I became everything my little sister had when our parents passed away. I gave up everything else to keep her safe. When the kids at school destroyed the one thing I saved for weeks to buy her, I thought that was the worst of it.

I was wrong.

What I saw after her principal called stopped me cold. My alarm goes off at 5:30 every morning, and the first thing I do before I’m even fully awake is check the fridge.

Not because I’m hungry that early, but because I need to know how to divide what we have. What my little sister gets for breakfast, what goes in her lunch, and what I hold back for dinner.

Robin is 12, and she doesn’t know I skip lunch most days.I’d like to keep it that way. Because I’m not just her big brother. I’m all she has.

I work the closing shift at the hardware store four nights a week and pick up odd jobs on weekends, whatever’s available.

Robin usually stays with Ms. Brandy, our elderly neighbor, until I get home