Unknown Number

Unknown Number

October 28, 2018 12:36pm

Unknown Number:

Happy Birthday,  Danny! I can’t believe you’re 

18 already! How did you grow up so fast? Let 

Your old man know how you’re doing every

Now and then why dont ya?

November 15, 2018 15:17pm

Unknown Number

Hey Buddy, I haven’t heard from you in a while.

Hope you had a good birthday. Call me when you

Get this-really need to talk to you. . .

December 2, 2018 20:56pm

Unknown Number

Still giving me the silent treatment? It’s been ages.

You’re an adult now, you need to learn how to get 

Along with your family. We are family Danny. 

Call me

December 25, 2018 10:23am

Unknown Number

Merry Christmas Danny. I know you don’t want to 

Talk to us but you need to call me.We could really use your help.

 Call me

January 1, 2019 00:12am

Unknown Number

HAPPY NEW YEAR BUDDY! New year, new you right? Time

For a fresh start. Call me, your sister misses you.

February 13, 2019 11:41am

Unknown Number

Danny. Stop ignoring me. You need to man up and call me.

March 19, 2019 18:00pm

Unknown Number

I’m sorry for snapping at you. Sandra and I miss you.

Please come home. We can talk about this. I hope you

See its all just a misunderstanding. Your sister misses you too.

Call me. Its urgent. . .

March 31, 2019 09:36am

Unknown Number

Dammit Daniel. You need to learn your place. I’m getting 

Tired of this childish behavior. You need to take 

Responsibility for your actions and for this family.

Call me or we will have to come find you.

April 4, 2019 17:31pm

Missed call from Unknown Number

April 4, 2019 17:32p.m

Missed call from Unknown Caller

April 4, 2019 17:32pm

Missed call from Unknown Caller

April 4, 2019 17:33p.m

Missed call from Unknown Caller

April 4, 2019 17:35pm

Missed call from Unknown Caller

April 4, 2019 17:37p.m

Missed call from Unknown Caller

April 4, 2019 17:39pm

Missed call from Unknown Caller

7 missed calls from Unknown Caller

6 new voicemails

April 4, 2019 18:00pm

Unknown Number

Danny please answer the phone. It’s urgent

April 4, 2019 18:03pm

Missed call from Unknown Caller

April 4, 2019 18:10p.m

Missed call from Unknown Caller

April 4, 2019 18:15pm

Missed call from Unknown Caller

10 missed calls from Unknown Caller

8 new voicemails

April 4, 2019 18:20pm

Unknown Number

Danny please pick up the phone. I need to speak to you

Incoming call from Unknown Caller

“What do you want?”

“Danny! He-”

“I’ve told you, that’s not my name.”

“You’re still on that? I thought you were over that nonsense, Danny.”

“Call me that one more time and I’ll hang up.”

He sighed, a deep sigh of defeat that went on for so long that I knew whatever he wanted was important enough to respect me. Respect my name.

“Can’t your old man just call to check in on his oldest… child? I haven’t heard from you in forever, kiddo.”

“Yeah, it’s not exactly tempting to call after you’ve been kicked out to live on the streets. How did you find this number anyways?”

He hemmed and hawed for a moment. “That’s not important. I’m just calling to check in on you, see how you’re doing these days.”

“Just calling to check up on me? You call 10 times in a row and leave 8 voicemails just to check in? Your monthly text messages are just checking in. What do you want?”

“Do I have to want something?”

“You don't have to but you always do. I’ll hang up-”

“It’s your sister.”

“She’s not my sister. She’s your stepchild. I have no relationship with her, you’ve both made that perfectly clear when you kicked me out.”

“I had no choice, Danny, I-”

I cut him off, “I’m hanging up now, Robert.” He hated when I called him by his first name. I wondered if he saw the irony in it.

“That’s not how you address your father, Daniel.”

True to my word, I hung up. I dropped the phone in my lap and watched the screen light up as it began to ring again.

Incoming call from Unknown Caller

I let it go to voicemail as I had so many times already. There was almost nothing he could say that would make me want to talk to him again. I had been successfully without them for almost three years now. He didn’t get to just waltz back into my life just because his snot nosed little princess wanted something from me. 

Incoming call from Unknown Caller

I ignored it again and tossed my phone across the room to my bed. The vibrations were lost in the mess of pillows, blankets, and laundry I had yet to put away. I didn’t want to talk to him anymore. I was tired of trying to deal with him and his perfect little replacement family. I didn’t need them in my life and they clearly didn’t want me in theirs. Robert would have reached out years ago if he really wanted me. When I had needed him. But his precious baby girl always comes first. 

12 missed calls from Unknown Caller

9 new voicemails

April 4, 2019 18:22pm

Unknown Number

Flora, I’m sorry. Please talk to me. We need your help.

Incoming call from Unknown Caller

“What do you want?”

“I already told you, it’s your sister.”

I ignored the part about Evelyn being my sister again. He wasn’t going to stop pushing the Happy Family Narrative for some reason. Sandra and Evelyn would never be my family. He was no longer my family. They had made that perfectly clear. 

“And what does your perfect little angel need from me now? She already has my room. And my dog. Not to mention my house, oh! And my father.”

“I do not appreciate that tone, Dan-Flora. Flora. I’m sorry, I’m not used to it yet. I thought you would get over that phase.”

“You’ve had four years to get  used to it. That isn’t making me want to help you, Robert.”

He sucked in his breath through his teeth, making a faint whistling noise. “She’s really sick. She’s been in the hospital for a while now. Her kidneys are failing and she could really use her big brother right now.”

“I’m not her brother. I’m not her anything. She barely knows me, I don’t know why she would suddenly change her mind about me. She made it pretty clear that she hates me.”

“Well, the thing is. . .we could save her if we were to get a kidney transplant. Her mother and I aren’t a match though and we were really hop-”

“Are you kidding me? Like are you freaking serious?”

“Well, Da-Flora, your little baby sister’s life is at risk. We wouldn’t be asking if we had any other options. We need to see if you're a match to be a donor for her.”

“You’re pathetic, Robert. You value one daughter over the other. You wouldn’t give me the time of day if your precious baby wasn’t sick! You said so yourself, I’m a last resort! You haven’t talked to me since you kicked me out and suddenly you want to play happy family so I will give you my kidney? No. Not happening. Find someone else to manipulate.”

I hung up the phone again and hurled it across the room, not caring where it landed. Tears raced down my cheeks as I angrily swiped them away. I had dreamed what it would feel like for my parents to come crawling back to me, begging for me to be back in their lives. I had some big dramatic speech planned, more eloquent than the short one I had just shouted at my father. I wanted to revel in the fact that they recognized their mistakes and were finally going to accept me. I wanted the joy of rejecting them the way that they had done to me. But they had even stolen that from me too.

Evelyn was the reason I was kicked out of my father’s house in the first place. She had to be the one to out me to them. She was used to being an only child and desperately wanted to get rid of me. So she told them everything, sugarcoated it in lies that would outrage them, and waved goodbye as they kicked me to the curb. But now she “desperately needed” me to give her my kidney.

I could hear Robert blowing up my phone. I wasn’t going to answer anymore, the fire had left my lungs, leaving only the emptiness to keep me company. I felt like a balloon a week after a kids birthday party, sad and forgotten. All I was was an extra kidney to them. You spend most of your life looking up to your parents. Only for them to kick you out at 15 for “being a freak” and having no one to turn to. When they finally want you back, it’s just for your pieces. You can’t just pick and choose what aspects of a person you want in your life. You get all of them or none of them. You can’t just choose to be in their life on their good days or when you want something from them. If you can’t support someone when they need you the most then you don’t have the right to ask them to support you in return.

It was a hard lesson to learn, but I had three years to practice for it. I crawled across my floor to pick up my phone. The screen had cracked in the corner, tiny slivers splintering off from the edge. I had 21 missed calls and 18 voicemails. Most were from Robert, but a few were from other family members who had helped me when I was on the streets.

Voicemail from Aunt May

“Flora, honey, I know it’s hard right now, but please consider Evelyn. She’s innocent in all this. I know she isn’t your favorite, especially with the way they treated you after the divorce, but she’s a child. You don’t even know if you’re a match or not, we just want you to get tested to see. It’s a child’s life on the line honey. Please consider it. Love you, bye”

Voicemail from Grandma C

“Daniel, your father just called me. I can’t believe how selfish you’re being! This is a child’s life at stake and you won’t even try to see if you could be a donor? How could you be so heartless to your family? We didn’t raise you to be so cold hearted. This is a child for Christssake and you won’t even try. The amount of spite you have in your soul is wretched. You need to really consider what is important to you.”

I couldn’t stand to listen to any more voicemails. I didn’t care what anyone else had to say. I scrolled through my contacts and blocked Robert. I blocked his mother as well. Aunt May’s message hurt the most. She knew what I had been through, She had supported me the most when I had come out but here she was telling me that Evelyn had done nothing wrong. 

They had abandoned me when I needed them the most. Was I going to do the same to them now that the tables had turned? I powered my phone completely off, my solemn reflection staring back at me in the black empty screen. Yes, I think I was.