Chapter 12 - Octavia’s Niece Was Also Being Used
The more we learned, the less useful:
spoiled niece
became.
Hadley was privileged.
Entitled sometimes.
Cruel sometimes.
Also ten.
She had been recruited emotionally into an adult’s relationship anxiety.
Octavia had no daughter.
She treated Hadley like one.
Shopping.
Trips.
Spa afternoons.
Fashion shows.
Celeste appreciated the bond.
Hadley adored her aunt.
Then Octavia began discussing Juniper.
Not intimate adult details.
Enough.
“Juniper gets everything.”
“Matthias cannot say no to her.”
“She knows crying works.”
“Hadley, you are so much tougher.”
Comparison.
Children weaponize comparison.
Hadley began arriving at our house expecting to prove herself.
She could ride a horse faster.
Eat foods Juniper disliked.
Sleep without night-light.
Sit through adult dinner.
Not cry when losing.
Each strength became evidence Juniper was inferior.
Octavia occasionally reinforced.
“You see? Hadley handles it.”
I had heard her say versions.
I thought she meant encouraging Juniper.
Now I saw competition.
Hadley herself was not spared.
She learned affection from Octavia came partly through being:
better than Juniper.
What happens when Juniper disappears from the contest?
Who is Hadley then?
Her therapist had to unwind that too.
No child should need another child to be weak in order to feel strong.
May you like
That sentence applied beyond this family.
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