What’s the most disturbing thing you’ve seen happen at a family birthday party?

The Weight of Granny’s Influence

Me and my entire family all hate my grandma on my dad’s side, except for, well, my dad. My sister lied to my dad’s face, saying I was abusing her with our grandma coaching her. I finally threw them both out. A year later, grandma’s standing on our porch, wanting another chance.

It all started when I was seven years old. Whenever we were all at a restaurant together and I was ordering, she would pinch my arm and tell me I was disgustingly skinny. She would say I needed to eat more, otherwise I would die alone.

She would then plaster this look of pity on her face as if she felt really bad for me. For context, my mom is Asian and my dad is Irish. So me and my siblings were all Weanian baddies, aka naturally skinny.

But her comments always made me really insecure, especially since I always ate exactly the amount I wanted to lol. Before me and my siblings were born, my granny always made racist comments to my mom.

Sometimes she’d raise her eyes until they looked like slits and say, “Hey, see, now we look the same.” Whenever my mom would cook meals for them, ones that took hours to make, by the way, she’d scream, “No, don’t tell me you cooked the dog.” Lame.

I kept all my mom’s gossip from my sibs and dad. But my brother hated her regardless, lol. But my little sister Millie, on the other hand, she was always a little rebellious.

My parents could say the sky was blue and she would argue that it was purple. She always wanted to disagree. So when she turned 12, she chose to become my granny’s little doll.

She started off by making racist jokes like a pick me but for race instead of gender. Sometimes she’d go through our mom’s files and send photos to granny.

And to make things worse, my dad gave her a spare key to our house. Once in a while when we were all fast asleep, she would barge right in and start going through all our things. This included my mom’s files and me and my siblings’ shared wardrobe. Everything.

Since she refused to wear adult diapers, she would always leave poop stains around our home, including the radiator, the couch, and all the chairs. GH literally grosses me out to even think about. Anyway, since I’m the oldest, when I turned 15, my mom finally told me the tea.

The breaking point came when we finally moved house and granny no longer had a spare key. Millie took the liberty of printing her a new one. That’s when I finally fessed up to my mom to watch out for her.

She told me she’d keep an eye out. But we both figured it wouldn’t cause any major problems. I was 16 when my granny’s 85th birthday was coming up.

My dad said that one of us, my brother or sister, had to plan it. If they didn’t do a good job, then they’d find themselves sleeping outside for the rest of the year.

You see, I had already volunteered dozens of times to be the one to step up and hang out with her. So, I guess my dad wanted my siblings to put in effort, too. But if you’re the oldest child, then you understand that title means constantly doing shot you don’t want to do.

So, when Millie came to me right after my dad left and asked if I could plan it and pretend like she was the one to do it, I immediately agreed. It was just easier that way.

Fast forward to my granny’s big day. I themed the entire thing as Saint Patrick’s Day since that was the day that my granny’s birthday fell on. As you can probably tell, she is mad patriotic.

I made everyone wear jerseys. There were shamrocks everywhere. For dinner, we had homemade roast chicken with roast potatoes and boiled carrots, a classic.

As soon as the chicken came out of the oven, my sister shouted, “Gh, I did such a good job. This chicken is amazing.”

I just rolled my eyes and let her have her fun. But as we sat down, my granny started praising her.

“Millie, did you really do all this? All for me?”

She then put her hand on her heart as if she was really touched.

“Yes, I did. You know, Tara, my name was insisting that I cook Asian style duck. But I said, ‘F no.'”

While my sister threw her head back and laughed. My dad and granny both stared at me with their fists clenched.

But the meal was so good that they were soon distracted and everything was fine again. Or so I thought. Just 10 minutes later, Millie said something that changed the energy of the whole room.

“You know, this whole time Tara has been stopping me from doing stuff for you, Granny. She said she’s the only one who’s capable out of the three of us.”

My idiot dad believed her straight away. I guess it was easier than accepting that we all hated his mother. Immediately, he stood up and dragged me into the bedroom upstairs, right in front of everyone.

Right as he raised his arm up to strike my behind, I cried out, “She’s lying. I planned this entire dinner.”

He froze midair. I braced myself, wondering if he was still going to hit me. I could see the conflict in his eyes, the uncertainty. Instead, he stormed out to grab Millie.

I followed him downstairs, shaking. My legs felt like they might give out at any moment. My dad confronted Millie in front of everyone, demanding to know the truth. Millie immediately burst into tears.

“Terra’s lying again. She always does this.”

She sobbed, looking at Granny for support. Her tears seemed to appear on command, like she had a faucet behind her eyes she could turn on whenever needed.

“She’s always trying to make me look bad.”

Granny jumped right in, putting her arm around Millie.

“Your oldest has always been jealous of poor Millie. I’ve seen it for years. She shook her head sadly like she was disappointed in me. It’s that Asian blood in her. Makes her devious.”

The room went silent at her blatant racism. Even my dad looked uncomfortable, but he didn’t correct her.

My mom tried to step in. “That’s not true. Terra has been—”

“Stay out of this.”

My dad snapped at her.

“This is between my daughters and me.”

My mom flinched at his tone, but fell silent. I could see the hurt in her eyes, the familiar resignation. I couldn’t believe what was happening.

“Dad, I literally spent three days planning this. I made the shopping list. I decorated everything. I cooked all the food. I have blisters on my hands from kneading that bread.”

I held up my hands to show him, but he wouldn’t even look. Millie cried harder.

“She’s just saying that because she’s jealous that you like my party better than anything she’s ever done.”

Her voice rose to a whale that seemed to pierce right through my dad’s skepticism. My brother tried to speak up.

“Dad, I saw Tara cooking all day.”

“Enough.”

My dad held up his hand.

“Tara, you’re grounded indefinitely. I’m sick of your lies and your jealousy.”

I stood there in shock.

“But I’m telling the truth.”

Granny clicked her tongue.

“Such a troublemaker. always has been.”

My dad pointed to the stairs.

“Go to your room now.”

I looked at my mom for help, but she just gave me a helpless look. I knew she couldn’t stand up to my dad when he was like this. As I headed upstairs, I heard Millie sniffling dramatically while Granny comforted her.

“Poor dear having to deal with such a sister.”

Granny said loud enough for me to hear. The next few days were miserable. I was confined to my room except for meals and bathroom breaks. My phone was confiscated and I wasn’t allowed to use the computer.

Meanwhile, Millie was getting special treatment for being traumatized by my false accusations. She’d walk past my room humming happily, occasionally stopping to whisper through the crack in the door.

I overheard Granny talking to my dad in the kitchen.

“I’ve always worried about Tara’s behavior. This jealousy isn’t normal. Perhaps she needs professional help.”

My dad sighed.

“Maybe you’re right, Mom.”

I couldn’t believe it. They were actually discussing sending me to therapy because I told the truth. The worst part was watching Millie smirk at me whenever our parents weren’t looking. She was enjoying this.

She had granny as her ally, and together they were turning my dad against me. One night, my brother sneaked into my room.

“I know you’re telling the truth,” he whispered. “Milliey’s been bragging to her friends about how she tricked everyone.”

At least someone believed me, but what could we do? My dad was completely under Granny’s spell, and Millie was learning all her manipulation tactics.

I needed to find a way to expose them both before things got even worse. But with no phone, no computer, and basically under house arrest, I had no idea how I was going to do it.

All I knew was that I couldn’t let them win. Somehow, I had to make my dad see the truth about his precious mother and his increasingly manipulative younger daughter.

After a week of being grounded, I started noticing my stuff disappearing. First, it was small things. My favorite hair clip, a bracelet my mom gave me for my birthday, a few dollars from my emergency stash.

I immediately suspected Millie, but without proof, there was no point in saying anything. My dad would just accuse me of making more false accusations.