Don't Give Up On Me

Mom said she wanted me to experience all the suffering Charlene had gone through. That was why I couldn't even bring myself to recall how I died in my past life.

I really wanted to tell her that I hadn't done any of those things and that I had really been abducted. But she said she didn't want to hear my excuses, as every word I spoke was filthy.

Thus, she sewed my mouth shut.

Stitch by stitch, blood splattered across her face and hands. Before my lips were fully sewn shut, I used all my strength to scream "Mom", but she remained unmoved.

In fact, that only made her angrier.

"Don't call me 'Mom'! I have an accomplished life, but having a daughter like you is my biggest failure. You're so vile that I can't even—"

Her eyes reddened. As she dragged my barely conscious body, she kept muttering things like "go die".

She dragged me to the cemetery where Charlene was buried. Then, she forced me down and made me bow in front of her memorial over and over again until I lost count.

I could only remember my forehead being cracked open, and I found myself unable to open my eyes from all the blood covering them.

Mom mechanically repeated the same actions while constantly speaking about how much she missed Charlene.

"Charlene, I'll make Matilda pay with her life and let her rot forever in hellhole, okay?"

Then, she beat me until my flesh was torn and my bones were broken. She did all that while cursing me out.

After I painfully died, she burned me to ash and scattered my remains in the dump.

The pain I suffered was seared into my bones, and even just thinking about it would make my chest ache horribly.

…

I was shaking uncontrollably. My clothes were quickly torn apart.

The men grabbed my hand and pried one of my fingernails off. Blood quickly oozed from my fingertip. The pain was so excruciating that I screamed and sobbed.

The abductors seemed delighted by my screams. They recorded several videos and sent them all to Mom.

By then, all ten of my fingernails had been ripped out. My hands were drenched in blood, my clothes barely clinging to me.

They eagerly expected Mom to break down when she saw my suffering.

And I, too, clung to a fragile sliver of hope. She was my mother, after all.

I vehemently wished that, after seeing those videos, she'd realize that this wasn't an act orchestrated by me and that I wasn't trying to steal her attention from Charlene.

But it seemed like the universe loved to slowly shatter whatever hope remained, leaving me to die alone in despair.

The last video wasn't even sent, as it suddenly showed that my number had been blocked.

The abductor threw my phone in frustration. He continued cursing for a while before kicking me repeatedly.

It hurt—so much.

The desperate abductors didn't get what they wanted, so it was only natural they wouldn't show any mercy to me, their hostage.

"Since her mom refuses to pay the ransom, we'll just have our way with her first, then kill her. Once she's dead, we'll chop her up and dump her in the sea for the fish!"

I was once again haunted by the terrifying images of the humiliating assault I had endured in my past life. I was so scared of dying again in such a degrading way.

I didn't want to! I really didn't want to!

The abductors didn't consider me a threat since I looked very skinny and weak. They didn't even bother tying my hands and feet.

Wanting to live and having no one to rely on, I had no choice but to save myself. When pushed to desperation, one could unleash limitless potential.

I spotted a gun carelessly discarded on the floor behind them. I'd seen Mom use one before, and because I idolized her, I'd memorized many of her moves and techniques.

I lunged and grabbed the gun from the ground. Amid the haze of memory, I managed to load it.

Then, I shot twice without hesitation. The recoil numbed my shoulder to the point where I couldn't feel it anymore.

After killing all four of them, I collapsed to the ground, utterly drained of all strength.

Thinking that they must have phones on them, I crawled over with some effort and rummaged through one of their pockets. Once I found a phone, I called the police.

I said over the phone, "Hello, I've been abducted, and I've killed someone."

After ending the call, I saw a familiar string of numbers in the contact list. But I couldn't make it out clearly since I had lost too much blood. A second later, I passed out.