me not wishing Alistair a happy birthday. Then he asked, "Bennett, when's your birthday? Your mom and I will make sure to get you whatever you want most." "Today," I said. My parents exchanged a look and froze for a few seconds. Mom quickly forced out a laugh. "Ha, ha! We're just teasing you. Of course we know today's your birthday." She hurried to her room and came back a moment later with a watch. "Look! We bought you a watch." But Alistair's name was engraved across it in big letters. I didn't throw a fit like I used to, but that only made Mom panic, and Dad started to look nervous too. She kept rummaging through the cabinets. "Bennett, believe me, I really did buy you one. We got one for each of you!" Afraid I didn't believe her, she added, "We bought them at the beginning of last month, when the family went on that trip abroad. You have to believe me!" Dad's face changed instantly. He nudged her with his foot, and only then did Mom realize what she'd let slip. Regret and panic flashed in her eyes, as if she was terrified I'd be upset. So the three of them had taken a trip abroad last month. No wonder that when I came home as usual one evening, I'd found the gates locked tight. I held the watch Alistair hadn't wanted and felt nothing at all. "It's fine. This one will do." To make it up to me, my parents bought me a pile of gifts. I took all of them to the office and gave them to my coworkers as goodbye presents before I quit. Meanwhile, the earthquake was all over the news. A camera had happened to catch me fighting my way out, and the clip was trending on every platform. My parents recognized me the second they saw it. They lowered their heads and didn't say anything for a long time. That night, they took Alistair and me to dinner at a five-star hotel. Dad drank glass after glass, saying over and over that he'd failed me as a father and apologizing again and again. I almost believed him. But once the wine had loosened them up, their real intentions finally came out. Mom spoke up carefully. "Bennett, you know every news outlet is looking for you right now, don't you? "And you know Alistair has wanted to be a star ever since he was little... So we were thinking, maybe you could give him this opportunity? You can't really see the face in the video anyway..." Seeing my expression darken, Mom hurried to add, "It's not that I'm playing favorites. I just think opportunities should go to whoever needs them more. I love you both equally..." Equally? Hearing that almost made me laugh. Chapter 4 In all the years since I'd moved back, when had anything ever been equal? Alistair dropped to his knees with a thud. "Bennett... I know you've never liked me... but I really need this opportunity... Please..." I let out a cold laugh. "Fine. You can have it. But first, you have to get down on all fours and crawl around the room like a dog. Do that, and it's yours." "You—" Dad's face changed. "That's ridiculous! Bennett! How can you treat your brother like that?" I didn't back down. "Why so worked up? That's exactly what Alistair told me back when he wouldn't let me into the house. So why the double standard?" My parents went silent. Back then, they had both tried to talk me down, saying Alistair was "a little mischievous, but he doesn't mean any harm." They said he was "just stubborn" and told me to do whatever he said. I sighed and decided to let out every grievance I'd swallowed over the years. "Dad, when you took us hiking, Alistair complained that he was being left out, so you just left me alone on the mountain. I walked for three hours with wolves howling around me before I made it home. "How can anyone play favorites that badly? "If you wanted me dead, you should've just said so. I'm worthless to you anyway. "Mom, you never came to a single one of my parent-teacher conferences because you didn't want Alistair to feel left out. You only ever went to his. Kids in my class whispered that nobody wanted me. But I had a mother... "I'm your biological son. What did I ever do to deserve being treated like this?" By the time I finished, my cheeks were wet and cold. I'd thought they couldn't hurt me anymore. Both of them looked shaken. Tears still streaming down my face, I forced a smile. "Fine. Let Alistair have what he wants. Give him the opportunity." My parents looked up quickly, but before they could thank me, I added, "Consider it payback for bringing me into the world. After this, we're even." Dad froze. "What do you mean?" I spelled it out for him. "I mean you never raised me, so I don't owe you anything for that, and from now on, we have nothing to do with each other." Mom panicked. "No... no... I carried you for nine months. You're my own flesh and blood. How can you—" I shrugged. "Then Alistair doesn't get the opportunity." My parents fell silent, and I watched the hesitation pass between them. A moment later, Dad clenched his jaw. "Deal!" The moment he said it, Alistair flashed me a victorious smile. My vision slowly blurred. Once again, forced to choose between me and Alistair, my biological parents had chosen him. Using my bloodstained sweater as proof, Alistair landed interview after interview with the media. His agency seized the moment and lined up several TV roles for him. My parents assumed what I'd said that night was just anger talking, and they kept trying to make it up to me, in ways big and small. They deleted every post they'd made after the earthquake that same night. They edited me into the family photo of the three of them that they'd been using as their profile picture. On top of that, they dragged me to take a bunch of new family portraits, which they had enlarged and hung on their bedroom wall. Chapter 5 They swore up and down that they'd never play favorites again. But I stayed lukewarm toward them, no longer eager to please like before. They grew more anxious by the day, until finally Dad made a decision: they would throw a gala and formally introduce me to their entire social circle. They should have held it years ago, but they'd kept putting it off because they were afraid of upsetting Alistair. Meanwhile, I was just packing for the move. The day before I was supposed to leave, once everything was ready, I went to say goodbye to a friend, the only real friend I had. On his TV, an entertainment news program was airing an interview with Dad. "Mr. Holloway, what's Alistair like at home?" "He's our only son, and we've pinned all our hopes on him. We just finalized our will yesterday, and everything's going to him, so—" Dad's pupils shrank as he realized what had slipped out. That's how favoritism works. Cover your eyes and mouth all you want, and it'll still seep out of every pore. I never imagined that, as their biological son, I wouldn't get even a cent of their estate in the end. Their love and their money both belonged to Alistair, the son they'd raised. With a cold laugh, I pulled out my phone and forwarded the clip to Dad. Half an hour later, while my friend was hugging me goodbye, Mom started calling nonstop. "Bennett, it's bad! Something's happened to your dad! He's fighting with a reporter! Please, you have to go see!" By the time I got there, Dad and the reporter were still grappling, and a crowd had gathered to watch. Dad kept yelling. "I told you it was a slip of the tongue! And you aired it anyway? Did you just ignore everything I said? "Do you have any idea how serious this is? You bastard! Go to hell!" Mom's bodyguards arrived just in time to pull them apart. Only then did Dad notice me, and panic crossed his face. "Bennett... I didn't mean it... It really just slipped out. Please don't be mad, okay? "Bennett... trust me one last time... Don't be angry... Don't leave your mom and me..." I stood at the edge of the crowd and watched Dad in this sorry state. Countless times, when Alistair falsely accused me of pushing him into the pool, I had begged Dad exactly like this, but he had never believed me once. Instead, he'd jab a finger in my face and yell, "How did I ever end up with a son like you? I wish I could throw you out of this house!" I nodded and helped him up. "I get it, Dad. Let's go home." I didn't scream or fall apart like I used to, and that only scared him more. That same night, he moved the gala up to the very next day. "Bennett, we'll hold the party right away and tell everyone you're back, okay?" He barely waited for an answer before he started calling people in to set things up. Mom was anxious too, and she rushed to call everyone and let them know the gala had been moved up. But before dawn the next morning, I left for the airport. I looked back toward the house one last time. Dad, Mom, I hope you'll be happy. I hope you'll have a life without me in it. At seven sharp, the calls started pouring in.