When Dawn’s father dies, she loses everything: her home, her family, and the sister who never truly cared about her. Kicked out with nothing but her belongings and an old watch, she thinks it’s over. But her father had it all planned out. And hidden in his final gift is a secret that will change everything…
I always knew my sister, Charlotte, didn’t care about me. But I never thought she’d throw me out onto the street two weeks after our father’s funeral.
As far back as I can remember, there were only the three of us, Dad, Charlotte and me.
An upset teenager | Source: Midjourney
Well, most of the time, just Dad and me.
Charlotte, at 35, had never really been part of that family. She lived in our father’s house, but it was never her home. She was always out and about. Sometimes it was for parties, or to go out with friends, or even just to chase the next “big thing,” as she always put it.
“I’m going to be great, Dawn,” she said. “I was meant for a bigger life. Not a tiny life where no one knows who I am. Maybe you’ll figure it out one day.”
A woman standing in a doorway | Source: Midjourney
She treated our house like a pad, only showing up when she needed something, especially when she didn’t have a lot of money.
For my part, I was 17 years old and had never known anything outside these walls. I had been Dad’s shadow, following him around the house, helping him with repairs, making us dinner when he came home from work.
“Home-cooked meals are the best, Dawn,” he said. “No matter how tired you are, you should always make something for yourself.”
A man busy in the kitchen | Source: Midjourney
“Do the noodles in the package count?” I asked.
All I remember from that conversation is the way my dad looked at me and laughed.
Growing up, I always wondered if Charlotte resented me. She was already eighteen when I was born. A legal adult with her whole life ahead of her. Meanwhile, I was just the baby who came after her.
I was the surprise my mother didn’t even bother to stick around for. But my father? He adored me.
A smiling little girl | Source: Midjourney
“Dawn, you were the dawn of a new beginning, my love,” he said. “You were the greatest surprise of my life, and I welcomed you with everything I had.”
Maybe that was part of it. Maybe that’s why Charlotte behaved the way she did.
By the time I was old enough to really know her, Charlotte was already drifting away. She didn’t see me as a sister, not really. She saw me more as an inconvenience in her life. A child who intrudes where I’m not wanted.
Close-up of a young woman | Source: Midjourney
She never read me bedtime stories or played with me. When Dad took us out for ice cream, she barely looked up from her phone.
But I still thought, somehow, that she cared about me.
That she would be there when it counted.
But I was wrong.
A teenage girl sitting on her bed | Source: Midjourney
And then Dad died. And everything in my life fell apart.
Two weeks after the funeral, we sat in the lawyer’s office. Charlotte was well-dressed, but she sat there, hardly looking sad. She looked more bored. She looked like she was wasting her time. She was checking her nails while we waited for Dad’s will to be read.
And me?
People at a funeral | Source: Midjourney
I sat stiffly beside her, my hands clasped in my lap. I didn’t know what to feel or think, except that I was drowning in grief.
The lawyer cleared his throat.
“Sorry about that, ladies,” he said. “I had to take that call. Now let’s get back to business.”
A young woman sitting in an office | Source: Midjourney
Charlotte looked up, finally acknowledging his presence.
“The house is going back to Charlotte,” he said.
I felt my stomach twist. I wasn’t going to argue with him… but why?
Why would my father do this to me?
A teenager sitting in a desk | Source: Midjourney
“And for you,” the lawyer turned to me, “your father left you this.”
He handed me a small box. I knew what was inside before I even opened it.
It was Dad’s watch.
It was old, scratched, and barely worked. But for as long as I could remember, I had always seen it resting on my father’s wrist.
A box on a table | Source: Midjourney
I swallowed the lump in my throat.
Charlotte lets out a groan.
“Seriously? His watch?” she said, laughing. “My God, even in death, Dad still has preferences.”
I ignored her. My fingers ran over the worn leather strap of the watch. She smelled of him. I didn’t care about the house. I didn’t care about business. I just wanted my father back.
A person holding a watch | Source: Midjourney
How was I going to go to college without him?
For the next few days, we still lived under the same roof. We barely spoke to each other. I went to school. I went to work at the cafe after school. I came home.
It was a routine, and I loved it. I stuck to it like my life depended on it.
Because without her? I would drown in sorrow.
A teenager dressed as a waiter | Source: Midjourney
Then one evening I came home from my shift at the cafe to find all my things packed up by the front door, including my guitar.
Charlotte stood in the hallway with her arms crossed. She wore a smug smile.
“That’s it!” she said happily. “Our paths are diverging here, Dawn. I need you to leave.”
“What?” I blinked slowly, as if I was in a dream and trying to wake up.
Packed suitcases and a guitar on a porch | Source: Midjourney
“You heard me, little sister,” she said, gesturing toward my suitcases. “This house is mine. You heard it yourself from the lawyer. And I don’t want to babysit you anymore.”
I could barely breathe. It felt like every organ in my body was slowly shutting down.
“Charlotte,” I said. “I have nowhere to go.”
A woman standing in a doorway | Source: Midjourney
“And that’s not my problem!” she said cheerfully. “You have to find out for yourself.”
I felt my eyes burning, but I refused to cry in front of her.
“Are you really doing this? To me?” I whispered, trying to hold back my tears.
She smiled.
“You should have been nicer to me growing up, sis,” she said. “Maybe then I would have felt bad.”
A woman standing under a porch | Source: Midjourney
I grabbed my phone with shaky hands and called our lawyer. When he answered, I spilled everything.
“Dawn!” he said, looking surprised. “How can I help you?”
“Charlotte kicked me out of the house!” I said. “What should I do?”
There was a pause. And then he… laughed .
A real, genuine laugh.
A teenage girl talking on the phone | Source: Midjourney
“I can’t believe it!” he said. “Everything is happening just as your father predicted. Come to my office tomorrow. I have something for you.”
What could he possibly have for me?
“I’ll book you a motel for the night,” he said. “Or a bed and breakfast. Just give me ten minutes, and I’ll send you a car and the address.”
“Thank you,” I said.
A man talking on the phone | Source: Midjourney
I sat on the porch and waited for his text.
When the car arrived, I got in and watched the driver take me to a lovely little bed and breakfast.
“Here you are, madam,” he said, taking out my suitcases.
How did I get here? How did I get here? How did everything fall apart so quickly?
I was unpacking my pajamas when the landlady came to the door.
A room in a bed and breakfast | Source: Midjourney
“Dawn?” she asks. “Matthew asked me to bring you dinner. I have macaroni and cheese and a salad.”
I couldn’t believe my luck with the lawyer. I didn’t know him well, but at least he was taking care of me.
I barely slept that night.
The next morning, I dragged myself to Matthew’s office, exhausted and numb. He greeted me with a warm smile.
Bowls of food on a counter | Source: Midjourney
“Sit down, kiddo,” he said. “You’re going to want to sit down for this.”
I sank into the chair.
“What’s going on?”
He dragged a folder onto the desktop.
“Your father was a smart man, Dawn,” he said. “He knew Charlotte would most likely throw you out as soon as she took control of the house.”
A lawyer sitting at his desk | Source: Midjourney
“Did he know?” I felt sick.
“That’s why he made me write this report,” he said.
Matthew opened the file, revealing a stack of administrative documents.
“Seven years ago, your father inherited a very large sum of money. It was almost two million dollars. It came from a distant relative who had no children, but your father took care of her when she needed help.”
A file on a desk | Source: Midjourney
“What?” I jumped.
“Yes, he didn’t tell any of you in the end. But I’m sure he had his reasons. Now here’s the problem, Dawn. Your father split the money between you and Charlotte.”
“Does she get a share too?” I said slowly, my heart sinking.
“Yes, Dawn. But there’s one condition. Charlotte must share the house with you equally.”
A teenage girl sitting in an office | Source: Midjourney
I sat up. Suddenly, there seemed to be a way out of this mess.
“If your sister refuses, she will get absolutely nothing.”
The shock must have shown on my face because he chuckled.
“There’s something else,” he continued. “Your father left you this.”
He slid a letter across the table to me. My hands shook when I opened it.
It was my father’s handwriting.
An envelope on a table | Source: Midjourney
Dawn, my darling,
I know Charlotte, my darling. I know what she’ll do. But you’re smarter than her. You always have been. The money is in a safe. Use it wisely, my daughter.
I love you more than anything.
-Dad
A teenage girl reading a letter | Source: Midjourney
I stared at the bank account details, but froze.
“I don’t know the safe code,” I whispered.
The lawyer smiled.
“The watch,” he said simply.
I took Dad’s watch off my wrist and turned it over. There were tiny scratches on the back. Four numbers, faint but visible.
A Surprised Teenager | Source: Midjourney
A code!
Matthew smiled.
“Your father was a genius, Dawn.”
I couldn’t help myself. I laughed, like really, really laughed, for the first time since his death.
Charlotte had the house, but she also had all the debts. And she had just kicked out the only person who could save her from losing everything.
The exterior of a house | Source: Midjourney
A few days later, I was still at the bed and breakfast when Charlotte called me. I let it ring while I went to get myself a glass of water.
Then I picked up.
“Hello?” I said kindly.
“You knew that, didn’t you?” she spat.
“You knew what?” I asked.
A glass of water on a counter | Source: Midjourney
“The house,” she snapped. “The lawyer just called me. There are debts. Lots of debts. Thousands of dollars. If they aren’t paid off, the house will be taken, Dawn. And you…” she let out a shaky breath. “You have the money, don’t you?”
I leaned back in an armchair, twisting my father’s watch around my wrist.
“I may have the money…” I said. “But we don’t really have a good story, do we? You kicked me out.”
She remained silent.
“You have to help me!” she finally said.
I smiled.
“I would have helped you, Charlotte,” I said. “If you’d been nicer to me growing up, sis. Maybe then I would have felt bad.”
A woman talking on the phone | Source: Midjourney
Then I hung up.
I was going to stay at the bed and breakfast a little longer. Matthew was helping me look for a furnished apartment.
“Something small will be perfect,” he told me. “You have a few months before you go off to college, Dawn. You don’t need to be tied down to a big house. An apartment is the best option. And you’ll be eighteen soon, and you can do whatever you want then. For now, you need to focus on school.”
“Thank you for helping me,” I replied. “I would have been lost without you.”
A teenage girl doing her homework | Source: Midjourney
“Dawn, your father told me all about you and how difficult your sister made life for you. Especially after your mother left the family. I promised your father I’d get you back on your feet.”
A few weeks later, I was in my small studio in an artsy part of town. It was close to my school and the cafe, and I loved it.
I don’t know what happened to Charlotte, but when I drove past our house one night, I saw a SOLD sign on the front. I probably should have felt bad, but I didn’t. It wasn’t my home without my dad.
And at least he was still looking out for me, even if it was through Matthew.
A smiling teenager | Source: Midjourney
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This work is inspired by real events and people, but has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the story. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to actual events is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims regarding the accuracy of events or character portrayals and are not responsible for any misinterpretations. This story is provided “as is,” and all opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the opinions of the author or publisher.
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