This may seem like a really silly question, but I am neurodivergent and do not know how to handle this. There's an extremely high chance my parent's dog will be dying within the next week. I love the dog, but she's been sick for awhile and is old, so I've already accepted that that's on the horizon and have come to terms with it. I know that my mom will call me and tell me, and will probably being crying (obviously it's very sad).

The problem is, I don't handle other people's emotions well. They make me super anxious because I can't compute how to help. I usually just fall quiet. My mom would NOT take that well. When our first family dog died when I was in middle school, she called me heartless for not crying.

I don't want her to feel worse after calling me, but I also don't want to be stuck on the phone not knowing what to do. Phone calls are really hard for me as I feel like I can't leave conversations and can't read facial or body language. Is there a not shitty way to say that's awful, tell her I'm so sorry, and end the phone call as quickly as I can? I know that sounds evil, but here I am.

How would you handle it if she conference calls my brother too or, worse, makes us both come into the room at the same time if we're both home? My brother and I live together as roommates.

Again sorry if this seems mean.