You ever just feel like… you’re stuck playing the grown-up when you’re not even old enough to drive? I don’t know if this counts as like, a big confession or whatever. It’s just, you know when you have to do something over and over again for someone you love, but then they kinda… kick you in the teeth for it? That’s what it feels like. Like, sometimes you just wanna scream into a pillow, but then you remember you need to save up for *that* pillow, because you’re probably gonna have to bail someone out of trouble again. LOL. It’s funny, right? No, not really. My older sister, she’s like, twenty-two or something. And she just… doesn’t work. Like, ever. She says she’s an artist, which is cool, I guess, because I wanna be an artist too, some day, that’s like my whole thing. I spend all my free time drawing and stuff. But she just kinda sits around, waiting for her “muse” or whatever, and then her phone gets cut off, or she can’t pay her rent, and guess who gets the text? Yeah. Me. And I’m still in high school. I work after school at that comic book shop, saving every dollar, trying to put together enough to maybe go to art school, or just, you know, live my own life eventually. But it always goes to her. Always. And she just… expects it. Like it’s my job. And the worst part is? She’ll be out with her friends, and my friends are sometimes with them, because it’s a small town, whatever. And she’ll be like, oh, look at little [my name], saving his pennies like a little squirrel! So cute. And they all laugh. And I just wanna crawl into a hole and die. Like, yeah, I’m saving my pennies because I don’t wanna end up like you, sis! But you can’t say that, can you? Because then you’re the bad guy. You’re the ungrateful one. It’s like, I pay for her mistakes, and then she makes fun of me for being responsible enough to fix them. And I just keep doing it. I don’t know why. I don’t know how to stop. It just keeps happening. And I think I hate it. I really think I do. But what else am I supposed to do? Let her be homeless? It’s just… it’s a lot, you know? It’s just a lot for a kid who just wants to draw his stupid comics and not worry about grown-up stuff all the time.