My parents always favored my sister — but I never expected them to insist she walk down the aisle first at my wedding, in a white dress! Nonetheless, we agreed with a smile. My fiancé and I had a plan to make them pay. The trap was set. The fallout? Brutal and utterly poetic!

My parents made it clear from the beginning that my sister was the golden child, and I was the afterthought. I learned this lesson early and repeatedly, like a stubborn stain that never quite washes out. Every birthday in our house was Melissa’s show, even when it was technically mine. Mom didn’t even ask me what flavor cake I wanted, she asked Melissa instead! It sounds ludicrous, I know, but it really was that bad.

Family outings followed the same pattern. Beach or mountains? Ask Melissa. Movie or mini-golf? Whatever Melissa felt like doing. My preferences hung in the air like ghosts. But it wasn’t worth arguing about. Nothing ever was. By 13, I’d learned that everything Melissa did would be lauded, while all my mistakes and perceived faults would be relentlessly criticized. I was the shadow to Melissa’s spotlight, but in that shadow was safety. If I was quiet en ugh, meek enough, agreeable enough, they ignored me.

Then came high school, and Melissa’s downfall. The popular crowd that had embraced her in middle school suddenly turned against her. Without her social circle, she directed her cruelty inward — straight at me. “Carla stole money from my purse!” she told Mom one night while I was doing homework in the next room. “I did not!” I shouted from the dining room.

Mom appeared in the doorway, arms crossed. “Melissa would never lie to us. You need to return whatever you took.” “But I didn’t take anything!” My voice cracked with frustration. “This attitude is exactly the problem,” Dad chimed in, suddenly materializing behind Mom. “Why can’t you be more like your sister?” Behind them, out of sight, Melissa smiled. The rumors spread from home to school. According to Melissa, I cheated on tests, talked behind teachers’ backs, and stole lip gloss from other girls’ lockers.

None of it was true, but truth wasn’t the point; isolation was. And it worked. “I don’t think you should hang out with Kayla anymore,” Mom announced one Friday as I was getting ready to meet my friend at the mall. “What? Why not?” “Melissa mentioned she’s been a bad influence.” One by one, my friendships withered under Melissa’s toxic attention. My parents believed every word from her mouth was gospel and every defense from mine was a lie. The rest of my teens were lonely years.

But I didn’t let them break me. I was plotting my escape, and studying hard was step one. Years later, my hard work bore fruit when I earned a full scholarship to a college in the neighboring state, miles away. I hid in the bathroom and cried when I got the news, tears of pure relief streaming down my face. I was getting out! College was like stepping into another dimension. I could have friends again! I found my voice in writing classes and started to untangle some of the hurt in my psychology elective.

And then I met Ryan. I was sitting alone in the library, lost in a book, when he sat down across from me. We talked until the library closed. Then we talked over coffee. Then dinner. Then, somehow, two years passed, and one night, he knelt on one knee in our tiny apartment and asked me to marry him. “Yes,” I said, and for once, I didn’t worry about what anyone else thought. We planned a modest wedding for close friends and family in a small venue with simple decorations. Since we were paying for everything ourselves, we’d decided to go small with the wedding so we could splurge on the honeymoon. Then my parents called. “We want to help with the wedding,” Mom said. “We want to do this for you.” My parents wanted to do something for me?