The killer was caught, and my sister, who had
faked her death, was back.
But I was never coming back.
Chapter 9
As they cleaned out my room.
The acceptance letter to Stanford, which had fallen out of a bookshelf, finally broke Mom.
Holding it tight, she knelt on the floor, crying
like her heart was being ripped apart.
Looking at her crying, I didn’t feel anything.
I was thinking, was she crying because she had
lost me?
Or was she just upset that she’d lost a chance
to show off her daughter with a Stanford
degree?
924
<
11:12
I couldn’t tell, and it didn’t really matter.
924
Ever since they caught the killer, I had a feeling.
My soul was fading.
I was getting ready to leave this world.
Sarah was watching her, cold. “Did you ever think that the Nora you abused for five years, was still working hard to prove herself to you, until the very end? Trying to be the best kid for you?”
“Your cruelty destroyed it all!”
“Nora, please come home, Mom’s not mad
anymore, okay? Don’t you love Mom’s beef
stew?”
“If you come home, Mom will make it for you
right now!”
Suddenly, Mom thought of something. She
L
<
11:12
924
rushed to the trash and grabbed the text I sent
her before dying.
“Nora, don’t worry, Mom’s calling the police!
They’ll come save you!”
“Nora, you need to wait for your Mom!”
Ever since I died, Mom’s been acting strange.
Every day, she stands in the empty room,
holding my broken ring, saying she’s sorry and
that she misses me.
It was the gift she gave me, and now it was a
source of pain that would never go away.
Dad was also acting like he was losing his mind.
After that day, he could no longer work at the
hospital.
Every patient looked like me to him.
<
His condition was just as bad as Mom’s.
924
The hospital had no choice but to put him on
leave and send him home.
Sarah had my body cremated.
Then, she locked herself in her room and didn’t
eat or drink for a whole day.
Finally, she packed her suitcase and left that
house that she both loved and hated.
She felt so guilty that she couldn’t forgive
herself for what she did to me by leaving.
She had chosen to exile herself.
Before she left, she took my acceptance letter,
the one that no one had ever seen, to my grave.
And then, she burned her Julliard acceptance letter, right there with mine.
<
11:12
She was watching the flames, tears in her eyes.
“If I knew this would happen, I would have never brought you out of those mountains.”
“I’m a failure of a sister. I didn’t get a good
start, and I left you with a terrible end.”
“It’s all my fault, I should have said something, I
should have explained.”
“I’m a sinner too.”
“If there’s a next life, I’ll do everything I can to
make it up to you.”
“Nora, goodbye. If there’s a next life, please,
please don’t meet a sister like me.”
After the fire died down, Sarah grabbed her
suitcase and slowly walked away from the
cemetery.
Watching her leave, my soul began to scatter.
I waved to her, in the direction she was walking.
“Goodbye, Sister!”
Suddenly, she seemed to have heard something, and she turned back, a gentle breeze brushed against her face.
The wind was rustling through the leaves.
The End.
