When I was brutally killed, Mom was praying with my little sister for her final exam. She also cruelly hung up on my call for help. “This is a huge deal that decides Sarah’s life. If you want to die, then go die. You’re such bad luck!” Later, the city sent someone to inspect the school. The inspection team found hundreds of scattered body parts buried in the concrete poured under the track on the school field. To avoid causing panic at the school, they could only put it aside for the time being and dig the body parts out after the exams were over. Mom stitched the remains together on the operating table herself and pieced together a face she knew all too well. Jennifer from Class 3 at SKY High School. Her own daughter, missing for two months, the daughter she hated to the core—me. My limbs were removed from the concrete under the plastic track in the middle of the night on the day Sarah’s final exam ended, by a SWAT team that secretly came to the school. The SWAT officers wore gas masks and dug for three hours, pulling out a total of four hundred and thirty-two scattered pieces of my body. They transported the remains to the police station overnight, and several officers stayed up all night before finally piecing the body together into a rough human shape. You could barely tell it was a young girl. But the surface of the body had already turned into adipocere, and the stench was overwhelming. One rookie officer with a weak stomach only glanced at “me” before he bent over the trash can and vomited until his face turned white. Mom, who was the station’s guest forensic expert, stood nearby. She looked once, then turned away, her face full of pity. She put on her gloves, switched on the bright lights over the autopsy table, and scanned every inch of me from top to bottom, her eyes filling with a trace of doubt. My soul floated beside her, screaming and waving as hard as I could, even though I knew it was useless. My body wasn’t complete. One piece was missing here, another piece was missing there. The face that could best identify me had been slashed into vicious red marks by the killer, leaving no trace of what it had once looked like. Even a monster looked less frightening than I did now. Mom looked at my broken body so calmly, as if I were just another ordinary victim in her career. The officer beside her could see her confusion and felt a little guilty. “The body was cut up too finely. We searched all night and only found this much.” Mom cut in steadily, “It’s fine. That’s enough to tell.” After all, I hadn’t been dead for very long, and because I was sealed in concrete, the decomposition had slowed down. Even though some adipocere had formed in places, that was actually a good thing. The adipocere preserved the abuse and wounds I had suffered when I was alive very well. It was obviously helpful for solving the case. Mom suddenly froze, probably because several pieces of my body had fragments of SKY High School’s uniform stuck to them. She picked up those pieces, a flicker of hesitation crossing her eyes, and her scalpel stopped too. The owner of these body parts was a student at this school, a young girl. Didn’t she look a lot like your daughter who had been missing for two months? I stood nearby, my heart filled with emotions I couldn’t even name. Mom, did you recognize that it was me? She suddenly pulled back the white sheet, revealing my lower half. Her hand reached toward my thighs, where there were large brown marks, as if something burning hot had been pressed against me. They left behind ugly scars. She ran her fingers over the scars several times, but found nothing. Of course there would be nothing. To destroy these identifying marks on my body, they dragged me into an alley and rolled a curling iron over me again and again. I still remembered that scorching heat, a temperature so hot it felt like it could burn away a person’s soul too. Mom covered me back up with the white sheet. She took off her gloves, and the autopsy was over. She still hadn’t recognized that the inhuman monster on the table was her own daughter, who had been missing for two months, the daughter she hated with all her heart—me. I gave a bitter smile. Forget it. I was already used to this.
Mom submitted the autopsy report and went to the school, which was now sealed off by layers of police tape, and also the scene of the crime. This was a huge incident. The higher-ups took it very seriously and formed a special task force to investigate. They flipped through the files, completely overwhelmed. SKY High School was a top school, and the inspection team had used the most advanced equipment. The problem was that the equipment detected something on the plastic track. Mixed in with the concrete used to pour the track, there seemed to be human body parts. To avoid alarming the students, they didn’t confirm it right away. They only quietly gathered the list of people who had recently gone missing and started the first round of screening. But none of the missing persons matched the autopsy report. The officers were so angry they slapped their thighs. “It’s been hidden in there for two months, and the family never even reported it? Was she an orphan or something?” “Otherwise, how do you explain that none of the missing people from this period match her?” After a lot of trouble, they finally dug up a suspect. It was Jennifer, the daughter of the station’s forensic expert, Samantha. When Mom faced the officers who came to ask questions, she frowned. “My own daughter, how could I not know her? She’s the older sister. She got jealous of Sarah and just threw a tantrum and ran off. What do you mean missing?” “That’s a threat! She was dying for me and Sarah to die. How could she possibly be dead!” As she spoke, her eyes moved toward the group of people under the track. They were working in full gear, desperately digging through the concrete, and the excavated concrete had already piled up into a small mountain. She pulled the autopsy report out of her pocket. “The deceased is estimated to be between seventeen and twenty-one years old, and suffered a lot of inhuman abuse before death.” “There are multiple burn injuries, a broken leg, and three knife wounds all over the body, one of which was fatal.” “The face was deliberately destroyed, making identification impossible.” “All the fingers were chopped into tiny pieces, making fingerprint analysis difficult.” “But the remains are incomplete. There may be some fingerprints stuck to them, and we’re still sending people to look.” “DNA testing has also been submitted. We should have results within two days.” What they were digging up below was the other possible body parts. Mom held the autopsy report and looked at the officer, hatred flashing in her eyes. “Jennifer was nothing but trouble. The only person she ever bullied was others. When has anyone ever bullied her? If you say the killer was her, that would actually make some sense.” Seeing that the officers didn’t believe her, she even took out the chat history on her phone. “I’m the one who gave birth to her and raised her, but look at how she treats me?” “She sends one message on the phone saying she won’t come home and thinks that’s enough to brush me off?” “What a little bitch who can’t be tamed. Just thinking about her makes me sick for three days.” I was shocked beyond belief. I was already dead. How could I still send Mom messages? But when I leaned in to look, those messages really were sent from my account. Then I remembered the phone I had clutched tightly in my hand right before I died being snatched away brutally. I had tried with all my strength to snatch it back, but then my leg was kicked hard and broken. The bone snapped, and I collapsed to the ground in pain. Crying, I begged Mom for help over the phone. “Mom, help me. Please help me. I’m going to die!” But Mom just yelled at me impatiently, “I’m praying with Sarah for her final exam. If you want to die, then go die. You’re such bad luck!” What came next was intense pain and a wash of blood. Mom put on her coat and answered a call with a smile. “Sarah’s waiting for me at home? I’ll be back right away. I’ll bring you your favorite spaghetti. Wait for me, okay?” She turned around, and her gaze met my weak form floating in the air. It was full of cold indifference. “Jennifer only knows how to cause me trouble. She even ran away from home. If it weren’t for Sarah, I would’ve been driven to death by her long ago!” “Don’t ask me about Jennifer anymore. I don’t have a daughter like that, cold-blooded and heartless!” “Just seeing her makes me feel blocked up inside. She’s so annoying. It’d be best if she died out there.” “Don’t come home and get in the way. I don’t want Sarah upset!” I clutched my chest and bent over in pain. I had already endured the pain of being dismembered, but now this pain was many times worse than before. Mom, I died as you wished. Are you satisfied now?
As soon as Mom walked out of the school, she ran straight into Sarah waiting at the entrance. “Sarah, what are you doing here?” Mom was about to ask, but before she could finish, Sarah had already thrown herself into her arms. Her eyes were red, and her body trembled slightly. “Mom, I heard something happened at school. I… I’m a little scared.” Mom patted her back reassuringly. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here. I’ll protect you, Sarah.” Looking at Sarah like that, I suddenly understood where I had lost. I had lost from the very beginning. Even the slightest bit of fear from Sarah would be treated like a huge deal by Mom. But no matter how I bled in front of Mom and showed her my wounds, she remained unmoved. We had never been the same. Mom hugged Sarah and took her to the only spaghetti shop near the school. “I’ll buy you your favorite spaghetti, so don’t be scared, Sarah.” Sarah was still trembling nonstop, her eyes red like a pitiful little rabbit. And yet this harmless-looking girl had personally slashed my face to pieces. She had pressed a curling iron against my skin and rolled it over me inch by inch, making me wish I were dead. Mom was a regular customer, so the owner had already packed everything up by the time she arrived. Mom paid as usual, but when she reached out to take the box, he kept holding it and didn’t hand it over right away. “Have you seen Jennifer lately? She hasn’t come by to help me in a long time.” He turned his head and looked at Sarah, who was shrinking behind Mom. “Sarah, have you seen Jennifer?” Sarah covered her mouth exaggeratedly. “I don’t know either. The last time I saw Jennifer, she seemed really close with some guy…” The moment Jennifer was mentioned, Mom’s expression turned cold. She forced out, stiffly, “We don’t know.” Then she grabbed Sarah’s hand and left. When they got home, Sarah blinked innocently, her face full of innocence. “Mom, why wouldn’t you let me talk? I feel like that guy was weird, and between him and Jennifer…” Mom stood up and knocked over the fruit tray on the table. “Enough. Don’t bring her up to me!” Seeing Sarah flinch in fear, her heart softened and she lowered her eyes, asking after her with concern. “Sarah, you’re just too kind. From now on, stay far away from Jennifer.” “You’re going to be a top student in the future. How could you let someone like her, a total scumbag, ruin you?” She shoved the box of still-warm spaghetti into Sarah’s hands. “You’ve already finished your exam, so you should be resting. Whether Jennifer lives or dies has nothing to do with you. It’d be best if she died out there!” Sarah took the spaghetti from Mom’s hands, a smile lifting her lips, mixed with smugness. And she should be smug. She had pulled this trick many times before and had never lost. Even when she made up lies about me out of nowhere, even when she framed me for causing her injuries, no matter how absurd it sounded. Mom believed it all. I had knelt outside the door in the freezing snow, watching Sarah make faces at me through the glass with that same smile. I had tried to fight back, but nothing worked. “You’re the older sister. What’s wrong with letting Sarah have her way?” “You only think about competing with Sarah. Can’t you have some ambition?” “So what if I celebrate your birthday and Sarah’s together?” “Birthday cakes are expensive to buy two of. Can’t you save me some money?” Mom was always angry because I was a disobedient bad child. But obedience came at a price.
On my eighth birthday, I got beaten because I wouldn’t listen. Sarah forced me to play hide-and-seek with her, or she would make Mom keep beating me. I agreed. She told me to hide in the back seat of the car and said Mom would come looking for me later. I went along with it. But then the car started, and I popped up from the back seat, meeting Dad’s shocked eyes. Dad was a detective and had offended a lot of people. The brake on that car had failed because someone who wanted to hurt Dad had tampered with it. The car crashed into a tree and burst into flames. Half of Dad’s body was swallowed by the fire, and he used the last of his strength to smash the window with something sharp and get me out. I was grabbed by the police who rushed over, and I watched helplessly as the car exploded, my father’s body turning to ash with it. When Mom arrived, she slapped me and called me a jinx. At the funeral, Mom grabbed my head and smashed it against Dad’s tombstone. “If it weren’t for you, your dad wouldn’t have died!” “Why wasn’t it you who died back then? If it weren’t for you, with his skills, he could’ve gotten out!” “Why don’t you go die? Go die!” Her shrill voice stabbed into my heart like countless blades, and in that instant, I really felt like I deserved to die. I should have died when I was eight, not in that rainy night. Sarah called me crying and told me to come save her. Through tears, she said she had found the person who had killed Dad back then. I didn’t believe her, but then the person on the other end really produced evidence that the brakes had been tampered with. I had no choice but to believe it. Sarah begged me desperately, pleading for me to think of a way to get her out. So I went to save her. Before leaving, I secretly took a knife with me. I naively thought that if things really came to the worst, I would kill Sarah and then kill myself. But I was wrong. All of this had been a trap set for me. From the moment I agreed, they never intended to let me leave alive. My memories came rushing back, and I saw Sarah take out a phone in the room. It looked unbelievably familiar. Sure enough, she had taken it. Back then, I didn’t understand why she could go that far just because of a little jealousy. Why she was willing to team up with those criminals to take revenge on Dad and revenge on me. Later, I understood that from the moment she was a child, her mind had already been twisted. Her hands were covered in blood. The day Dad died, Sarah overheard that they had switched the brakes, but she didn’t warn him. She even took me into the car too. Through the back-seat window, I saw the twisted pleasure on her young face. Because Dad favored me, because I was praised for being prettier than her. She wanted to send us both to our deaths. The detective’s daughter had put on a criminal’s blood from that night on. She only needed a little persuasion, and didn’t even have to do it herself, to make someone who stood in her way disappear from this world. What a temptation. I told her to turn back. What I got in return was this: before the exam, she had people block me in an alley. Because she knew I wanted to apply to the police academy, and she was afraid that once I got in, I would expose all her crimes to the world. She killed me herself. One stab after another, I trembled in pain, but from her crazed laughter, I understood the meaning of the smile on her face at Dad’s funeral. It meant I would never beat her in this lifetime. I would have to live forever carrying the label of the man who killed my father. They threw my body parts into the concrete pit at the school field construction site. They buried me, along with my secret, at the bottom, sealed into the plastic track. Mom walked into Sarah’s room carrying a bowl of borscht. “Sarah, don’t stay up too late. Go to sleep soon. I’ve got something to do tonight and can’t stay with you.” Sarah was still clutching my phone, and in her panic, she could only stuff it under her skirt. Mom glanced at her with some suspicion, but didn’t ask further. Sarah saw that the bedroom door was wide open and a group of police officers were sitting in the living room. Her face went a little pale, and she couldn’t hide her guilt. “Mom, who are they? Why are they here at our house?” She shifted a little, not realizing that the phone under her had already exposed a corner. “They’re coworkers from the station. The owner of the spaghetti shop came to report something.” “He said Jennifer hadn’t shown up for a long time. She messaged me saying she’d gone to her grandma’s house, but her grandma said she’d never been there.” Mom’s hand shook several times around the bowl of borscht, and her voice trembled. “Sarah, do you think…” Before she could finish, her gaze suddenly locked onto one spot. She rushed forward in a few steps and pulled out the phone. Only then did I see it. Three minutes ago, Mom had sent me a message. One minute ago, Sarah replied with my phone. Mom’s eyes widened, and she unconsciously raised her voice. “Sarah, tell me. Why is Jennifer’s phone in your hands?”
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