I lied about having a brother as a child because I was annoyed by comments other children made

I’m an only child and my whole childhood people would say “you must be so spoiled” or “you must get so much attention.” This really bothered me when I was a kid because my mother is a drunk and my dad was NEVER home, always avoiding my drunk mother.

We lived in a one-bedroom cabin beyond the city limits in the woods. It at one point had a hole in the floor straight to the dirt. My dad fixed it with plywood. We never had enough food in the fridge(but somehow mom always had beer…)

So I really resented the comments because my life was the opposite, it was neglect and poverty. But I was a kid and didn’t know how to set boundaries or say I didn’t like something. Anyway I eventually started telling people I had an older brother, friends, their parents, teachers. Whenever it came up. I even wrote about this fake brother when we had family assignments in class. I said he was older and was at college.

I’m 30 now and there are still people who think I have a brother. I’m only friends with one person from high school and he knows the truth. But everyone else still thinks I’m not an only child. I fear for the day it comes up or someone in my hometown asks my mom about her “son”