I stifle a groan as my kid brother dumps more dishes in the sink. If I so much as twitch, I'm gonna have to clean up the whole yard today, too. Dad's seriously mad today for some reason. That's seriously bad for me, cause I'm always the one who takes the heat for anything that goes on around here, my fault or not—even if they know the real culprit.

You're thinking, Whoa, whoa, back up, friend. Exactly why do you get blamed for everything? Long story, and glad you asked, 'cause I've been needing to get this off my chest for a while. Here goes:

My dad was adopted at birth by a Chinese dad and a Japanese mom. Grandfather is SERIOUSLY conservative in the Chinese way of thinking, meaning he thinks guys are the best thing in the world and women are to be treated as little more than personal property. We don't even get animal status. Don't get me wrong, he really does love Grandma, but not the way an American or European guy loves his wife (the FAITHFUL type of guy, that is).

Grandma's the sweetest little lady there ever was, and you won't find a better comforter anywhere, but she's a wuss. No arguments about it. So, Dad got raised to think the same way Grandfather does. He married a woman from a family that breed their s to be housewives (how medieval is that?), and so received no opposition when he started raising kids the way he was raised.

Mom and I are no less than doormats for him and my brothers to walk on. I feel like Cinderella, only in this version the mother is the sissy, and the siblings are the ones that are evil and the real parent is just seriously misguided. They have no excuse whatsoever for treating me the way they do. They've grown up in public school since the very beginning, so they know that women are equal to men in pretty much everything nowadays. They should be defending me, but instead they treat me like the scum of the earth.

I'm not aloud to complain. I can't even speak without being spoken to at home, not even with Mom. I'm basically supposed to be a robot that does all the chores and gives up everything she's ever held dear. That's me, Katie the human doormat.

Erk! Incoming paternal unit! Must pretend to be enjoying washing dishes by hand. (Yuck.)

Okay, that's the backstory for my character. Next time there should be some real action. Please R&R anyway.