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A Letter

To My Brother-In-Law

By Joy ErgangPublished 6 years ago 4 min read
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Dear Brother-In-Law,

I've noticed that you are a tortured soul. Lashing out when the expectations you have set up for yourself aren't met. Placing blame on others for actions you alone have committed. Afraid to ask for help when you need it the most, because it may damage your ego. I know you don't like me, and I don't like you. You take on an alter ego when the truth hits you in the face, and it is never a sugar coated lie to boost your insecurity. Oh, brother-in-law, how can you possibly dismiss all the pain and torment you have caused and created? Those who have given you all their time and energy to keep you quiet have never been good enough for you. You change your stories so many times that they are difficult to believe. Whenever you get called out on your charades, even with all the proof, you do everything in your power to deny the truth, causing the worlds of the people you supposedly love crumble apart. If you are even half the man that you boast yourself to be, then why do you create such a path of disaster and destruction?

Brother-in-law, I've noticed the expectations and demands you have put on others. You give them because you are afraid you cannot achieve them yourself. Expecting failure, only to see them achieve beyond belief. So cowardly and diminished to living alone, that you damaged my sister to the point that she's the exact person she sworn she'd never be. A submissive pawn now suffering a reality she never wanted. You don't even realize how much better off she would be without you.

Brother-in-law, don't you see the pain and fear that you unnecessarily put in your children's eyes and lives? They are afraid to tell the adults close to them for any kind of help, let alone to share their feelings when they need to talk about something. The things that they confided in me are absolutely heart wrenching. I know that children can have wild imaginations, yet I have given them my trust that I would not tell you what they really think about you. It's sad that they want to get away from you, and know where they want to go.

Shockingly, it doesn't pain me to be writing this. I am no longer living in fear of your disdain for me. The time I take out of my life on a weekly basis to tend to your children and basic living area is beginning to be done in vain. Your expectations of what I am supposed to be doing constantly changes more than a girl changes clothes. I put so much effort, even on the days that I'm not doing so well, into trying to make things look presentable. Too much of my life has been put aside to cater to you. I'm not the fat, lazy bitch you perceive me to be. You have taken me for granted for far too long. Not knowing how many times I have contemplated suicide because I let you too far under my skin. I don't owe you anything, and you don't owe me. I feel like I've been to hell and back multiple times for what I now realize, for no apparent reason, just to satisfy you. Now I am one of many people that has seen through the veneer you've applied to yourself. You feel like a caged animal that has something to hide. I've made my mistakes and, unlike you, I am more than happy to admit to them. For some reason, I get a sense that you are threatened whenever I am around. The many times I've kept my mouth shut for the sake of not having an argument, you should be counting your blessings.

I don't know the twisted personal reality you are living in, yet as far as I'm concerned, both of us want me out of it. All of the behind the scenes things I do just isn't worth it any more. You made me see the person that I never want to be or to be with. I am getting the help that I need. The only one that is being taken advantage of here is me. I have never seen anyone so ungrateful for all the help and support you have been receiving in my life. You are truly a piece of work that even the greatest artists, past and present, wouldn't be able to conceive for their masterpieces. I could continue to write out the truth that I have seen over the years, yet I have consumed enough time to write you this letter. I certainly do hope that karma has what you deserve in store really soon.

Insincerely,

Your sister-in-law

siblings
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About the Creator

Joy Ergang

Avid poet and writer.

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