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My sister messaged me
Aug. 2nd, 2024 09:34 pmMy sister, Lorena, just messaged me asking for 30 dollars. I wish I had 30 dollars, but I just checked my bank account, and my balance is $19.75. It's not that far from 30, but I'm not willing to send over all I have.
I asked her if she wanted me to ask Dad for the money, and surprisingly, she agreed. Those two don't really get along. Like, ever. So now I have to wait until morning to ask him, because my mom believes that if I tell him right now, he won't be able to sleep from the anger.
Lorena is a really interesting character. She's extremely morally grey. Some might say she's even a bad person, but I don't think that. I just think she's, to put it plainly, stupid.
She had been living in our house (consisting of my dad, mom, brother, and me), and since we only have three bedrooms, her bedroom was the living room. She slept on a futon and constantly complained about how it made her back ache.
While she lived with us, which was roughly a year, she made me keep a bunch of secrets. The biggest one was that she sold drugs. I've accompanied her to multiple "pickups" where she acquired mostly cocaine and sometimes weed. She claims not to use either, but who really knows with her. The second secret was that she was in constant communication with an abusive ex-boyfriend named Brayan. And when I say abusive, I mean abusive. She would tell me how she feared for her life and how he hit her for any reason. Her inability to cut him off was always puzzling to me.
I guess I should start at the beginning.
Roughly two years ago, Lorena told the whole family that she had a new boyfriend and wanted all of us to meet him. I didn't really care until she mentioned that he was twenty-three. This caused many eyebrows to raise because she was thirty-eight. Why would someone pushing forty (no offense to any forty-year-olds out there) want to start a relationship with a man almost half her age? Hell, I'm closer in age to him than she is. But, of course, it was "none of our business," my other sisters said.
She would never shut up about him whenever she came to visit. She claimed that he came from a rich family in Houston and that his mother was a doctor. I just wanted to mention this because Brayan can't speak a lick of English, but his mother is a well-off doctor here in the U.S.?
Eventually, she did bring him over. I remember I was eating at the table when they both came in. I honestly can't recall what he looks like. All I remember is that he was a bit stocky (not in a fit kind of way), with a double chin and a weird baby face. Despite the face, he looked way older than twenty-three. They left in a hurry, and I can't seem to recall why they even showed up in the first place; my dad didn't even get a chance to meet him. But as they were leaving, she asked me to walk her out. He had hurried back to the car, and she told me that Brayan beats her.
I didn't really know what to do with this information. She just told me not to tell my mom because it would worry her. And I didn't, because, well, I'm pretty good at keeping secrets.
One day, one of my other sisters, Alex, called my mom, telling her that she and her husband (also named Alex) had to buy Lorena a new pair of glasses because Brayan had punched her so hard he broke them in half. They took pictures of the injuries, but Lorena insisted that she didn't want to get the police involved because Brayan wasn't here legally. (How isn't he here legally if his mom is a rich doctor in the U.S.?) And even though everyone was worried for her, there really was nothing we could do if she didn't want to do anything for herself. But everyone soured on Brayan. Once, Dad refused to let him into the house when he came over, and Lorena left angry because of it. Why is she mad that Dad didn't want to let a man into his house that hurt one of his daughters? I don't know.
Shortly thereafter, Lorena lost her job. She worked as a caregiver for senior citizens, and the job, at its core, isn't very stable, but for some reason, she wasn't able to bounce back from the loss of this one. I assume it's because she was in a relationship with a man who beat her. At the very same time, my other sister, Jessica, was kicking her out of her house. Jess was kind of peer-pressured into making Lorena leave the house by her longtime boyfriend, Angel. To be fair, she had been living with them and Jess's son, Moses, for almost a decade. I believe both of these losses were her breaking point.
She began living in her car with Brayan, and the abuse heightened. During one of the winter freezes, she called my dad asking if the house was unlocked (we had gone over to Jess's house because she had power and running water), and he said no. Jess then called her and asked if she wanted to come over to her house instead, with the condition that she couldn't bring Brayan. She refused.
Eventually, you could say that Lorena came to her senses and left Brayan. She then asked Dad if it was okay if she could sleep on the couch until she got everything together. Dad obliged. Despite their differences and fights, he loves her.
My mom says that Lorena had it made at our house. Despite sleeping on the futon, she didn't have to clean, pay any bills (she did help us with groceries sometimes), and for the most part, she didn't have to adhere to any house rules. Because of this, she had a lot of extra money to spend.
She loved asking me if I wanted to accompany her to every store she went to. I believe she did this because she disliked being by herself, and a large part of her wanted to show off. She loved to buy shoes, and her shoes HAD to match her clothes. Shoes this, shoes that, she would not shut up about them. I don't know anything about shoes. I wear the same pair of black Converse every day, and she was always making side comments about them. "Your shoes are really dirty. I always keep my shoes clean." Once, I accidentally brushed past her feet because I tripped, and she was so angry. "You're going to clean my shoes!" I looked down at them, and there wasn't a single spot on them. The only reason I didn't end up cleaning them was that my mom saw the whole thing and defended me.
Anyway, while living with us, she had an abundance of money and truly believed that because of it, she now had the upper hand on Brayan. And to be fair, he did beg for her to come back to him. I asked her if she was stupid enough to actually go back to him, and she said, "I just like to keep him around to boost my ego." Stupid.
Not even a month ago, she finally moved out to Kyle, Texas, with a girl named Lani. Another stupid decision. Lani was eighteen years old. She looks way older, though. She's just a bit taller than me (for reference, I'm 5'2"), has a wide body, hazel eyes, and frizzy hair. Lani is Ophelia's daughter. Lorena lived with her before she moved in with us. Ophelia kicked her out when she found out that Lorena was letting Lani sneak in her boyfriend. She also kicked Lani out, and she went to live with her boyfriend. Lorena said all the time that Lani hated her in-laws.
Right before they moved in together, I told her it wasn't the smartest decision to go live with a freshly turned eighteen-year-old. She was adamant that Lani was a responsible girl (assuming she meant more responsible than me) who cooked, cleaned, and worked hard at her job. Whatever, it's your life, I thought to myself.
A week after they moved in together, she asked me if I could help her transport a mattress she had found on Craigslist all the way to her apartment in Kyle. I said yes, thinking she was going to buy me lunch or something. Spoiler alert: she didn't.
On our way there, she told me that Brayan had spent the night. I was in complete and utter shock. Why would she let that man into her apartment that, mind you, she shared with an eighteen-year-old? Anything could have happened to her!
He was constantly calling her on the road, and she was getting visibly angrier and angrier. Apparently, since she didn't have a bed, he was sleeping on an air mattress in her room, and she was sleeping on the COUCH! What? Do you not have standards?
On the final call he made, she asked him to deflate and put up the air mattress so that when we got there, all we had to do was place it in the room.
Surprise, surprise, he couldn't even do that. To my eyes, there were no signs in the apartment that he had been there, but to Lorena, there was a pile of them. When she saw the air mattress still in her bedroom, she flew off the handle. I don't think I've ever seen someone angrier.
Lani was there with her boyfriend, and she asked Lorena if she could go to Verizon since they had a plan together. We went there in separate cars, and on the way there, she started crying out of frustration that nobody helps her around the house, not Lani or Brayan.
I asked her why she doesn't just kick Brayan out of her apartment. She whispered that she can't.
So here we are now. She's asking me for thirty dollars and has to wait for morning to get it. I don't think she'll ever learn her lesson.
I know it kind of sounds like I've painted Lorena as a victim while telling this story, but believe me, I've left around 75% of the story out. There's just too much to recount, and she's done so much damage to the people around me. But I don't want to villainize her; after all, she's not evil, just stupid.
On a lighter note, I finished the 4th volume of Remnants of Filth today!! I love this series so much, I share a deep history with it. I do hate waiting 4-5 months for each volume though, but today I found a website is a pretty amateur, but completed, translation. Debating on reading it all on there, but I want to own and read the physical versions too!! What a dilemma I'm in.
I asked her if she wanted me to ask Dad for the money, and surprisingly, she agreed. Those two don't really get along. Like, ever. So now I have to wait until morning to ask him, because my mom believes that if I tell him right now, he won't be able to sleep from the anger.
Lorena is a really interesting character. She's extremely morally grey. Some might say she's even a bad person, but I don't think that. I just think she's, to put it plainly, stupid.
She had been living in our house (consisting of my dad, mom, brother, and me), and since we only have three bedrooms, her bedroom was the living room. She slept on a futon and constantly complained about how it made her back ache.
While she lived with us, which was roughly a year, she made me keep a bunch of secrets. The biggest one was that she sold drugs. I've accompanied her to multiple "pickups" where she acquired mostly cocaine and sometimes weed. She claims not to use either, but who really knows with her. The second secret was that she was in constant communication with an abusive ex-boyfriend named Brayan. And when I say abusive, I mean abusive. She would tell me how she feared for her life and how he hit her for any reason. Her inability to cut him off was always puzzling to me.
I guess I should start at the beginning.
Roughly two years ago, Lorena told the whole family that she had a new boyfriend and wanted all of us to meet him. I didn't really care until she mentioned that he was twenty-three. This caused many eyebrows to raise because she was thirty-eight. Why would someone pushing forty (no offense to any forty-year-olds out there) want to start a relationship with a man almost half her age? Hell, I'm closer in age to him than she is. But, of course, it was "none of our business," my other sisters said.
She would never shut up about him whenever she came to visit. She claimed that he came from a rich family in Houston and that his mother was a doctor. I just wanted to mention this because Brayan can't speak a lick of English, but his mother is a well-off doctor here in the U.S.?
Eventually, she did bring him over. I remember I was eating at the table when they both came in. I honestly can't recall what he looks like. All I remember is that he was a bit stocky (not in a fit kind of way), with a double chin and a weird baby face. Despite the face, he looked way older than twenty-three. They left in a hurry, and I can't seem to recall why they even showed up in the first place; my dad didn't even get a chance to meet him. But as they were leaving, she asked me to walk her out. He had hurried back to the car, and she told me that Brayan beats her.
I didn't really know what to do with this information. She just told me not to tell my mom because it would worry her. And I didn't, because, well, I'm pretty good at keeping secrets.
One day, one of my other sisters, Alex, called my mom, telling her that she and her husband (also named Alex) had to buy Lorena a new pair of glasses because Brayan had punched her so hard he broke them in half. They took pictures of the injuries, but Lorena insisted that she didn't want to get the police involved because Brayan wasn't here legally. (How isn't he here legally if his mom is a rich doctor in the U.S.?) And even though everyone was worried for her, there really was nothing we could do if she didn't want to do anything for herself. But everyone soured on Brayan. Once, Dad refused to let him into the house when he came over, and Lorena left angry because of it. Why is she mad that Dad didn't want to let a man into his house that hurt one of his daughters? I don't know.
Shortly thereafter, Lorena lost her job. She worked as a caregiver for senior citizens, and the job, at its core, isn't very stable, but for some reason, she wasn't able to bounce back from the loss of this one. I assume it's because she was in a relationship with a man who beat her. At the very same time, my other sister, Jessica, was kicking her out of her house. Jess was kind of peer-pressured into making Lorena leave the house by her longtime boyfriend, Angel. To be fair, she had been living with them and Jess's son, Moses, for almost a decade. I believe both of these losses were her breaking point.
She began living in her car with Brayan, and the abuse heightened. During one of the winter freezes, she called my dad asking if the house was unlocked (we had gone over to Jess's house because she had power and running water), and he said no. Jess then called her and asked if she wanted to come over to her house instead, with the condition that she couldn't bring Brayan. She refused.
Eventually, you could say that Lorena came to her senses and left Brayan. She then asked Dad if it was okay if she could sleep on the couch until she got everything together. Dad obliged. Despite their differences and fights, he loves her.
My mom says that Lorena had it made at our house. Despite sleeping on the futon, she didn't have to clean, pay any bills (she did help us with groceries sometimes), and for the most part, she didn't have to adhere to any house rules. Because of this, she had a lot of extra money to spend.
She loved asking me if I wanted to accompany her to every store she went to. I believe she did this because she disliked being by herself, and a large part of her wanted to show off. She loved to buy shoes, and her shoes HAD to match her clothes. Shoes this, shoes that, she would not shut up about them. I don't know anything about shoes. I wear the same pair of black Converse every day, and she was always making side comments about them. "Your shoes are really dirty. I always keep my shoes clean." Once, I accidentally brushed past her feet because I tripped, and she was so angry. "You're going to clean my shoes!" I looked down at them, and there wasn't a single spot on them. The only reason I didn't end up cleaning them was that my mom saw the whole thing and defended me.
Anyway, while living with us, she had an abundance of money and truly believed that because of it, she now had the upper hand on Brayan. And to be fair, he did beg for her to come back to him. I asked her if she was stupid enough to actually go back to him, and she said, "I just like to keep him around to boost my ego." Stupid.
Not even a month ago, she finally moved out to Kyle, Texas, with a girl named Lani. Another stupid decision. Lani was eighteen years old. She looks way older, though. She's just a bit taller than me (for reference, I'm 5'2"), has a wide body, hazel eyes, and frizzy hair. Lani is Ophelia's daughter. Lorena lived with her before she moved in with us. Ophelia kicked her out when she found out that Lorena was letting Lani sneak in her boyfriend. She also kicked Lani out, and she went to live with her boyfriend. Lorena said all the time that Lani hated her in-laws.
Right before they moved in together, I told her it wasn't the smartest decision to go live with a freshly turned eighteen-year-old. She was adamant that Lani was a responsible girl (assuming she meant more responsible than me) who cooked, cleaned, and worked hard at her job. Whatever, it's your life, I thought to myself.
A week after they moved in together, she asked me if I could help her transport a mattress she had found on Craigslist all the way to her apartment in Kyle. I said yes, thinking she was going to buy me lunch or something. Spoiler alert: she didn't.
On our way there, she told me that Brayan had spent the night. I was in complete and utter shock. Why would she let that man into her apartment that, mind you, she shared with an eighteen-year-old? Anything could have happened to her!
He was constantly calling her on the road, and she was getting visibly angrier and angrier. Apparently, since she didn't have a bed, he was sleeping on an air mattress in her room, and she was sleeping on the COUCH! What? Do you not have standards?
On the final call he made, she asked him to deflate and put up the air mattress so that when we got there, all we had to do was place it in the room.
Surprise, surprise, he couldn't even do that. To my eyes, there were no signs in the apartment that he had been there, but to Lorena, there was a pile of them. When she saw the air mattress still in her bedroom, she flew off the handle. I don't think I've ever seen someone angrier.
Lani was there with her boyfriend, and she asked Lorena if she could go to Verizon since they had a plan together. We went there in separate cars, and on the way there, she started crying out of frustration that nobody helps her around the house, not Lani or Brayan.
I asked her why she doesn't just kick Brayan out of her apartment. She whispered that she can't.
So here we are now. She's asking me for thirty dollars and has to wait for morning to get it. I don't think she'll ever learn her lesson.
I know it kind of sounds like I've painted Lorena as a victim while telling this story, but believe me, I've left around 75% of the story out. There's just too much to recount, and she's done so much damage to the people around me. But I don't want to villainize her; after all, she's not evil, just stupid.
On a lighter note, I finished the 4th volume of Remnants of Filth today!! I love this series so much, I share a deep history with it. I do hate waiting 4-5 months for each volume though, but today I found a website is a pretty amateur, but completed, translation. Debating on reading it all on there, but I want to own and read the physical versions too!! What a dilemma I'm in.
