Chapter 4 - Blocking Every Toxic Relative From My Phone
My smartphone vibrated on the kitchen island, displaying an incoming call from my mother's cell phone number. I stared at the glowing screen for three long seconds before swiping my thumb across the red decline button. Immediately afterward, I opened my contacts list and selected my father's name from the digital address book.
With a steady hand, I tapped the menu icon and selected "Block This Caller" without a single second of hesitation. I did the same to my mother, my sister Eleanor, and every extended family member who had ignored my tragedy. The digital silence that followed across my phone screen was the most peaceful sensation I had felt in weeks.
Eleanor tried reaching out through an alternate Instagram account, posting a crying selfie about how stressed wedding planning was. “Missing my big sister during this tough time, but the show must go on!” her self-centered caption read. I blocked her social media profiles too, erasing every single trace of their toxic existence from my digital world.
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Aunt Ruth walked into the kitchen carrying a box of packing tape for the moving boxes. "Did they try calling again?" Aunt Ruth asked, pouring herself a cup of black coffee from the pot. "I blocked all of them permanently," I replied evenly, not looking up from the counter.
Aunt Ruth gave an approving nod, taking a slow sip of her coffee while staring out the window. "Good riddance to bad rubbish," she muttered softly. "People who show you their true colors during a tragedy deserve to stay strangers forever."
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