What They Called Fairness

My adoptive mother wiped my face with feces every day. She had locked me in the dog cage and made me fight the dogs for scraps of food.When my biological parents finally found me, I weighed only fifty pounds at fifteen years old. I was nothing but skin and bones, with my entire body covered in dog bites.They brought me back to the Costello family. I thought I 'd finally have a family who loved me.But the moment I arrived, Brett---the son they had raised in my absence---pulled out a knife."I shouldn't be here. I should be the one living the nightmare Valentino had gone through."My mother immediately dropped my hand and pulled him into her arms."Brett, you don't have to go anywhere. From today onward, the Costello family will have two sons.We will love you and Valentino equally."It didn't take long for me to discover what my mother's version of "equal love" really looked like.Over three years, I was sweating in a cramped closet while he enjoyed a massage in a custom-designed luxury suite.I was huddled in the corner with my meal, while he sat at the table with my family, feasting on the fine dishes his personal chef had made just for him.I walked ten kilometers to school under the blazing sun, while he sat in a Rolls‑Royce with the AC on, humming a mocking little tune.When the government launched the Fairness System, my family registered everyone before I could even react."With this system enforcing absolute equality, Brett will never have to suffer again."I sat in the corner, chewing on leftover scraps, listening to them talk.Three days later, the system went live.They believed that their version of fairness had finally arrived. But it never came.Instead...They all fell apart.One by one.