Chapter 5

Silence stretched over the phone line.

After a long pause, Helen finally spoke. "You... must have the wrong person."

"My daughter is perfectly fine. She can't be dead!"

"Exactly!"

David agreed loudly. "There are plenty of people with that name. You got the wrong number!"

But despite their harsh words, panic flashed in their eyes.

They hung up quickly.

Chloe, who had listened to the whole call, had a flash of joy in her eyes before masking it with worry.

"Do you think Avery is mad because I took her room? Maybe she hired actors to fake her death to scare you guys?"

"I mean, she faked a whole cancer report before."

"Faking her death doesn't seem out of character for her..."

My parents looked at each other.

Their faces hardened.

"You're right! That girl is a pathological liar!"

"She's ungrateful! We should have never had her!"

Just then, the phone rang again. It was the police.

"Sir, we ran a DNA match. There is no mistake."

"The deceased is your daughter, Avery Jiang."

"Cut the crap!"

David spat into the phone.

"We only have one daughter, and she is sitting right next to us!"

"Whether Avery is dead or alive is none of our business!"

"If she really died out there, just cremate her and throw her ashes in the trash!"

"Don't call us again!"

David hung up and immediately blocked the number.

Even though I knew they said this out of anger and misunderstanding, my soul still ached.

I wanted to tell them.

*Mom, Dad, I didn't lie.*

*I'm really dead...*

*Please stop listening to Chloe...*

*Why can't you believe me just once?*

Chloe brought them two glasses of warm water.

"Helen, David, don't be angry."

"Avery is just confused... Don't worry, even if she doesn't come back, I will take care of you guys forever."

"Good girl, thank God we have you."

Helen's eyes softened as she held Chloe's hand. "From now on, you are our real daughter."

"That ungrateful brat doesn't deserve our thoughts."

Determined to cut me out of their lives, my parents deleted all my contact info. They even started discussing putting Chloe's name on the deed of our house.

Until two police officers showed up at their front door, holding my ID and photos.

"We are the officers who called you earlier."

"Please look at these photos. Are you absolutely sure the deceased, Avery Jiang, has nothing to do with you?"

"Her body has been in the morgue for too long. If you don't claim her, we will have to handle it as an unclaimed body."