Mom’s Punching Bag

My heart skipped a beat, and I hurriedly drifted to stop him.

Mom and Bella would be devastated if they found out I was dead!

But the next moment, Mom grabbed hold of Dad. “Don’t you dare!”

“Watch me!”

The two of them began to struggle. Dad was stronger and shoved her aside, once again already reaching for the knob.

Bella suddenly rushed forward and stood in front of the door.

Her voice was hoarse and trembling, “Stop it, you two!”

Our parents froze.

Bella kept her head down as her shoulders shook violently, but she forced her voice to remain steady.

“Ray could be asleep. Let him rest.”

Mom frowned. “Why on earth would he be sleeping in broad daylight?”

Bella didn’t respond, nor looked at Mom. She just stood there blocking the door.

Dad looked between the two of them.

In the end, he muttered through gritted teeth, “Fine. I won’t argue with you. But if anything happens to Ray, I’ll never let you off the hook!”

With that, he slammed the main door and left.

Mom spat in disgust before storming over to my room, banging on it twice.

“Raiden Stone! Get out here! What are you playing at? Don’t want the cake. Door locked. What do you think you’re doing?”

Another enduring silence and Mom blew her top.

“If you dare, then don’t ever come out!”

She panted heavily, then turned to Bella.

“What are you looking at? Go and do your homework!”

Bella slowly walked to her room. Before closing the door, she glanced at my room one last time.

The living room fell silent.

Mom sat on the sofa, seething in anger. It was quite a while before she picked up her mobile phone to vent to someone.

I was watching it all as I was floating in the air.

I wanted to call out to them but no sound came out.

I wanted to cry, but my tears passed straight through my face, never reaching the floor.

So this was what it felt like to be a ghost.

If only I were still alive. Apart from not being able to feel pain, I could still feel everything else.

The following afternoon, Bella came home from school.

Her face looked awful. From her bag, she pulled out an exam paper.

Hearing the noise, Mom walked out of the kitchen and took a look. Her expression immediately darkened.

“Dropped another rank?”

Saying nothing, Bella kept her head lowered with her face as white as a sheet.

Mom finally slammed the paper onto the coffee table, took a deep breath, and turned to head toward my room.

“Raiden, come out. Same rules. Your sister messed up again.”

No answer.

“Raiden Stone!”

Still no answer.

Feeling frantic, I paced around the door, yet I couldn’t touch a single thing at all!

If the door opened, Mom would see that I was dead.

If I didn’t open the door, however, who would take the punishment for Bella?

Seeing no reaction, Mom was absolutely livid.

“You’re getting bolder now, aren’t you, Raiden? Giving me an attitude now, huh? You think that by keeping the door closed, you can avoid the beating? I’ll show you a good lesson today!”

Fuming, Mom stepped back and was ready to kick the door down with all her might.