Blurb：
When chronic rash sufferer Maren watches her hypochondriac brother Toby manipulate their family with escalating psychosomatic episodes, she signs a life-changing study abroad application. But as Toby's "untreatable condition" – shaking spells, panic attacks, and midnight ER visits – consumes their parents' savings and sanity, Maren discovers her own bipolar diagnosis takes backseat to the golden child's drama.
From allergy panels revealing Toby's deception to emergency psychiatric holds exposing family hypocrisy, Maren navigates medical gaslighting and generational trauma. As boarding calls echo through the terminal, her final message ("I blame myself") hints at irreversible choices - until a therapist's warning about Maren's deteriorating mental state forces a devastating parallel: Who's truly sick in this family?
This emotionally charged novel about sibling rivalry and invisible illness weaves medical suspense with raw family dynamics. Perfect for readers searching "bipolar sibling drama," "scapegoat child stories," or "medical mystery family secrets."
Content：
§01I had just walked out of the university health services when my grandparents’ call came through.
On the other end, my grandfather’s voice was frantic.
He said my brother’s illness was bizarre, that several major hospitals couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him, and that they were driving to my city overnight.
He finished with, “Be ready. You need to help look after him.”
I looked down at the rash spreading from under my sleeve.
Four months.
It had been four months.
From the first scattered red dots to the weeping sores they were now, their only advice had been, “Just put some cream on it.”
When the pain had me sweating and I begged to see a doctor, all I got was a cold rebuke: “Stop being so dramatic.”
But now, for my brother, whose illness had no name, they were willing to upend an entirely unfamiliar city.
Suddenly, it all felt so pointless.
The itching I hid under my collar, the nights I scratched until I bled—none of it, it turned out, could ever outweigh a single, soft-spoken “I don’t feel good” from my brother.
The moment I hung up, I pulled the study abroad application from my pocket.
The tip of my pen hovered over the signature line for a moment, then I finally signed my name.
§02
Just last night, my brother, Toby, had been sending me screenshots on iMessage, bragging about the dazzling new skin he’d bought for his video game.
The next morning, my grandfather’s trembling voice was on the phone.
“This thing with your brother… it’s spooky. The big hospitals in town can’t find a thing. Your mom’s driving him up to you right now, overnight.”
My knuckles were white as I gripped the phone.
He was faking it.
I knew it better than anyone.
For a long time now, he’d been finding creative ways to skip school, locking himself in his room to play video games under the guise of “burnout.”
My parents never called him out on it.
Instead, they would anxiously shuttle him to the hospital every single time.
Even when the tests came back clean, a single frown and a muttered “I don’t feel well” from him was enough to send the entire family into a tailspin.
The entire family, of course, except for me.
The ink on the application was still wet when my phone buzzed again.
Dad, Mom, Grandma—the calls came one after another, a relay race of anxiety, each voice more strained than the last.
The stack of his medical reports from our hometown was thicker than a dictionary, yet not one could pinpoint what was wrong with Toby.
“You know your way around the city,” my mother’s voice came through the phone, heavy with a fatigue she couldn't hide.
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