I'm not a spoiled brat who just expects her parents to be there with the checkbook whenever I need money. My parents have never shown compassion or love my entire life any other way except giving money and paying for things. Giving money is literally the only way my parents know how to show they love their children. So to me, when they say they can't help me financially when they know I'm struggling to pay my bills, and then rub it in my face that the reason they can't help is because they have to pay my brother's rent, sends me the message that they don't love me. So it's not just an expectation to get money for the sake of getting money. To my parents, giving money equals love. No money means they don't love you. So it hurts to know my parents love a drug addict who doesn't even care if he lives or not, and they don't love me.

No, he doesn't have AIDS yet, but his lack of immune system has caused him to be hospitalized 3 times in the past few months. My brother has always been stubborn to the point of not even caring about his own health. Every time he ended up in the hospital is because someone, even strangers on the street, called 911 or forced him to go. He won't even admit he has HIV even when it's in black and white on paper.

My mother doesn't care if I'm happy or not or if I'm stressed or not. She would rather me be totally miserable as long as it meant I was still coming over, because that way my mom can live in her fantasy world and pretend she has one big happy family. My parents really do only care about themselves and how things look to the outside world.

We don't have any relatives nearby, so unless my parents have told them, none of them know the truth. Since my brother hasn't lived here for 6 years, it was easy for my parents to lie to their friends.