Chapter 4

After dinner, Mom dressed Lily in a beautiful outfit.

Dad warmed up a bottle of milk and put it in his pocket.

"Lily said she wanted to go to the amusement park. Let's go."

The amusement park.

Chloe wanted to go, too.

In the past, no matter how busy Dad was, he would always make time for me.

Mom would always pack my favorite snacks.

But later, Dad was always "too busy."

And Mom would sneer, "Why would a wicked girl like you deserve to go to an amusement park?"

But now, my soul was tethered to them, dragged along as they walked out the door.

Mom, look! I get to go to the amusement park with you now.

Along the way, whatever Lily wanted to eat or buy, my parents immediately got it for her.

It made my chest feel tight.

Like I had eaten a hundred sour lemons.

But it was okay.

I patted myself. As long as they were happy, it was okay.

After they got off the carousel, the three of them took a family photo.

Dad stared at the picture on his phone for a long time, silent.

"Next time, let's bring Chloe too."

Mom's expression soured, but she didn't say no.

As they were heading over to watch the fireworks, they ran into Audrey, who was hanging out with a group of older boys.

But I wasn't with her.

Dad frowned, confused.

"Audrey, isn't Chloe with you?"

Whenever Audrey snuck out with boys, she used my name. This time was no different.

Her eyes darted around quickly, and she put on a fake, worried face.

"Mr. Miller, Mrs. Miller... please don't tell Chloe I told you... but she’s actually off with her boyfriend."

"She asked me to cover for her."

Mom's body began to shake with rage.

Her face turned bright red, and she gritted her teeth.

"That cheap girl! Sneaking out to be with boys at her age!"

"How did I raise such a shameless creature?!"

Dad's fists clenched tightly. He couldn't believe it.

"Are you sure about this, Audrey?"

Audrey exchanged a glance with the boys behind her and nodded solemnly.

"It's true! Her boyfriend is a bad guy who steals money from other kids and bullies people. Chloe does it too, and she even smokes."

"And whenever she took Lily out, she would pinch her. Lily probably still has the bruises on her arms."

Mom's eyes widened in horror. She immediately pulled up Lily’s sleeves.

Sure enough, there were dark, purple bruises scattered across her skin.

But Audrey was the one who did that!

Audrey had sneaked into our house, cornered Lily, and pinched her.

When I tried to stop her, Audrey called her friends to beat me up.

They had pushed me into the freezing lake on our property.

If Dad hadn't come home early that day, I would have drowned.

I was only trying to protect Lily!

I didn't do those things!

I never did!

Audrey did all of it!!

"Mom, Dad, I didn't!"

I screamed at the top of my lungs, floating right in front of their faces, but they couldn't hear a thing.

Their eyes grew colder and colder.

Even Dad, who had always tried to believe in me, clutched his chest in agony.

He gasped for air, his face turning pale.

"How... how did I raise such a monster?"

"Is she really just born wicked?!"

Dad's voice cracked. His heart condition was flaring up.

I panicked, circling around him, but my ghostly hands couldn't do anything to help.

Mom's hands shook as she fed him his nitro pills while trying to calm a crying Lily.

"Robert, we need to go to the hospital..."

"This is all because of that cursed girl. She scared Lily, and now she’s giving you a heart attack."

"She wanted to freeze Lily to death... what did I do to deserve a daughter like her?!"

Once he stabilized, Dad shook his head.

He closed his eyes in deep exhaustion.

"Let's go home."

They said goodbye to Audrey and drove back with Lily.

Once Lily was asleep, Mom marched into my bedroom and began smashing everything in sight.

"Bitch! Monster! You don't deserve to be my daughter!"

She tore my photos off the wall and trampled on my face with her heels.

"You don't deserve me! You don't!"

The letters I wrote her, the drawings I made.

And the trophies I had bled and cried to win.

Everything was destroyed.

I stared blankly at the ruins of my room, feeling as if my own heart had been trampled into pieces.

It hurt so bad.

Mom, please don't hate Chloe, okay?

I couldn't bear to watch anymore. I floated down to the ice rink where Dad was standing.

He had called a crew of workers over, his voice cold.

"Demolish the ice rink."

Dad once told me that even if I grew tired of figure skating.

They would keep this rink for me forever.

Because I would always be their precious girl.

But now, they believed I was a monster who hurt my own sister.

Even Dad hated me now.

My tears fell, splashing onto the cold floor, but I couldn't wipe them away.

"I'm sorry, it's all my fault... I'm sorry..."

The construction crew worked quickly.

They brought in heavy machinery to break up the thick ice.

And with it, my frozen, brittle body was shattered into pieces.

"Wait, did we hit something?"

One of the workers frowned, looking at the dark red blood spreading across the cracked ice.

It was my leg. It had been severed by the drill.

And my neck.

I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to scare you.

I wish Chloe could have died a bit cleaner.

I curled up in the corner.

It was so, so cold.

The workers turned pale and immediately called the police.

One of them ran to get my parents, his voice trembling.

"You... you guys! There's a dead body in your ice rink!"