As I closed the trunk and got in, I heard the front door creek open again. This time it was Ryan. He didn’t yell. He didn’t smirk.
He just leaned against the railing with a soda in his hand and called out, “You seriously think anyone’s going to miss you?”
I rolled down the window just enough and looked him dead in the eye.
“No,” I said, “but they’ll miss what I brought.”
Then I backed out of the driveway, watching the house shrink in the rearview mirror. The house I used to think I belonged to. The house that had taken so much and given so little.
But what happened after I drove away? That’s the part no one expected. And it’s where the real fallout began.
It took exactly 3 days for the first message to come in. Not from Ryan, not from my dad, but from Denise.
It was a short text, cold, sterile. Hey, just noticed the thermostat system is offline. Could you check it? The house feels like an ice box.
I didn’t reply.
Instead, I screenshotted the message, archived it, and moved on with my day. See, what Denise didn’t realize, what none of them realized was just how much I’ve been holding together in that house.
The smart thermostat registered in my name. The mobile app that let them adjust the temperature from their phones, licensed through my account.
I had set up the Wi-Fi mesh system, linked the devices, made sure their router firmware stayed updated. Every time Ryan bragged about how modern and seamless their home was, he was bragging about my labor, my money.
Later that afternoon, my phone buzzed again, this time from Ellie. Hey, not sure what’s going on, but none of the TVs are working. Did you cancel something?
I considered replying. Ellie was the only one who ever came close to treating me like a person. But then I remembered the dozens of times she looked away when Denise took verbal jabs at me.
The way she laughed nervously but still laughed whenever Ryan said something cruel. I didn’t owe her anything.
Instead, I logged into my streaming service accounts, Netflix, Hulu, Prime, and hit the sign out of all devices button on every single one. I changed the passwords, added to FA.
The next morning, the group chat lit up.
Dad texted, “Alex, is there a reason all the house lights are flickering?”
Ryan texted, “Bro, what is this? My Xbox won’t connect. Did you mess with the Wi-Fi?”