I drew a lot of parallels from this to my life. Before I go on about my thoughts on some of the themes I see here, and to pad out this comment before spoilers, is that the bird SFX can be a bit loud, at least for me. That is the one thing I could possibly say in criticism.
I have not literally lost a sibling (minus some scares), let alone a twin brother, but they gradually have become a point of contention in my family as of late. I don’t know how much influence I alone have over my parents staying married, but I suppose we both started out as the glue holding them together. I feel for Tom and Jamie, because being a mediator for parents sucks. Growing up in a home where you regularly pick sides sucks. I was wondering if Tom had run away out of frustration at some points. Sadly, it is not the case.
Parents can become desperately ignorant to facts and statistics, maybe for years. They start to stay together out of pure obligation. It gets harder to hide resentment. I think this was well-addressed with the outburst that occurs at the family gathering.
In this story, the cruel reality for the mother and father is that they really could not have known anything. There was no chance to prepare for it. It’s like taking everything I have gone through so far, and suddenly striking it down upon them all at once. My own parents also had no way of knowing, and no reason to think that anything could happen. Realizing that has really gotten to me as I write this.
When a professional or someone of similar credibility tells a parent things are NOT going to get better, it’s quite the stark and sudden switch. Maybe by then it’s too late to do anything about it–that these false hopes led to decisions that were misguided and wasted time, or did more harm than good. I don’t even know where to begin when it comes to the final discovery. It is beyond my caliber.
This is all to say that I think the characters’ actions are realistic, and it hits home accurately and painfully! It makes me reflect on my experiences so far, and imagine what’s still to come, and it hurts my heart. Sometimes in life there’s just nothing you can do, and no one you could blame.