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When Ryan was seven, he took his one-and-a-half-year-old sister downstairs to play.
He set her on a bench, turned away just long enough to get a cup of water.
When he returned, the bench was empty.
Security footage later showed someone had snatched her.
Human traffickers.
The shock drove Ryan’s mother into a daze; she died soon after in a car accident.
Ryan’s father blamed him entirely, convinced Ryan caused his wife and daughter’s deaths.
That became the cross Ryan bore for over a decade: the weight of "sin."
But the truth was, even before his mother died…
Ryan’s father was already cheating.
The other woman? Ryan’s future stepmother.
When Kyle’s biological father found out, heartbroken, he divorced and moved overseas.
So when Ryan was eight, his father married Kyle’s mother.
Kyle became his stepbrother.
Guilt-ridden, Ryan’s father spoiled Kyle rotten.
But Kyle hated his stepfather.
The rumors calling his mom a "homewrecker" and "cheater" stabbed his teenage pride.
Kyle knew his mom was wrong, but he couldn’t blame her, so he took it out on those around him.
Especially Ryan.
If it wasn’t for Ryan, his parents wouldn’t have divorced. His family wouldn’t have shattered. He wouldn’t be living like a guest in his own home.
So Ryan was the cause of everything.
That hatred peaked senior year.
Kyle turned rebellious, formed a crew at school.
And the quiet, submissive Ryan became his perfect, only target.
Ryan’s father, as always, turned a blind eye.
After all, Ryan was just… Ryan. Ordinary. Average.
While Kyle… Kyle Sullivan. Destined to shock the world.
Favoritism was obvious.
Maybe his father thought letting Kyle bully Ryan would vent his anger, shift the hatred.
Keep this cobbled-together family looking whole.
But that fragile peace shattered when Kyle turned twenty-two.
Ryan’s father cheated again.
History repeating itself broke Kyle’s mother. Her hair turned white overnight.
She wept constantly, regretting giving up her career and family for such a man.
Kyle came home, saw his mother drowning in tears.
That was the last straw.
Kyle snapped, stormed into his stepfather’s apartment, grabbed a kitchen knife—
Result: Stepfather dead. Kyle arrested. Kyle’s mother had a breakdown.
And Ryan… he was abandoned by the world, all over again.
This was the complete past I pieced together from Ryan and Kyle’s memories.
Now, looking at these two teenagers before me—
One bearing a burden of guilt not his own, living in self-imposed hell.
One hiding pain behind rage and hate, equally tormented inside.
Seven times, I was like a stupid Sisyphus, trying to fill a bottomless pit with crumbs of love.
Like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.
This time, knowing the whole truth…
Should I save?
Or give up?
After a long silence.
I suddenly looked up and shouted into the void:
"System."
