My Family’s Love Became the Cage That Killed Me

My daughter, Bella, had failed her exams and even her graduation was delayed. Yet, as the new school year approached, she still lingered on her phone until five in the morning.

Driven by anger, I took her phone away.

I never expected her to suddenly erupt, snatching up a hammer and swinging it down at me.

“Give me back my phone! Give it back! Can’t you just stop controlling me? You’re so annoying!”

Each word fell with a hammer blow, until blood splattered from me on the spot.

When I lost consciousness, she bound my hands and feet, sealed my mouth with tape and shoved me into the punching bag that belonged to my son.

My limbs grew stiff, pain throbbed at the back of my skull, while she carelessly hummed a tune and played her game.

Six hours later, I finally heard my son, Percy, returning home.

——

“Mom, I’m starving… Mom?”

Carrying his backpack, fresh from cram school, he instinctively looked for me the moment he stepped inside.

On the sofa, Bella sat absorbed in her phone, her fingers tapping immediately, her eyes fixed, oblivious to everything else.

Hearing her brother call, she didn’t even bother to glance up, only clicked her tongue in irritation.

“If you’re hungry, make instant noodles yourself! Can’t you see I’m in a team fight? Stop yelling, you’re so annoying!”

Percy’s lips jutted into a pout as he dropped his backpack and wandered around our cramped apartment, realizing at last that I truly wasn’t there.

He boiled water and reached for two cups of instant noodles.

“Sis, should I make one for you too?”

“Hmm.”

Bella gave a faint hum, still without looking up.

Soon, the rich scent of noodles drifted through the air.

Only then did she pause her game, devouring the noodles quickly while still darting glances at her phone, unwilling to miss a thing.

Once finished, she shoved the empty container onto the coffee table and slipped straight back into her room.

Percy ate slowly, his gaze wandering toward the old punching bag in the corner of the living room, the one he had always used for training.

He rose, stretched his wrists and ankles and walked over out of habit, patting the worn surface with a couple of casual slaps.

The dull thumps roared in my ears like thunder.

My heart almost skipped a beat.

No! He’s about to start!

I tried to cry out, to plead, but my body was frozen, too numb to respond.

His first punch drove straight into my abdomen.

Agonizing pain swept through me, blinding my vision, stealing the very breath from my lungs. Instinct screamed at me to curl up, but I couldn’t move.

The punches came one after another, crashing down like a violent storm, striking my chest, my ribs, my shoulders.

Each blow sent a piercing jolt of pain, as though my organs were on the verge of shattering.

I tried to cry out, to scream, to beg for mercy, but the tape sealed my lips.

Agony and suffocating air blurred my mind.

Then, a crushing blow landed on my head.

Darkness swallowed everything.

I fainted.

Percy wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel, drained from the training.

Suddenly, Bella’s door creaked open.

She stepped out, only to freeze at the sight of him standing before the punching bag.

“You’ve been boxing… did you notice anything… strange?”

Percy turned his head.

“Strange? No. I actually felt good today.”

Her gaze was fixed on the bag. It stood motionless, silent, perfectly ordinary.

Her tense shoulders eased at last and she released a deep breath.

“It’s fine then… I guess she really did storm out in anger.”

“Huh? Sis, what did you say?”

His ears had missed it.

“Nothing!” She shook her head quickly, her tone impatient again.

“Go wash those stinky clothes already, they stink!”