"That's not fair." Your sister screeched. "She was there too."

"But you are older, you are supposed to set the example; of course she would go if you make her think it is alright to disobey me." Your father bellowed.

"Benjamin, really, they are both at fault here." Your mother tried to interject, hoping that if you were receiving punishment too, it may cause your father to calm down.

"May, do not interfere." He ordered. "You have to make Sam understand that she is at fault for her actions."

"But I am not at fault for mine, how is that fair?" you asked, trying to get you father to lay off Sam and your mother for once.

"Sweetpea, just go and read or draw." Your father ordered in a kinder tone before turning to Sam again, "You go to the room and stay there until morning, no dinner."

"What?" Sam's eyes were wide with shock.

"NOW!" With that, you both fled the room.

It was always the same, Sam only needed to breathe and your father was snapping at her, but with you, that was different, you could set fire to the dog intentionally and he would blame it for annoying you by merely existing; and no matter how much you tried, no matter how much you argued, it was always the same; your father never was as stern with you as he was Sam, even when she was truly the more accomplished daughter. Her grades were better, and she was captain of her soccer team, but you looked like your grandmother, the same face, eyes, and hair colour, and so that meant your father reckoned you were more his daughter, his heir since he had had no sons. Your mother had spent close to twenty years trying to fight your sister's corner, trying to get your father to see you as equals; from a young age, she explained to you why your father's favouritism of you was inherently wrong, and you comprehended such easily, it was simple, Sam and you would never be equal to him, but that did not mean that you should think that too, and you didn't, not that it mattered. But her equal treatment meant you were close to her, you were not on a pedestal, terrified of tumbling off at a moments notice.

"It's not fair." Sam had tears of sadness and anger falling down her face as you went to your shared room. "It's total bull."

"I'm sorry Sam."

"Don't," she snapped, glaring at you. "It's all your fault. If he didn't love you so much, then he wouldn't be such an ass to me."

"I tried to defend you, I tried to take my part in the blame." You argued sadly.

"Yeah, fat lot of use that was." She growled, "you made it worse. I cannot wait to be free of here." She declared, turning around so her back was to you as you sat on your own bed.

"I know, I'm so sorry Sammy."

"Don't call me that, you may be my sister, but we are not friends, only my friends get to call me anything but Samantha, got it?"

"Yes."

"Go to hell."

You sat on your bed, looking at her for a while before deciding to try and make a start on that literature assignment you had been given, knowing you would take an age just to comprehend what was required, much less start planning it.

You went to dinner; an awkward silent resided over the table as you and your mother looked to Sam's empty seat across from you as you ate. Your father said nothing to either of you, choosing instead to stare at the financial report that was sent to his office that day. When you finished your meal, you grabbed a bread roll and rose from the table.

"That better not be for that useless sister of yours." Your father warned, not even looking up from his sheets.

"It's poppy seed, Sam hates them." You stated, showing him the roll, which sure enough, was covered in little black dots of poppy seeds. "I just need to do my assignment, I want to get started, it's due at the end of the week."

He looked up to give you a smile and a wink. "That's my girl, getting it done before the deadline, if only Sam was as productive, off with you."

You smiled something more akin to a grimace at his words. It was already Wednesday, the assignment was set two weeks previous, and the procrastinator that you were, you were now being forced to cram it all in over the next two days. Sam had been set one on Monday for the following Wednesday, and not only had she done two rough planned versions, but she had typed and submitted her completed work that very afternoon. You were nothing in comparison to her, but yet, to your father, that was irrelevant.

When you entered your room, Sam was on her phone, texting her friend, probably about how it was unfair you were left go scot-free while she suffered.

"I got you this." You held out the roll and some lamb you had hidden in a napkin for her.

"I hate poppy seed." She growled back irritably.

"I know, but if I took any other, dad would have known it was for you and confiscated it." You explained.

"You won't even really attempt to help me, scared you will get my treatment, it would do you good to see how unfair it all is."

"I know it is unfair Sam…antha, I don't need to be the one at the receiving end to realise that."

"You don't know anything. I swear, if I don't get out of here soon," tears fell again from her eyes. You were not much of a crier, you could not ever remember shedding a tear, instead; you sat staring silently at something for ages as you processed it. "I won't ever come back." It was clear she didn't want to say anything more to you, so you just quietly sat reading the words on the page in front of you, but in truth, you could not concentrate, meaning you would have to ask for an extension again, meaning an automatic grade drop. Because Sam got it far worse, you never said anything, but you suffered from this as well, not that anyone seemed to realise.

"It's not fair."

"I know sweetheart, but there is nothing that will change it now, I have been trying longer than I should admit, and you do too, but he will not falter how he views you both." Your mother sighed, her exhaustion clearly etched on her face.

"Sam hates me now, she actually hates me, I am not even allowed refer to her as Sam she said." You explained sadly.

May gave you a sympathetic look, "She is just mad at him."

"Don't you dare think that it is just him that is the problem." You both turned to see Samantha glaring at you both. "You two are not blameless either, especially you mom." She snapped. "You are supposed to protect us both from this sort of crap, but instead, you try to play Neutral Nancy and I suffer more. Why do you insist on treating us the same, make up for some of the inequality." Tears ran down Sam's face as she spoke.

"I cannot treat you two differently, neither of you asked for this, and neither of you deserve this."

"'Neither of us', are you serious? How the hell is his precious little 'Sweet Pea' affected by any of this, other than the fact she can probably swindle a new laptop or something out of him." the way she spat the words sweet pea made you shudder, there was hate there you had not heard before.

"Samantha…" your mother began.

"I don't want to hear it, you are pathetic, you are the reason this has gotten so bad, if you were any bit of a mother to me, you would have gotten rid of his ass for the way he treats me, but since you stayed, it is clear, you love him, and her," Sam pointed to you, "more than you could ever love me." With that, she turned and left the room again, ensuring to slam the front door on the way out.

May began to weep, but did so as best she could to not rouse your suspicions, but she failed miserably. "I get that she is mad, and I get that it is completely unfair, but that does not mean it is right for her to speak to you like that." you wrapped your arms around your mother, trying to show her how greatly you loved her.

"I don't know how much more of this I can take." She admitted, scaring you slightly. "It never ends." She wiped the tears away. "You best get to your school, you don't want to be late, I'll manage fine here."

Though she did not sound convincing, you went to leave anyway, you needed to speak with your course head to get the extension, and the journey wasn't long enough to have time to figure out a good enough excuse. "Try and get some rest mom, you sound exhausted." She nodded and weakly went towards the stairs to do just that.

All day you tried to think of a solution to the dilemma of your family, but it was too difficult. Your father would not see how his favouritism was affecting Sam, and Sam would not see how her anger was affecting your mom, and in a small way, you too. Sighing, you trundled home slowly, not wanting to see anyone too quickly, you had stayed at the library as long as was possible, but you got very little study or project done, you instead had doodled and thought of the conundrum that faced you with your family.

When you got home, your father's car was already there, as was the one he got for you and Sam to commute to your respective colleges in; Sam had driven off without you this morning, and you knew she would have texted if she had planned to wait for you this evening. Opening the door, you were unsurprised to hear a yelling match when you entered, and it seemed everyone was involved.

"Please stop you two."

"It's not my fault you're a terrible father."

"You selfish little bitch."

Not wanting to get involved, you slipped back upstairs and went to your room, exhausted from the stress of it all. But even with your heart under the pillow, you could hear them shouting and arguing, your father berating Sam, Sam ridiculing him back, and your mother pleading for peace.

After a while, you heard the pounding of steps up the stairs, and you knew that it was Sam. Sure enough, a moment later, the bedroom door flung open and she stormed in. "You're here." She seemed startled at that revelation.

"I came in during World War Three and decided to just come here." You explained.

"It's more like World War A Thousand and Three." She huffed. You frowned, she was being friendly to you, or at least, somewhat civil, after a fight with your dad, she never was civil to you, constantly blaming you for his actions. "I am leaving." She explained, seeing the look on your face. "I sorted it today, I am staying with Tara and Mike, they are going to let me stay on their pull out couch until I am settled."

"When are you leaving?" your voice was small.

"Right now, I can't take it anymore, I got a B in my last assignment, a B, all because he is causing me to not be able to focus, my soccer is suffering too, I'll lose my captaincy if I can't get my head back on track."

You wanted to beg her to stay, but you wanted her to be able to be happy too, and both could not happen under this roof. "Wait til he is gone to bed, I'll help you pack the car then if you want."

"You want to be rid of me that bad, you're willing to help?" she asked with a raised brow.

"I want you to be happy so bad that I am willing to give up sleep to get you out of here without him having another go at you." You explained.

"Yeah well, you'll be rid of me soon and he will have his perfect daughter and then, no more yelling."

"Mom can't take much more, it has her stressed to the max, seriously, it is affecting her health really badly."

Sam scoffed, "I dare say she'll cope with me gone too. Fine, when we hear him sleeping, then I spring this living hell."

And so you both waited. Another hour passed and there was no sound from outside the room but having not heard either parent go upstairs, neither of you knew what to do. The silence was broken by your father bellowing your name, then Sam's. not sure what was going on, you both rushed downstairs to see your father standing next to the sofa, where your mother was lying, gasping for breath.

"Call a medic." Your sister ordered as she went to your mother's side. "Now."

Not waiting for your father to move, you pulled your cell out of your pocket and called 911, giving them your address and your mother's details. Within a few minutes, the paramedics made their way to your home and put your mother in the back of the ambulance, rushing her to the hospital, your dad going in the ambulance with them, you and Sam following behind in the car. There was an awkward silence in the car, neither of you talking, both knowing the unhopeful face on the medics as they told you what hospital she was being brought to.

It took a while to get a space in the parking lot, and then to find out where the Emergency Room was, but in the end, your ability to orientate yourself got you there. Seeing your father's face however as he stood in the hallway, you wished to be anywhere else but there. "Dad?"

"Her heart gave out, they don't know why." His tone was flat, he was clearly in shock. "They have to do a post mortem tomorrow, they can't say any more until then." You just nodded silently, not able to process what was being said fully. Sam seemed far less affected. "We may as well go home." Your father walked passed you, towards where you and Sam had come from. For a second, you looked at the room he was standing outside, the door open. She was covered by a white sheet, but you knew it was your mom; you stared at her for a few moments. "Sweet Pea." You turned slowly to see your father coming towards you, tucking his arm around you and gently pulling you away. "You don't need to see her like this."

The ride home was a blur, Sam drove, your father in the passenger seat and you in the back, something that was always a concern, you hated the back seat, it made you nauseous, but you were too far out of it with the blow of your mother's death to even notice. When you got home, the fighting started again between Sam and your father, accusations of who was to blame, how it was the others doing. You just went to your room and lay on the bed, cuddling a pillow, falling into a restless sleep.

Her funeral was small and quaint, something she would have wanted. You spent the whole thing in a stupor, not comprehending half of what was being said to you, but you never once wept, something that concerned your aunt.

"Ben, she is like a shell." She stated to her brother.

"I know, but you remember when she was a young, she never cried if she was hurt or upset, she's just like our mother. I often think…"

"She is not our mom, she is her own person, yes she looks like her, the blind could see that, but your daughter is her own person, and right now, I am worried for her, both of them actually. Sam looks like she is on the verge of doing something rash, something that she may regret."

"Samantha is fine." He dismissed. "If she has the energy to blame me, then she is fine."

"No one is to blame, May died because her heart was weak, no one knew it, not even her apparently," Jessica stated, rubbing her brother's arm. "It happens sometimes, it is a heartbreaking fact." Benjamin nodded but said no more.

Sitting in your room, you looked at the assignment you were given the weekend to complete. It was lying there now, to be forever incomplete, not that you were bothered by it. You hated your course, your lecturer, all you wanted was to be rid of it all.

"Seriously, that's what you think about now, your mother is dead and you are worrying about an assignment you are late finishing." Sam sneered, her anger now focused on you.

"Shut up Sam." Your voice was monotone.

"Seriously, you are so pathetic, why the hell does he prefer you, I'm the one with better academics, I'm the one that does well at sports…"

"I never wanted us to be unequal, I fought to stop it, but it was no use, it will never be any use. Can't you see, this is what mom realised, why her heart gave out, she couldn't take anymore, and neither can I." she scoffed at you. "None of you ever asked how it was for me in this position, and I know you had it worse, I will never take that from you Sam, but I grew up here too, I witnessed it too, and I lost my mom too. I'm done, I can't take any more."

"Wait, so you're leaving too?"

"I've been getting ready to leave too, but you were too busy to notice, with mom no longer here, I have no reason to stay anymore. Maybe with me gone, he might see how much better you are. Goodbye, Sam." You took a rucksack with a few clothes in it, and left, the assignment in the table no longer interesting you.