Mom, Never to See You Again in Life or Death

"Mom, I..."

Blood gushed out of my mouth and choked into my lungs.

I couldn't say anything.

My mother, Mary Wilson's impatient accusation came from the other end of the phone. "If you have a cough, just go buy some medicine.

"Tony will pay the down payment for the house tomorrow afternoon. Remember to transfer the money on time."

1

I died.

I died at the age of twenty-five.

The disaster came suddenly in the late night. Before I had time to think about what was happening, my chest was pierced by a sharp thing.

Fortunately, I died quickly and didn't feel any pain for long.

But I looked a bit ugly when I died, and blood was everywhere.

My soul floated in the air as I watched the miserable scene after the earthquake.

The ground cracked open and closed again, and faint cries of the survivors buried underground could be heard.

Just as I realized what was happening, my soul was suddenly sucked into a dark vortex.

When I could see again, I returned home.

Mary called me more than a dozen times in a row, but no one answered. She was so angry that she yelled, "Alice, you are such an ungrateful person! You are deliberately embarrassing me."

My younger brother, Tony Wilson sent me a message to accuse me: [I'm getting engaged next month. If I can't buy this house today, I won't let you off.]

My younger sister, Yolanda Wilson sent me several voice messages in a row. "Alice, don't be so petty. It was Tony who was wrong last time. Didn't Dad already apologize to you in person?

"Don't be angry. At worst, I can move the piano out of your room and return your room to you."

When my stepfather, Sam Wilson called my cell phone, it was turned off.

He, who was usually taciturn, was so angry that he kicked the chair far away.

He yelled at Mary, "Look at your daughter. I told you not to let her work so far away. Now she's grown independent and won't even answer calls from her family.

"Does she consider us as her family?"

They weren't angry that I didn't treat them as family. They were just angry that I was going to break free from their control.

But I was already dead.

Mary looked like someone was strangling her throat and her face turned ashen.

In her words, I had brought shame to her at this moment.

I knew that I was the only outsider in this family since I was young.

After divorcing my father, Mary took me away and married Sam, giving birth to Tony and Yolanda.

At that time, I was not liked by Sam. I remember that every time he came back home, he would only bring two toys or food.

One was for Tony and one for Yolanda.

He didn't even look at me after giving gifts to them.

As I pinched the corner of my clothes, I wanted to say that I wanted a gift too, but Mary immediately pulled me into the kitchen and said, "Alice, you are already eight years old. Why are you still so greedy? Those things are expensive. You are their sister. You should give in to your younger brother and sister.

"You need to be more sensible and don't let me lose face in front of Sam.

"You have to learn to please him, so you will have a good life. Come on, help me cook the dinner."

At dinner time, three-year-old Tony and Yolanda were sitting around Mary and Sam at a four-seater dining table.

I tactfully sat on the small stool in the kitchen.

Mary's face was filled with a smug smile, and she said to Sam, "I didn't lie to you. I told you Alice is very sensible."

It was at this time that I would see a slight smile on Sam's face.

Seeing Sam smile, Mary smiled more happily.

That night, I ate the half chicken leg left by Tony.

Mary said it was a reward given to me by Sam.

At that time, I understood what Mary meant when she said that if I pleased him, I would have a good life.

However, after I turned twelve, the situation seemed a little complicated.

2

The sound of a phone thrown to the ground made me come back to my senses.

In the living room, Tony was so angry that his face turned red and he punched the wall again and again.

"Alice is deliberately making things difficult for me. If it weren't for her, Dad's leg wouldn't have been injured. If Dad's leg hadn't been injured, I wouldn't have needed to count on her to buy a house.

"If Olivia and I can't get engaged, I won't forgive Alice!"

Floating next to him and feeling his anger, I felt inexplicably refreshed.

Mary rushed over and checked Tony's hand, with her face full of worry. "Don't hurt yourself. Don't worry. I will never tolerate such a useless person in our family. I will ask Alice to transfer the money to us.

"I'll let her take full responsibility for your father's injured leg."

She called my number several times, but my phone was still turned off.

With anger in her eyes, she yelled into the phone, "You are such a jinx! I shouldn't have asked for your custody. I should have let your violent father beat you to death."

Yolanda patted her back and comforted her, "Mom, don't be angry. It's not worth it to get yourself hurt over such a small matter."

Mary's anger and aggrieved emotions finally found an outlet in her beloved daughter.

"If it wasn't for her, how could I have endured domestic violence from my ex-husband for so many years? I suffered so much in the fight for her custody. Sam even injured his leg while saving her."

I had heard these words since I was a child.

Because I felt sorry for her, those things became her bargaining chip to control me.

Sam's leg was not injured because of saving me.

"Mom, take care of yourself. You guys eat first, and leave the matter of contacting Alice to me."

After Yolanda comforted Mary, she sent me a lot of voice messages.

"Now is not the time to be angry. Don't be so selfish. Mom has suffered so much for you. How can you bear to make her so angry?

"You'd better come up with a good reason to explain what happened today.

"If you don't want those photos of you to be leaked, turn on your phone and answer the phone immediately."

Although she tried her best to conceal her anger, her tone was still filled with malice.

A few minutes later, she put away her phone and went to comfort Tony, who was still angry.

Yolanda always played the role of a good person in this family except in front of me.

3

Mary prepared lunch, brought the food to the bedroom, and placed it in front of Sam.

Sam lowered his head and sighed, hitting his left leg continuously.

His sighs were filled with self-blame and guilt.

"If it weren't for this leg, I wouldn't have lost my job as the security captain at the factory, and Alice wouldn't have to sacrifice so much for this family.

"Alice must hate us. It's all because of my incompetence."

Mary's face was full of love. She hugged Sam and kept comforting him. "She is just a jinx. You shouldn't have saved her back then but let the car run her over.

"She can't dislike us. She owes our family."

Mary became angrier and angrier. Finally, she couldn't control herself and picked up the phone and yelled through gritted teeth, "Alice, don't even think about escaping. Even if you want to die, you have to die at home."

When she mentioned me, her eyes were full of disgust and anger.

Even though I was a transparent soul now, when I heard her words and saw her eyes, I couldn't control my tears.

4

Two o'clock in the afternoon was the time when Tony had to pay the down payment for his house.

Since they couldn't contact me, they gathered together to hold a meeting.

I also sat down and participated in a family meeting for the first time in a transparent way.

The final negotiation result was that the down payment was reduced from the original 500 thousand dollars to 300 thousand dollars, and the monthly mortgage was 5,600 dollars, which I would bear.

Tony's face was full of reluctance. "What if she doesn't want to pay my mortgage?"

Mary patted her chest and assured him. "I will go to her after you and Olivia are engaged. If she doesn't want to, I will sue her. I will go to her company and let everyone know that she is an ungrateful person."

"Alice is a reasonable person and will understand our difficulties," Sam said.

Hearing the word "reasonable", I laughed.

I had been trapped by this word for 25 years.

Even now that I was dead, they still wanted to use this word to control me.

Mary always praised me as reasonable, sensible, well-behaved, and capable in front of Sam.

It was the reason why I could stay in this house.

When I was young, as long as Tony and Yolanda cried, I was always the one who got beaten even if they stole my things.

Mary would push me to the balcony and say, "You are their sister. Can you be more sensible?"

In the end, I would be locked on the balcony to reflect on my mistakes, while they would take their two children to the playground to play for the day.

Whenever I wanted to go out and play, I had to take my younger brother and sister with me. Otherwise, I couldn't go out.

My classmates and playmates didn't like me bringing my brother and sister to play with them.

When they saw me with Yolanda and Tony, they all hid away.

As time went by, I didn't even have any friends.

I could only take care of my brother and sister at home.

When the neighbors saw me, they often praised me to Mary, "Alicer is sensible and well-behaved. My daughter runs away all day long like a boy."

"Sam is so lucky to have such a good daughter, and he even has a pair of twins. It's enviable."

Mary smiled, and I saw on her face the pride of receiving approval from others.

It turned out that as long as I behaved well, she would be happy.

It was easy to be sensible as long as I didn't want anything and just let them take everything from me.

If I couldn't give them what they wanted, I would become an ungrateful person or a jinx.

I was not even worthy of having my name in this family.

None of them thought about whether something happened to me.

5

I followed them out the door and sat in the passenger seat.

I fell lightly into Mary's arms.

In my memory, Mary's embrace was warm, but I couldn't feel it anymore.

It was ridiculous. I saved up money to buy this car for my family. But when I was alive, I never sat in it.

They usually didn't take me out. Even if they took me, Tony and Yolanda wouldn't let me sit in the back seat because it was too crowded.

Mary told me to be more sensible, "Taxi is expensive. Just squeeze in the trunk."

But the trunk was uncomfortable in summer.

I followed them to the house sales office.

The atmosphere there was very solemn.

Except for a salesman who needed to ask them to pay the down payment, everyone else was staring at the TV in the hall with heavy expressions.

The news was about the earthquake in Yunso City last night.

Thousands of people were killed or injured.

"It's sad news."

"The girl who was just pulled out was so young. She was pierced by the steel bar and all the blood was drained out. She was so pitiful."

"Her family would be so sad if they saw their daughter die so tragically."

Mary glanced at the TV and said, "It's a pity for those people. But the earthquake is thousands of miles away from us, so it won't affect us."

I stood there in a daze, looking at my body wrapped in the body bag.

My heart which had stopped beating began to twitch violently.

It hurt so much that I couldn't straighten my back.

"Please don't be distracted. We have worked so hard to get the down payment for this house. This is the wedding house for my son. Please be careful."

The salesperson took them to see the model house again. Mary carefully measured the interior dimensions with a ruler she brought before letting Tony sign the contract.

After the process, the salesperson seemed to remember something and asked, "Mrs. Wilson, I remember you said your eldest daughter is in Yunso City. There was an earthquake there. Is she okay?"

There was a slight change in Mary's expression. I hurried over, trying to catch a hint of worry from her expression.

But I failed.

She waved her hand and said, "How is that possible? No matter who dies, that jinx won't die."

On the way home, Mary took a photo of the house purchase contract and sent it to my WhatsApp.

"We've already bought the house, so you don't have to hide anymore. Turn on your phone quickly. I'll talk to you about the mortgage."

A few minutes later, she called my cell phone again, but it was still turned off.

She was going crazy. "How dare you not answer my call! Don't challenge my patience."