Emory and Emerald were half-siblings, not due to adultery, but due to polygamy, their father married two different women and made a baby by Emerald's mother and made a baby by Emory's mother and they were both Emery and Emerald.
Emory and Emerald were having a lot of issues in their home because while Emory was the favorite, Emerald was not, Emerald was even named by her mother, not her father.
Their Father couldn't give two craps about Emerald, he gave 3,000 craps about Emory and her mom.
Emerald knew this and just hated it.
Things reached the breaking point once it was revealed that Emerald was going to be taken away by CPS due to child neglect because while emerald's mother was very kind to her, she wasn't the greatest mother when it came to childcare and due to how little the father gave them and how little they were able to take out of the money because while Emery had a great relationship with her half-sister, their parents hated each other.
Emerald's father hated Emerald's mother.
Emerald's father's second wife hated Emerald's mother and Emerald and would never allow them to have money to buy the things that they needed and she was definitely never going to allow them to get money to pay for Emerald.
The worst part of the most sad part was that Emerald never really had a father that would even give her money.
Emory and Emerald are both Palestinian and Racially Samaritan (Descendants of Samaritans) Since most descendants of The Samaritan race converted to Christianity in Modern times, which is when this story takes place (Early 2000's) Emory and Emerald were both Christians.
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While Emery and Emerald were living with their father, who was the Samaritan while their mothers were Palestinians, and while their father claimed to be Christian, he wasn't doing a good job at it.
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Emory and Emerald played backyard baseball together, in the house their father was yelling at their mothers.
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Covertly, Emerald was writing a long complaint letter to her father about his treatment of her and her mother.
Even though her father was supposed to be a prophet, things got in so bad that, while in the past, Emerald was a very good girl, trying not to disrespect him because he was a prophet and It can get you in trouble with God if you disrespect a prophet, now, things got so bad in their relationship, Emerald wrote an entire rant letter about how bad he was and how bad of a husband, how bad of a father he was to Emerald.
Emerald didn't really care that God was going to get back at Emerald for it because Emerald just wanted some change.
Emerald actually wanted the rant to hurt her father's feelings because she felt that if the rent hurts her father's feelings, it will induce him to change.
Emerald went to her room and sat on the chair and picked up a pen and pencil and wrote down...
Note:
"Dear dad, you aren't a good prophet because you have two wives," this part of the note God actually agreed with, he's also not a good prophet because of his behavior and just how badly he treated his daughter.
The rest of the note:
"You hate my mom and you treat her like garbage! Did you know she gave birth to me so that you would love me? You're a neglectful father and despite the fact that we live with you, you won't let us have any food or give us any water. I know Mom isn't the best mom, and I can do things for myself but throughout my entire childhood, I had to take care of myself. What's worse is that, even when I went to you for help or just for money so I could buy my own food, you always said 'no,' because my stepmom wanted me to be starving and my stepmom never treated me like an actual human being, more like just a child of a woman that she never wanted her husband to be with and I totally understand but I feel like I was The unwanted object." Emerald sobbed and then cried and then went back to writing.
"You never loved me. I was never a person to any of you, all of you saw me as a take party gift that broke. You didn't even want me in the first place. You kicked mom out 12 times because she had to steal money to get food from you, she stopped stealing you kicked her out four more times because your wife was just angry her for stealing your money, it's wrong to steal but if you had just given us money to take care of ourselves we never would have stolen from you. Mom doesn't get a job and that's annoying, luckily, since I'm old enough to get a job, I have one at the burger store which you prominently went to and tried to get me to get fired because, apparently, a burger job is not good enough for your prim, perfect family even though you're a polygamist dude in a family that sucks. You act like you are entirely perfect. Always. You are a narcissist and I am your scapegoat. Emory is The Golden child."
Emory walks in saying "Hey!" Emerald was too busy writing, so busy, that she's zoned out and just kept writing.
"One of the worst things is that you never really helped me. Even as a father, if you didn't want to give us any money, you could have at least paid for us to have health care or let us go get the food in the fridge even though your wife never really wanted us to and always claimed everything as hers and Emory's. I can't pay for my own health care and I can't pay for the hospital bills and I still don't have any of the medications I've needed, self-medicating and herbal remedies are all that I have especially since I had to sneak on your computer to learn any for my asthma. I have sinuses and even though my mom tried to take me to a doctor which is shocking since my mom usually never did anything like that and I guess it's because we couldn't pay the bill, all the medications that were prescribed to me were never bought, the place where I work pays me minimum wage, $79, it's how much my medicine cost when I need to buy food and water. Food and water May cost up to $100 depending on how much you buy, or $70, sometimes, even less and that's at the stores we buy food from. The ones nearby are garbage."
Emory asks "WHAT are you writing?" Emerald kept writing "I remember when you bought me a pack of oranges, I was neglected, so I was in shock, you wanna know as shocked me more? The Oranges look like tiny rotten pumpkins. Well, I do know that, sometimes, stores pick or even remove foods that don't look normal like a double mutated carrot. I wouldn't mind because you shouldn't waste food, even if they do look like double mutated carrots, as long as they're healthy, it's okay. But, no, you gave me a rotten orange. Lots of them. You're only upset when Emory mistook them for a pumpkin and ate their inside which I told her not to because the insides looked really weird and we were both 5 years old at the time."
Emerald cried and then wrote in the letter "Dad, I know I was hard to take care of but think about me for a change, the reason I was so hard to take care of was because I needed a lot, other parents care about their kids well-beings and that's a good thing, they see their children as people, is she the most people that you need to take care of and love but when you don't love a child you see them as just a baby, you see them as just a burden, or nothing that's actually alive or that's worth anything. This is how I feel you make me feel. It's kind of hard to explain but this is as close as I can get it."
Emerald got these horrible ideas just by looking at her father's behavior.
Emory hugged Emerald saying "I love you!"
Emerald thought for a bit and then thought "Do I even qualify as a burden to my father when my father doesn't do anything for me?" All in all it was always her mother that tried to do her best for her even if her mother wasn't perfect, emerald also had to usually take good care of herself.
Emerald began to wonder, was she really a burden? Was she really a burden to a person that never really took the burden on? He most likely does see her as a burden but he never took it on and she does understand that no one wants to raise kids if they knew how hard they were, what Emerald knew that her dad didn't have to treat her so poorly.
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Her feelings are more of "Do I really have a reason to feel like I'm a burden to him, right now, currently? Because, right now, currently, he's not even taking care of me for me to be a burden to him..."
Next week, Emerald was already packing her bags because she knew that she was going to be moving out pretty soon, just going to be staying at the camp. Emory didn't want to come because Emory had a good life with her mother and father, but she also didn't want to lose her sister Emerald.
Emerald's mom was already moving out by now and Emerald felt like a burden, pretty much.
If there was anyone she felt like a burden to, it was her mother, Emerald living in poverty with her mom practically because their father would not provide them money to take care of themselves and the money their father had they wouldn't give to them and the fridge was locked up so they couldn't get to the food.
Emerald's father really didn't see her as a person and really didn't care anything for her. Emerald took her bag and walked out of her bedroom door and walked out of the front door.
Her father was there and watching but he wouldn't do anything. He didn't care where she went or where she would spend her days, she could be gone for 6 days at a time, which happened but he didn't do anything.
Emerald always knew her father even questioned her paternity but did her father even care if he was her father?
She ended up just walking out of the house.
TO be continued....