Cancer is a 6 letter word. It seems small, but it could destroy lives. I thought it was over for me, but plans changed.

Sometimes it's hard being an adopted child. Not at home, where my family is amazing. It's harder at school. Kids tend to make fun of the fact that I am adopted. Granted, it's my fault. Nobody except my family knows what happened. But, complaining won't help at all. As a Dahlberg, we live in a nice house. My parents, the ones I have now, are the best people I have ever met and I am lucky to have them in my life.

John and Emily Dahlberg are my adoptive parents, but they are the only family I have ever known. When I was 2 months old, they took me in. If they hadn't, I would've been sent overseas to start working in factories when I turned four. I have to thank them because they had 5 kids already. Still 14 years later, I am still the youngest. My brothers Matt, Zane, Alex, Damien, and Felix are the family I lost.

My oldest brother is named Matthew, but we call him Matt. He is 18 as of last week. He has dark brown hair, and acts like a dad, protecting all of the younger siblings. Matt would do anything to make sure that we are safe and are doing well in school. He plays football and usually skips practice to help his younger sibling with their homework. Even though he is strict, his smile is irreplaceable. He can always cheer us up. 

After him, at age 17, is Zane. Zane is the quiet one but is my favorite. He has a PS4 and lets me play it. I especially love The Last Of Us. I gave him a crossbones neckless for his 13th birthday, and he still wears it to this day. He and I have a really close bond. He loves the color black, and is super emo, but is a gigantic sweetheart. He doesn't show his soft side to his brothers and only lets me know. He died his hair black and has a lot of freckles everywhere.

Alex is also 17 but by almost a year. He was also adopted, so he spends time with me the most. Unlike my other brothers, blonde hair is one of his many qualities. My parents let my brothers die their hair, but won't let me. Either way, Alex loves to draw and write just like me. He is like my twin, but of course, he is not. I love him maybe even a little more than Zane.

The second youngest brother, being the middle child with Alex, is Damien. I like him the least, mostly because he broke my arm one year on the bike. Even though he did that, he loves me and I love him. However, he is amazing at making red velvet cupcakes, and on giving advice. He has been going steady with a friend of mine named Aria for quite some time. Not to mention he loves Undertale like I do.

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And then we have Felix. Felix is only 16, two years older than me, but has the mind of my older brother. He has two honors classes and 6 AP classes. His entire day is college stuff. Being the youngest brother, dad makes him work the hardest. Papa wants to make sure that all of his boys become successful. Felix takes karate with me and is, of course, almost expert. We started at the same time, but somehow he already has his brown belt, while I am a green belt. No matter how much my family goes through, we love each other.

Being the youngest is hard. Hell, being a GIRL in my family is hard. What you would expect is my brothers hogging the bathroom or teasing me. But it is the exact opposite. They protect me with brute force. If they ever find out someone hurt me, I start praying. For the other person. My brothers are merciless when it comes to protecting me. They know what happened to my parents, and try and make up for the family I never had. I am the baby of the family, despite being 14 years old. I could never ask for better brothers.

<3

In third grade, a kid was making fun of me for being adopted. It didn't bother me because it happened all the time. However, somehow Matt found out. I found out afterward that my best friend Lillith told my brothers. The next day at recess, May, Lillith and I were making flower crowns, when a teacher came over and took me to the office. There, I had seen my five brothers sitting in chairs with a teacher watching them, supposedly not letting them leave. Zane had put his middle finger on his thumb and put his hand on his chest. It was a sign we made up meaning he got in trouble.

The teacher took me to another room where there was a monitor. 

"Anya, I want you to watch this." She said. The monitor was a video of the boy who had teased me walking down the hall. Behind him, Matt had grabbed him and slammed him up against the lockers. From around the corner, Zane and Felix started to punch him, kick him, and hurt him. Alex and Damien joined in, harming him further. It was terrifying to watch my own brothers hurting someone. From down the hall in the camera, a teacher had pushed my brothers off of the boy who teased me, to which my brothers all ran. The teacher took out a walkie talkie. Then the tape stopped.

"Can you explain what happened here?" The tall teacher asked me. I was 8 at the time, and I was terrified.

"Mrs, the boy was teasing me for being adopted yesterday. I don't care about what others say, but- how did they find out?"

"Your parents are on the way to pick you six up. As of this moment, your brothers are suspended for the rest of the year. Jonathan got a broken arm, a broken nose, and a cracked rib. Go wait outside with your brothers." I immediately scrambled out the door and ran into Matt's arms crying.

"Baby, whats wrong?" He asked, holding me tighter.

"Why did you do that? You could've killed him!" I scream in his face.

"Anya, he was hurting you. When you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us." Zane said.

From that day forward, I knew my brothers would always have my back