It All Lines Up
We’ve all been seeing the recent craze of DNA testing and whatnot, so my dad and I decided to jump on the bandwagon and we bought two from 23andme.
We got our results back a few days ago and I went into the DNA relatives section to check out my matches. At the top it listed my dad as only sharing 29.2% DNA with me and being predicted to be a half-brother, which is impossible.
This didn’t make sense to me since we just look so alike, so he was definitely my father. My cousin also had taken the test a while back and she shared 24.6% with me, also predicted to be my half-sibling. We’re supposed to share around 12%, being first cousins.
I couldn’t think of a genetic relationship that would explain what I was seeing and I had doubts in the accuracy of the percentages, so I asked the company for help.
Basically, the shared percentages are extremely accurate and highly unlikely to be false. The only realistic explanation for what I was seeing was that my uncle, my cousin’s father and my dad’s brother, is my father.
Reality hit me in the face like a flying bag of bricks. All the dots lined up and I felt a sense of loss. I sat in my room for an hour just in shock, and then I had a feeling of anger come over me.
I needed some freaking answers. Without even thinking, I rushed out of my room and confronted my mother downstairs. My mom is a businesswoman and is often away on business trips. She had no idea my dad and I had done one of these tests since she was away on a trip and just got back. My mother and I never had a traditional relationship.
She was always focused on her work and my dad ended up mostly raising me. My irrational self didn’t even sugar coat it. I asked her if she cheated on my dad with my Uncle David. I have never seen the color drain from someone’s face so quickly. She looked dumbfounded and then mumbled, “What kind of question is that? Of course not.”
I told her everything: the test, percentages, DNA matches, ALL OF IT! My mom fell to the ground crying, begging me not to tell dad. I left her there and went back into my room. I called my cousin (now half-sibling) and told her everything. She ended the call screaming. My dad (now uncle) then came home and stumbled into my room asking what’s wrong with mom.
I told him everything too. He didn’t say anything after calming down. He left the room and I locked the door. For the next few hours, I heard my entire family fall apart outside my door.
My parents got into a heated argument and my grandparents rushed over to see what was going on. My aunt-in-law and David showed up shortly after and I’m pretty sure I heard my dad and David get into some physical fight. Utter chaos.
I feel awful. I know it’s not my fault but I can’t help feeling that this is all because of me. If I had spent my birthday money on something else, none of this would have happened, but another part of me is glad to know the truth.
I’m too scared to go outside. I don’t even know what the outcome was. The only noise I hear in the house now is the occasional sobbing coming from my mother, and I’m sure my dad is out of the house.
Story credit: Reddit/Help23andme