Chapter 4: Locked Inside the Darkness

"I just want Mom to be safe and healthy."

Hearing this, my dad glared at me with pure anger.

"What birthday? You're nothing but an eyesore. Get back to your room."

He dumped the pasta my mom had made into the trash.

I never got to eat it.

Later, Gwen purposely came to my room, her words sharp as a poisoned knife.

"You still want to eat my mom’s pasta? You’re shameless."

"Why don’t you just die, you cursed wretch?"

Furious, I pushed her, and she hit her head against the door.

That night, my dad locked me in the basement for the first time, and it marked the beginning of my misfortune.

It was so dark.

I was too scared to breathe and did not dare call out for my mom.

All I could do was pound on the door with all my strength.

The nightmares would not leave me.

It was as if I could hear the sound of clothes being torn apart.

I curled up in pain, calling out for my grandma over and over, begging her to come save me.

The fear overwhelmed me.

The next time I woke up, I was in the hospital, with my mom holding me.

But when I saw her, I instinctively shrank into the corner, terrified.

"I don’t want Mom, I don’t want Mom," I kept repeating.

I had forgotten that this was the first time she had ever held me on her own.

Her hand froze in mid-air, and her expression grew cold.

"She’s just an ungrateful brat who can’t be raised right."

I was diagnosed with a fear of the dark, and she did not show any emotion.

She just turned and left the hospital.

That night, I was almost consumed by regret.

Even digging my nails into my skin could not ease the despair and anxiety I felt.

From that point on, she became a mother who despised me even more.

When I went to college, Gwen decided she wanted her own study room.

My mom did not hesitate.

She threw away all my things and turned my bedroom into Gwen’s study.

They could not wait to get rid of me.

It did not matter anymore.

Now that I was dead, I was never going back.

……

The next day, to cheer Gwen up, Orion gave her the keys to their new house.

She happily brought the whole family to see it.

I followed behind my parents and Zac.

When we arrived at the new house, my parents sank into the couch, exhausted.

I listened to them talk about me again, criticizing everything I had ever done wrong.

"Kate is so out of line. She hasn’t even bothered to return a single call."

"I’ve failed as a parent, raising a daughter like that."

My mom glanced at her phone, seeing nothing but outgoing calls.

"It’s because she’s too heartless. She’s just an ungrateful brat. If she’s so tough, she should never come back," my dad said, holding my mom’s hand.

I watched their faces up close.

I wanted to see if, besides all the hatred, there was any trace of concern for me.

No matter how hard I looked, there wasn’t.

My dad rubbed his temples, clearly irritated just thinking about me.

My mom, with her eyes closed, let out a long sigh.

From the moment I went missing until now, not a single one of them had worried that something might have happened to me.

I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes.

"Mom, just how awful am I, for you to hate me so much?"

Once, when she came to pick me up, I asked her in the car, "Mom, are you picking me up so late because you don’t love me?"

She did not answer.

She just rested her head against the car window, not even glancing at me.

There was enough space between us for one person.

She was on one side, and I was on the other.

I guess Grandma had been lying to me all along.

My mom wasn’t good at all.

After I died, I finally understood.

She just did not love me.

Frustrated, I wanted to leave.

But when I floated to the door, something pulled me back.

"Mom, let me call her one more time. Don’t worry," Zac said as he dialed my number.

After three rings, someone picked up.

"Kate, you’ve gone too far. You ungrateful brat, why are you only answering the phone now? Are you trying to upset us on purpose?"

There was a moment of silence before a hoarse voice came through the other end of the line.

"She’s dead. But she kept begging me to save her."