when niykees mother veronica found out that she was pregnant with niykee, it was a complete surprise. her and her husband joel weren’t trying for a child. they already had a 7 year old son named cheyne and a 9 year old daughter named rachel. they never considered having another child because they were far too busy taking care of rachel who sadly had been battling leukaemia since she was 3.
niykees mother was from south africa and her father was from chicago. both of her older siblings were born in south africa and niykee was the first one to be born in america. the family spent as much time in south africa as they could, however summers in cape town were often cut short when rachel started getting sicker and they had to hurry home to see her doctors. the only time niykee was truly child during her childhood was when they were in south africa. life at home in chicago was never okay.
when rachel was first diagnosed, the doctors gave her six months to live, when niykee was born, she had already lived six years longer than the doctors ever expected her to live. even as a young child, niykee realized that her sister was a fighter. niykees whole life was spent in hospitals because rachel was almost always in the hospital. rachel went through more operations than anyone could keep track of. rachel never complained. she was always positive and in good spirits and this alone has been the single most influential thing in niykees life to date. niykee believes watching the way rachel handled the cards she was dealt, is the sole reason why she became the person she is today.
niykees mother gave rachel one of her kidneys in an organ donation surgery to keep rachel alive. veronicas whole life was dedicated to keeping rachel alive, but her other children suffered because of it. she didn’t notice that niykee was being picked on at school, that she had no friends, and that she hardly spoke. niykee was always tall, and developed quickly, and from about the fifth grade onwards, niykee was teased for her body. the more she was teased, the less she interacted with her peers, and when the school councillors or teachers tried to reach out to niykees mom, she was too busy with rachel to talk to them about her other daughter.
niykees father wasn’t around much, he was almost always working to support his family since niykees mom spent most of niykees childhood not working so she could spend all her time taking care of rachel. he didn’t notice much about niykee, but he wasn’t around enough to.
both of niykees parents were alcoholics, and it only got worse as rachel got sicker. niykees dad got multiple dui’s until his license got taken away and he was out of a job since his job for years had been driving trucks.
when niykee was 12 years old, she got called to the office during the middle of the day at school. she saw her aunt in the office and knew something was wrong. niykees aunt took her to the hospital and when niykee walked into her sisters hospital room, she knew this would be the last time she saw her sister.
niykee stood on one of rachels sides, and rachel looked at her and told her to promise that she’d live the life that she didn’t get to. niykee promised she would, and niykee remembers this promise and tries to live up to it every day.
right before she died, rachel looked at their father and made him promise to get sober. he promised he would. rachel passed away, and niykees fathers alcoholism only got worse. niykee is incredibly resentful toward her father for breaking the promise he made to rachel on her deathbed.
niykees father left, unable to face his family when such a big part of it was missing. he got remarried about a year after rachel passed away. after losing rachel, niykees 19 year old brother moved out and fell into alcohol and drug addictions, leaving niykee alone with her mother.
niykees mother continued to drink, but she also started to bully and verbally abuse niykee. in her eyes, her perfect, pretty, thin daughter had died and she was left with the chubby, nerdy, antisocial one. she called niykee fat, bullied her about her weight, called her ugly, and let multiple men that she let in and out of her life abuse niykee the way she did. niykees mother didnt take care of her, she was too busy drinking with her boyfriends and niykee had to take care of herself, cooking and cleaning and getting herself to school.
when niykee was 17, she graduated high school six months early and drove across the country to live in new york with a girl named lauren who had found her on youtube and wanted to be her manager. niykee was already taking record label meetings while she was in high school so her music career seemed promising.
since she moved out, niykee has seen each of her parents and her brother only a couple of times. her parents done approve of her career or her life or her leaving her hometown. but niykee doesn’t care. niykee has a soft spot for her mother despite the abuse she put her though, and is constantly forgiving her and trying to help her only to be let down and disappointed and hurt again.
