A Future Not Worth Chasing

My brother and I were twins.

When his acceptance letter from Trinity University of Sports Science arrived, no one in our family could even smile.

My mom pressed the letter to her chest, sobbing too hard to speak. On the balcony, my dad crouched with a cigarette in his mouth, his hands shaking too much to light it.

Even my brother quietly tucked the train tickets for the graduation trip my childhood friend had planned into his pocket.

None of them could bring themselves to offer their congratulations.