1 My brother’s memory shattered in the twisted metal of a car wreck three years ago. At least, that’s what I believed. When he woke up, he didn’t recognize me. Instead, he reached out for Jodie Hart—the scholarship student our family had been sponsoring—and called her his little sister. He showered her with the protective, obsessive love that used to be mine. And me? He treated me like a ghost, a parasite, an enemy to be broken. Every time the torment became unbearable, every time I was on the verge of screaming the truth into his face, I choked it back. I didn’t want to trigger another neurological relapse. I chose his health over my life. Until today. Xander had forced me to hike up the mountain trail in the blistering, triple-digit heat of a Georgia summer. My task was to deliver emergency oxygen tanks to the luxury villa at the summit, where Jodie was supposedly having a “breathing spell” during their vacation. I reached the heavy oak doors of the villa, my lungs screaming, my vision swimming in the heat. But as I reached for the handle, I heard laughter from the patio. They were playing a game. “I’m telling you, the amnesia was a masterpiece,” Xander’s voice rang out, clear and chillingly sober. “The memory loss was a front. Mistaking Jodie for my sister? A calculated move. But the way I cherish Jodie? That’s the only part that’s real.” A chorus of gasps and drunken chuckles followed from his inner circle of friends. “Damn, Xander,” one of them laughed. “So treating Sloane like a dog, torturing her for three years—that was all intentional? You’ve got a cold heart, man.” Xander’s voice was devoid of remorse. “It was the only way to break her. Sloane was a spoiled, entitled brat. She needed to be rebuilt from the ground up. This ‘ordeal’ was her refinement process. Besides, I’m planning to ‘recover’ my memory tomorrow. By dinner time, she’ll be my beloved sister again, and she’ll be a hell of a lot more obedient for it.” The hiking pole in my hand shook so violently it rattled against the stone. A wave of nauseating absurdity crashed into my chest, so heavy I thought it would snap my ribs. I started to laugh, a dry, bitter sound that died in my parched throat. What Xander didn’t know was that the System—the inexplicable consciousness that had governed my life since I turned twenty—was finally pulling me out of this world. I wouldn’t be around to be his “beloved sister” tomorrow. A sharp, digital ping echoed in my skull. [Warning! Host has three hours remaining until world-exit. Please prepare for departure.] Usually, I’d be crying, begging the System for more time, desperate to see my brother smile at me just once more. This time, I simply whispered, “Copy that.” Inside the villa, the discussion surged again. “You’re right though,” another friend chimed in. “Sloane needed to be put in her place. Remember how many times she made Jodie cry back in the day? Seeing her stripped of her status… honestly, Xander, some of those moves were brilliant. She’s definitely not arrogant anymore.” “And today’s stunt?” someone else asked. “The news said it’s a record-breaking 105 degrees. You made her hike three thousand feet with heavy tanks? She’s lucky if she makes it up here with half her soul intact.” I pushed the door open. The silence that followed was deafening. The air-conditioned chill hit my sweat-soaked skin like a slap. Everyone stared. Xander’s face flickered with a momentary spasm of panic before he smoothed it into a mask of cold indifference. I dragged my trembling legs across the polished marble, my head bowed, and set the oxygen tanks on the mahogany table. As I tried to straighten my back, my strength vanished. I collapsed onto the floor, my knees hitting the wood with a dull thud. One of Xander’s friends looked between us, his expression shifting to one of sheer awkwardness. He stepped forward to help me, muttering, “Sloane, hey, be careful—” “Sloane Miller!” Xander’s voice thundered, stopping the man in his tracks. “Now that you’ve heard the truth, you think you can just play the victim? You’re falling on the floor to guilt-trip me?” He walked toward me, his shadow looming large. “I see three years of discipline haven’t cured your theatrics. You’re still as manipulative as ever.” My heart gave a dull, painful flutter. My throat was too scorched to form words. Too light? He thought the discipline was too light? He had unleashed the full force of his cruelty on me. A ‘staged’ car accident that left my bones shattered, landing me in the ICU for three months. Multiple ‘accidental’ falls into the river that left me with chronic respiratory issues. He had turned me into Jodie’s personal maid, stripping me of my dignity until I was lower than a stray in the eyes of our social circle. I had endured it all because I thought I was saving him. Because I thought his ‘recovery’ was the light at the end of the tunnel. But he had been the one holding the match the whole time. The injustice boiled up, hot and stinging. I forced my head up, my eyes bloodshot, and stared directly into his. Xander flinched, a small cough escaping him as if he were about to soften his tone. Then, Jodie screamed. “Oh my god! There’s a razor blade taped to the oxygen tank! It cut me! It hurts so much!” She gripped her hand, sobbing hysterically. “Sloane, if you’re mad at Xander, take it out on him. Please don’t hurt me anymore. He only did this because he loves you!” In a heartbeat, the flicker of guilt in Xander’s eyes died. It was replaced by a familiar, searing disappointment. “You never change, Sloane. And here I was, actually feeling sorry for you. I was going to ‘remember’ who you were tomorrow.” He leaned down, his voice a low hiss. “Tonight is your final lesson. If you can’t fix your soul by morning, don’t blame me for being truly heartless.” He turned his back on me, scooping Jodie into his arms to tend to her ‘wound.’ He barked an order to the security guards. “Take her outside. Let her stay in the sun until she learns the meaning of accountability.” I was dragged out and dumped on the burning patio. Through the floor-to-ceiling glass, I watched Xander tenderly hovering over Jodie, feeding her water like she was made of glass. My heart felt like it was turning to ash. Did he even know why he did this? Was it really to “refine” me, or was the amnesia just a convenient excuse to love Jodie openly? I don’t think even he knew anymore. The world began to go quiet. Only the mechanical voice in my head remained. [Thirty minutes until world-exit.] The sun was a physical weight. Dehydration was setting in, my skin turning a terrifying shade of mottled red. Every muscle in my body spasmed. A few yards away, there was a garden hose. I began to crawl, an instinctive, pathetic movement toward survival. I reached it. My fingers brushed the plastic. But before I could turn the nozzle, a designer shoe stepped firmly on the hose. Xander. “Jodie is inside crying, and here you are, still playing your little games,” he snapped. “How can I ever trust you with the family name again?” My lips were cracked and bleeding. I could only wheeze out one word. “Water… please…” Xander frowned, unable or unwilling to hear me. One of his friends stood by the glass door, looking uneasy. “Xander, man, look at her. It’s lethal out there. Just let her have a drink.” Xander didn’t blink. “Absolutely not. Discipline requires hardship. She’s built like an ox—I’ve made sure of that over the last three years. She’s faking the extremity to get my attention.” The friend opened his mouth to argue, but Xander’s expression shifted. He threw out a subtle threat about a pending business merger, and the friend went silent, retreating inside. Xander turned to the gardener who was working nearby. “Make sure the jasmine garden is watered every hour. Jodie worked hard on those flowers. Don’t let them wither in this heat.” The words felt like a scalpel to the heart. My life was worth less than Jodie’s flowers. Xander started to walk away, then paused. He didn’t look back, but his voice held a strange mix of frustration and buried hope. “Stay out here until tomorrow. If you don’t cause any more trouble, I’ll announce my recovery in the morning. You’ll be my sister again. The girl I used to spoil.” I shook my head, a ghostly, tragic smile on my face. He used to love me more than his own life. He used to say he’d bring me the stars if I asked. Somewhere along the line, after Jodie arrived, that love had curdled into something unrecognizable. And besides, I wouldn’t make it to tomorrow. The dehydration was absolute. My vision was tunneling into darkness. [System Alert: Final countdown. Ten… nine…] The ticking was a hammer against my skull. With my last ounce of strength, I looked toward the villa. “Goodbye, Xander.” He froze at the door, his hand on the handle. He let out a sharp, angry laugh. “Sloane, I told you—it’s tomorrow or never. Your threats don’t work on me anymore.” He slammed the door. As the sound echoed, the final second ticked away. A violent, yet strangely gentle force yanked me upward. I was floating, looking down at the mangled, pathetic heap of my own body. My legs were covered in raw scrapes from the hike. My clothes were stiff with salt and sweat. I looked like a discarded rag. I drifted through the glass into the villa. Even without a body, the sudden drop in temperature felt like a shock. Xander had spent a fortune to have industrial-grade AC installed up here, just so Jodie wouldn’t be uncomfortable in the summer. Jodie said she was hungry. Xander immediately stopped the game and ushered everyone into the kitchen. He, a man who had never even boiled an egg, put on an apron to make soup. His friends were floored. “Xander, you’ve always made us order in or had the chef do it. You wouldn’t even make toast for Sloane when she got out of surgery because you said you ‘hated the smell of the kitchen.’” Xander focused on chopping vegetables, a soft smile playing on his lips. “Jodie’s hand is hurt. She’s upset. I want to do something to make her feel better.” A phantom pain tightened in my chest. I remembered that surgery. I had begged him for a bowl of his porridge. He had ignored me, hiring a Michelin-star chef to make a dozen versions until I shut up. I thought he just had a boundary with cooking. I was wrong. He just didn’t want to cook for me. “Do you think Sloane actually left?” someone asked. “She seemed… different today. Maybe she’s actually done.” Xander didn’t look up. “She won’t leave. She’s spent three years dreaming of the day I ‘remember’ her. She won’t miss her chance tomorrow. Besides, if I don’t do this, how will she ever learn? She was a bully, school-wide. She almost drove Jodie to suicide.” They all nodded, convinced by his logic. I looked down at them, my voice a whisper they couldn’t hear. That’s not true. If you had just looked an inch deeper, you’d have seen the truth. Suddenly, the domestic peace was shattered by a wail. “Xander! There’s so much blood! It won’t stop!” Xander bolted from the kitchen. Jodie was staring at her hand, sobbing. “I don’t know what Sloane put on that blade, but the cut won’t close. It’s okay… I probably deserve this.” Xander’s face went scarlet. “Sloane Miller! You sadistic little…” He gritted his teeth so hard I heard the bone click. “Even now, she’s sabotaging you!” I waved my ghostly hands in desperation. It wasn’t me! I didn’t put a blade there! Why do you believe her every time? Xander called for the villa’s private doctor. Then, he barked an order: “Go outside and draw Sloane’s blood. If Jodie needs a transfusion or a specialized plasma match, Sloane is going to provide it. Every drop if necessary.” “But Xander,” a friend whispered, “she’s been in the sun for hours after a mountain hike. Is that safe?” “She caused this!” Xander roared. “She needs to take responsibility! She thinks I’ll always be there to clean up her mess? Not anymore.” No one dared move. Xander hovered over the doctor, asking a thousand questions about Jodie’s safety. When the doctor assured him she would be fine with a few stitches, Xander finally exhaled. But then, the doctor returned from the patio, his face ashen. “Mr. Miller… something is wrong. I need you to authorize the medical override for Miss Sloane.” Xander scoffed. “Is she refusing to give blood? Tell her if she doesn’t cooperate, tomorrow is canceled. She stays a pariah forever.” The doctor was shaking, wiping sweat from his forehead. He couldn’t even speak before the guards pushed him back toward the door. Xander stood by the window, staring out at the spot where my body lay. He pulled out his phone and initiated a video call with the doctor who was now standing over me. “Sloane Miller! Stop this nonsense! Do you think playing dead on the grass is going to get you out of this? I’m giving you one minute to get up and cooperate, or you are dead to this family!” The doctor didn’t answer. Instead, he turned the camera toward my face. “Mr. Miller…” the doctor’s voice was a ragged whisper. “Her face is… it’s purple-grey. Her skin isn’t rebounding. I think…” Xander’s eyes finally focused on the screen. The color drained from his face. He stumbled toward the door, but Jodie grabbed his arm. “Xander, don’t let her trick you again,” she whined. “I’ll be fine. Don’t let her use her ‘health’ to manipulate you into feeling guilty.” She tried to lead him away, but as she moved, her “wound” supposedly burst, spilling blood onto the carpet. Xander’s protective instinct flared into a blind rage. “Sloane! Jodie is bleeding out while you lie there pretending! I almost fell for it!” He turned to the guards. “Drag her in! I don’t care if she’s conscious or not, get that blood!” He carried Jodie to the bedroom, staying with her until she calmed down. Finally, he decided to give me one last “chance.” He walked toward the infirmary room, expecting to see me sulking on a gurney. Instead, he met the doctor in the hallway. The man was holding a glass vial, his hands trembling. “Mr. Miller… Miss Sloane…” “Where is she?” Xander snapped. “Did she finally stop the act?” The doctor looked down at the vial. “I couldn’t draw any more. The blood… it’s already clotted. Miss Sloane is dead.”
🌟 Continue the story here 👉🏻 📲 Download the “MotoNovel” app 🔍 search for “553687”, and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel
Leave a Reply