My step-brother, Alex, framed me for his allergic reaction. My three sisters, fueled by his lies, dragged me into the suffocating, airless basement, chaining the door shut from the outside. I weakly pounded on the basement door, begging my sisters to let me out. Scarlett, our eldest sister and a formidable business mogul, glared at me with icy contempt before she left. “You usually pick on Alex, that’s one thing. But knowing he’s allergic to seafood and still deliberately feeding it to him? You were trying to hurt him, weren’t you? Stay down there and think about what you’ve done!” Chloe, the rising singer, and Willow, the prodigious artist, simply scoffed. “Someone as wicked as you, still making excuses and playing the victim? You deserve everything that’s coming to you!” With that, they embraced a trembling Alex and rushed him to the hospital. The oxygen dwindled, each breath a desperate struggle. I died in that darkness, suffocated and alone. Three days later, only when my sisters returned from the hospital with Alex, did they finally remember me. But they didn’t know, I had already perished from oxygen deprivation in that cramped basement.
I died in that basement, starved of oxygen. When I awoke again, my soul was hovering right beside my three sisters. They had just returned to their grand mansion. Scarlett and Chloe were doting on Alex, speaking to him with tender concern: “That’s wonderful, Alex. It’s a good thing we got you to the hospital in time. You’ve recovered so quickly.” Willow, our third sister, was even more solicitous: “The doctor said you’re still weak, Alex. You need to get your strength back.” As she spoke, she piled a generous piece of meat into Alex’s bowl. A house staff member nearby couldn’t help but interject, “Leo hasn’t made a sound in the basement for three days…” Scarlett scoffed, cutting her off sharply, “It’s a happy day, Alex is home from the hospital! Why mention someone who brings such bad luck?” The staff member tried to speak again, but Chloe and Willow silenced her with chilling glares. “Leo must have known about the seafood allergy to deliberately make that seafood stew.” “And here I thought he was finally starting to accept Alex. Turns out, it was all premeditated!” Alex deliberately put on a frightened expression, speaking timidly: “Leo is being punished because of me. He’s been alone in the basement for so many days. He won’t be angry when he comes out, will he?” Scarlett’s face was cold as she replied: “Don’t worry, Alex. We spoiled him before, never taught him a lesson. “After this, he surely won’t dare to bully you again.” As she spoke, she unconsciously pulled out her phone, refreshing her chat with me. But our conversation still ended three days ago. In those three days, I hadn’t sent her a single message or made a call, fueling Scarlett’s anger even further. “So many days have passed, and Leo hasn’t even sent a message to check on Alex!” At that moment, Alex took Scarlett’s hand, feigning fear in his voice: “Let’s not let Leo misunderstand. I just want your company, I don’t want to take anything from him.” Scarlett quickly put down her phone, caressing Alex’s head with a pained look. “Alex, you’re so kind, unlike him. He’s just an ungrateful wretch.” Chloe thought of me, her eyes filled with cold disdain. “Exactly. How dare he try to hurt his own family just to get attention? He’s truly evil!” Willow nodded in full agreement, scoffing, “Unless he realizes his mistake and kneels to apologize to Alex after these three days, I’ll kick him out of this house myself!” I stood beside them, listening to my sisters’ words, feeling only a bitter amusement. Yet, no one could see or hear my spectral form. From the moment our parents passed away, my three sisters had showered me with all their attention. One day, I wished for a playmate my age, so my sisters found Alex at an orphanage. I welcomed Alex with open arms, giving him my whole heart. But he framed me, again and again, driving a wedge between me and my sisters, pushing them further away with each passing day. This time was no different. My three sisters didn’t even give me a chance to explain before locking me in that tiny basement. I struggled desperately, feeling the air grow thin, each breath harder than the last. Pounding on the basement door, I pleaded with my sisters to let me out. But they only looked on with cold indifference, shouting back: “Why are you making such a fuss? This is all your fault! If it weren’t for you, why would Alex be so miserable from his allergy?” “I think we’ve been too good to you, that’s why you keep picking on Alex. Just stay put in there!” With that, Chloe personally wrapped the chains, and Willow even pushed heavy objects against the basement door, cutting off my last shred of hope for escape. Now, watching Alex put on his fake smile for my sisters, I let out another bitter, sarcastic laugh of disappointment. My sisters, the brother who loved you most in the world, has been killed by your own hands!
Alex deliberately tugged on Scarlett’s sleeve, whimpering: “Scarlett, don’t be angry. It’s my fault for being weak and having a seafood allergy. Leo surely didn’t mean it. Please don’t blame him!” Scarlett’s expression hardened instantly, her voice chilling: “We’ve been too lenient with Leo. That’s why he’s grown so arrogant and unruly!” Chloe’s eyes flashed with surging fury: “He’s only grown more narrow-minded with age! If it weren’t for him, why would Alex be like this?” Then, Alex deliberately exposed his arm, still slightly red from the fading allergic reaction, to his three sisters. Willow tenderly caressed the faint red marks on his skin. “Does it still hurt, Alex?” Alex lowered his head, his voice trembling: “It doesn’t… It doesn’t hurt…” Chloe’s anger completely ignited, and she yelled furiously: “If we had waited any longer to go to the hospital, Alex’s life would have been in danger! And after all these days, he hasn’t even sent a message. He shows no remorse!” Scarlett spoke with even greater rage: “Go fetch Leo and make him apologize! I don’t believe he’s so stubborn he can hold out without saying sorry!” Chloe and Willow echoed her fury: “He’s so stubborn because he’s always relied on our support, hasn’t he? Now that he’s done wrong, he must face the consequences!” With that, they turned to the trembling house staff, their voices blazing with anger: “Why are you just standing there? Go and bring that ungrateful wretch to me! And bring the discipline stick too. If Leo hadn’t deliberately put in the seafood, why would Alex have suffered in agony for three days in the hospital?” “It’s time to remind him of the consequences of his actions!” The staff received the order, not daring to disobey, and hurried in my direction. I let out a bitter, desperate laugh. My sisters, without even bothering to investigate, had simply decided I was guilty. Three days ago, Alex wanted some stew, and I, hoping to please him, offered to cook it. He even gave me a small packet of seasoning, saying he wanted this flavor. I tasted it; it was just a simple seafood stew. But who could have known it was his allergen? Scarlett, a business mogul, couldn’t even see through such obvious manipulation and cheap theatrics? Wasn’t that favoritism, pure and simple? In my sisters’ hearts, I was never as important as Alex. My own heart grew increasingly desolate. But it no longer mattered. I was already dead in that basement. My sisters could finally give all their favoritism entirely to Alex. “Scarlett, we’ve called for Leo for a long time, but there’s no movement from him.” “We listened inside, and it sounds like there’s no breathing!” Scarlett’s brows furrowed. She abruptly stood up, her face utterly cold: “What is Leo playing at now? Does he think apologizing to Alex is beneath him?” “Does he even understand that he almost killed Alex this time?” Alex tugged on Scarlett’s sleeve, feigning sadness: “It’s okay. I’m just an orphan. I don’t deserve Leo’s apology.” Scarlett’s anger was completely ignited: “You think I can’t see through these cheap tricks to get attention? “You’re dreaming if you think playing mute will get you off the hook! It seems the punishment I gave him was too light!” “Come on, drag him out. Let’s see how he hides now. He will kneel and apologize to Alex!”
I followed my three sisters’ hurried footsteps, my heart growing ever more desolate. Driven by their blazing fury, my three sisters arrived at the basement door. “Leo, do you think hiding inside and staying silent will let you escape punishment?” But no sound came from the basement. Chloe’s face grew even darker: “Leo, what are you still playing at? Get out here, now, and apologize to Alex!” “Don’t think that by hiding in there, turning off your phone, and ignoring our calls, you can escape responsibility for deliberately harming Alex!” Willow’s eyes were also blazing, and she spoke with furious anger: “Leo, you really think you’re so smart, don’t you? You’re just jealous of how good we are to Alex, so you’re deliberately trying to upset us by staying silent, right?” “Do you really think that by hiding in the basement and playing this stubborn game, you can make us give up?” Still, no sound came from inside the basement. Willow, however, looked at the trembling staff nearby and said coldly: “Why are you all shaking? Tell me the truth. Did Leo bribe you? Did you secretly let him out?” Chloe scoffed: “Given his awful personality, he probably couldn’t stand the basement after we left and got these staff members to let him out.” Willow’s eyes were completely filled with disappointment: “You almost killed Alex, yet you don’t dare take any responsibility? Is this really the brother I know?” “Do you really think you’re our only brother?” At this, a staff member stammered nervously: “Ms. Scarlett, without your orders, we wouldn’t dare let him out!” “Leo truly has been in the basement for three whole days.” Willow looked at the still, silent basement. A flicker of unease suddenly crossed her eyes. She stepped forward and tried to pull the basement door open several times, but it wouldn’t budge. “Leo, are you done yet? I’ve even unlocked the door. Are you still clinging to it and refusing to come out?” I looked at the twisted basement door from the inside, a bitter smile on my face. In my final moments, suffocating, I had desperately tried to break free, hoping to live. But the basement door was incredibly sturdy; I couldn’t even force a crack open, and so I suffocated to death inside. My sisters, when you see my corpse, will you give me even a tiny bit of love, and bury me beside our parents? Willow grew increasingly agitated. She began to kick the door with her foot. The twisted basement door groaned, and a larger gap appeared. A foul, putrid odor wafted out. A staff member nearby trembled, stammering, “It smells like… a corpse!” The other two sisters, still seething, walked closer. “What corpse smell? He clearly ran out ages ago and just threw a dead rat in there to trick us!” “Leo, do you really think we’re that easily fooled?” The three sisters grew more impatient, kicking the door together. The entire basement entrance shuddered again. With a resounding thud, the door was finally kicked open. Along with an even fouler, rotten stench, the small, dark basement was exposed to everyone.
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