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A letter to ... My fake, devious sister, who twists my words

two sisters looking at each other
‘The worst part is that you are so good at being super nice to me in front of other people – nobody suspects a thing.’ Composite: None/Getty

We always got on so well, you were always so nice to me, always inviting us to your holiday house. I have so many happy memories of us all hanging out there. Then, a few years ago, you became ill. You recovered quickly and seemed back to normal, but when it was just the two of us, your behaviour towards me completely changed. You gave me lots of fierce tellings off and you seemed so angry with me. I had never seen you like this before: I was scared of you.

When I was planning a big birthday party, there was only one weekend that you said you would be free, so I set the date for then. You arrived on the dot of when it started, and then left after about an hour and a half, saying you had to rush to get home. I felt very hurt.

You stopped inviting us to your holiday house, and instead went out of your way to tell me about all the parties you were having there that we weren’t invited to. Not only were you trying to rub my nose in the fact that I was not invited to any of these parties, you were also trying to let me know that none of your friends liked me either. Don’t worry, I got the message.

We were on the phone once, you were inviting me to stay with you for a time you knew we wouldn’t be able to go, and you called me by my name in a strangely loud and clear way. Afterwards, I kept thinking how odd it was – we never call each other by our names, we always use our nicknames. Then it dawned on me: you wanted the people with you to overhear that you were inviting me. I had to hand it to you; your deviousness had gone up a whole new level. I finally decided to try to talk to you about this.

I asked you why you had left my party after such a short time; you said that your illness had taught you that life is too short to do anything you didn’t want to do. I asked you why you keep doing things to deliberately upset me, you kept saying you hadn’t done any of them intentionally.

You kept twisting my words and deliberately pretended to misunderstand me. When I asked why you kept telling me about parties I wasn’t invited to, you said: “Sorry if my social life is so boring to you.” I gave up in the end. I wish you had just been honest with me and explained what I had done to deserve this treatment.

For the past few months, I’ve woken up feeling sick every morning and it stays with me all day – it’s been horrible. The worst part is that you are so good at being super nice to me in front of other people – nobody suspects a thing. It made me dread any family gatherings, as I couldn’t bear the fakeness.

Then I had a revelation, it was that thing you had said about life being too short. I realised I didn’t have to see you any more. I didn’t think I would ever feel normal again, but I feel so much better, the sick feeling has finally lifted. But I am still left wondering, why did you do this?

Anonymous

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