The year I started elementary school, a new teacher joined our small-town school.
During the first class, my sister made me draw our mom in my notebook, chained up.
The next day, squad cars with flashing lights swarmed our place.
They restrained my yelling dad and smashed open the rusty padlock on my mom’s bedroom door.
I watched Mom take Melanie’s hand and rush towards the impeccably dressed man, a smile on her face I’d never seen before.
Dad lay in a pool of blood, eyes closed. I begged Mom to save him.
But she just shoved me away.
“Don’t call me! If it weren’t for Melanie, why would I have ever given birth to you, you little monster!”
I froze. Melanie, didn’t you say if I gave the drawing to the teacher, Mom would finally hug me?
Nothing in front of me matched my fantasies.
The incredibly distinguished man, whom Mom clutched tightly, stared at me with intense fury.
He kicked my unconscious dad several times before turning to me.
A large hand shadowed the sunlight, and I quickly shut my eyes in fear.
“Don’t…”
It was Mom’s voice.
She tugged on the man’s sleeve, giving me a complicated look.
My heart fluttered with a tiny spark of hope. So Melanie hadn’t lied. Giving the drawing to the teacher would make Mom like me.
My sister, Melanie, wriggled out of Mom’s embrace and pointed at me, sobbing.
“Mom, it was her! The kidnapper loved her the most!”
“He always gave her the best food first, and called her his little treasure!”
“Her kidnapper dad made us suffer so much, why shouldn’t we teach her a lesson?”
Mom’s body stiffened, and her eyes, fixed on me, hardened instantly.
The man, whom Mom was holding back, seemed provoked. His gaze on me was filled with murderous intent.
Bang!
He kicked me, sending me sprawling to the ground.
The hard sole of his shoe slammed into my chest, making me feel like my insides had been scrambled.
“Mommy… Mommy…”
I cried out for Mom, but she just kept holding Melanie, never once looking back at me.
For some reason, hearing me call her Mom seemed to enrage the man even more. He relentlessly punched and kicked my curled-up body.
The pain choked me, and my vision blurred.
Mom, didn’t you just like me a moment ago? Why don’t you like me anymore?
Officers in uniform finally pulled the man away, and I was saved.
My dad, covered in blood, was handcuffed and taken away in a squad car with flashing lights.
As he passed me, he actually smiled faintly, muttering something I couldn’t quite hear.
I knew that those who were handcuffed never came back.
Mom and Melanie were also preparing to leave. I screamed and cried, grabbing Mom’s leg, falling to my knees and begging her.
“Mom, please don’t leave me. I’ll be good. I promise.”
Mom hesitated, but then Melanie started crying.
“Mommy, I’m scared. I don’t want to see her again.”
Even though Mom and Robert didn’t want to take me, the officers insisted, and they reluctantly brought me into the car.
The car seats were soft, but I didn’t dare move, afraid my dirty clothes would stain them, and they’d abandon me again.
I gradually felt dizzy, and on a sharp turn, I couldn’t hold it in anymore and bumped into Melanie.
Melanie burst into tears.
“You bullied me enough before, and now you’re bullying me again! I hate you! I never want to see you!”
In the end, they found a thick rope. One end was tied to my wrist, the other fastened to the back of the car.
I was dragged along behind their car like trash.
By the time the car stopped, I was a bloody mess.
I was confined to the hospital for a full month.
Each time the doctor came for rounds, his eyes held deep pity for me.
Mom never once appeared.
Only Melanie came a few times.
Each time, she wore a beautiful frilly dress I’d never seen before, holding delicate snacks.
She sat by my hospital bed, eating chips and boasting about her new life.
“Lily, Dad bought me a huge toy castle, much bigger than our old house in the village.”
“Mom took me to eat French food. The snails were so delicious, I bet you’ve never had them, right?”
Her words pierced my heart a little.
But I remained silent, just watching her quietly.
After my injuries healed, I was brought home.
It was called a home, but my room was in the attic, small and stuffy, with only a tiny skylight.
They didn’t allow me to step out of the room, let alone go to school.
Every day after school, Melanie would come by my room, in her pretty school uniform and cute backpack, just to show off.
“Lily, today in art class, our teacher taught us how to draw, it was so much fun.”
“Lily, my classmates invited me to the amusement park this weekend, and Mom already said yes.”
I really wanted to go to school too, but from bits and pieces of the nanny’s conversations, I vaguely learned about my background.
Until one day, Melanie took my hand and led me out of the attic, to Mom.
“Mom, let Lily go to school too.”
“Those things were all the kidnapper’s fault, they have nothing to do with Lily. We shouldn’t take it out on her.”
After Melanie’s repeated pleas, Mom actually relented.
“Go if you want, just don’t cause trouble.” Mom didn’t even look at me, coldly dropped those words, and left.
Even though Mom still didn’t like me, I could finally go to school.
I was transferred into Melanie’s elite private school, and I thought this was the start of a new life.
But on my first day, my desk was drenched in black ink.
My new textbooks were torn to shreds, paper scraps scattered everywhere.
I didn’t dare speak up, silently cleaning it up alone.
During break, a group of rich kids cornered me in the restroom.
“Small-town hick! Do you even know how to use a proper restroom?”
“Look at her clothes, so tacky!”
“I heard her dad’s a kidnapper, trash’s kids should just die!”
A chubby girl suddenly grabbed my hair and shoved my head into the toilet bowl. I struggled desperately, but I was too weak and choked on mouthfuls of disgusting water.
Just then, Melanie appeared.
She frowned and yelled, “Don’t you dare bully my sister!”
She pulled me out of the toilet.
“My sister just came from a small town, she doesn’t know how to use a toilet, don’t laugh at her.”
“She was brought back by my mom and dad, even though… even though she doesn’t really look like she belongs in our family, but for my sake, please don’t bully her, okay?”
But after she finished, she suddenly covered her nose, looking at me with disgust. “Ugh, what’s that smell? Didn’t you take a shower?”
After her “defense,” the group laughed even more wildly.
“So she’s Melanie’s charity case!”
“Don’t worry, for your sake, we’ll take good ‘care’ of her!”
After school, I returned home, filthy.
Mom saw my condition and frowned in disgust.
“She’s a lowlife, alright. Only good for causing trouble outside.”
I said nothing, dragging my exhausted body back to the attic.
Closing the door, I took out the paper and pen I’d hidden under my bed.
I’d scavenged them from the trash.
Lying on the floor, I drew a little girl on the paper.
The girl stood on the edge of a cliff, and behind her, countless unseen hands were pushing her into the abyss.
I quickly learned the survival rules of that school.
No matter how they insulted me, how they pranked me, I remained expressionless.
They didn’t let me study, so I pretended not to listen to anything in class.
Then, in the evening, back in the attic, I’d study little by little.
Until one day, Melanie tore all my notes to shreds.
“Lily, Mom won’t give you money for college anyway. This junk is taking up too much space. I cleared it out for you, no need to thank me.”
In that moment, something inside me just snapped.
I used all my strength and shoved her hard to the ground.
She hadn’t expected me to fight back and fell heavily, hitting her forehead on the corner of a table. Blood started to seep out.
“Ah!”
Mom and the household staff immediately rushed up.
Melanie cried and threw herself into Mom’s arms: “Mommy, Lily hit me! She said I’m a bad person and she wants to kick me out of this house!”
Mom looked at the cut on Melanie’s forehead, then at me, her eyes turning instantly vicious.
“You ungrateful snake! Melanie has been so good to you, and you dare lay a hand on her!”
Her hand came down before I could move. The sting spread across my face, sharp and hot.
Robert also rushed over.
“You dare hurt Melanie? You’ll pay for this!!”
He grabbed my hair and slammed my head against the wall. My scalp screamed with searing pain.
Melanie hid behind Mom, revealing a pair of red-rimmed eyes, “Dad, don’t blame Lily, it’s my fault, I shouldn’t have ruined her things…”
“What things does she have? A lowlife, eating my food, living in my house, and daring to bully my daughter!”
He looked around, then grabbed a leather belt from the wall.
The cold gleam of the belt flashed, but Mom’s eyes showed no ripples, instead, she hugged Melanie even tighter.
Crack!
The belt landed heavily on my back.
My clothes instantly ripped, and the burning pain made me curl into a ball.
“It wasn’t me…” I could barely speak through the pain, but I still used all my strength to argue, “It was her… she tore up my notes…”
“Still talking back! Still slandering Melanie!”
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The belt struck again and again. My back, my legs, everywhere burned with tearing pain.
I looked up at Mom by the door, casting her a final plea.
She finally spoke, but it wasn’t the plea I’d hoped for.
“Just like your kidnapper father, full of lies, a born bad seed, rotten to the core.”
Robert threw down the belt and started kicking my body with the tip of his shoe.
My chest, my abdomen, my back… each kick made me feel like my insides were being torn apart.
The taste of blood filled my mouth, and my vision began to blur.
Before closing my eyes, I saw Melanie peek out from Mom’s embrace, a barely perceptible smirk curling at the corner of her lips.
↓ ↓ Download the Novel Master app, Search 【 297460 】reads the whole book. ↓ ↓
NovelShort
