My Mother Doesn't Love Me Anymore

3

BANG!

The door was smashed open.

My mother came in but didn't see me.

"You damn brat, where the hell did you go?" my mother screamed.

I clung desperately to the wall, not daring to move a muscle.

I even subconsciously held my breath.

'I can't let my mother know I'm here. I can't repeat the mistakes of my past life.'

That was the one thought consuming my mind.

Just as my mother's footsteps drew closer and closer, I saw someone.

The guy next door.

He'd gone to the same high school as me, but he always had a bad reputation. My mother said he was a punk and told me to stay away from him.

Before, I had always followed my mother's words without question.

But now, I had no choice.

I reached out to him, and he pulled me over his balcony and into his apartment.

"What happened? I heard banging from your place first thing this morning," Silas Kane said, looking at me with curiosity in his eyes.

I quickly put a finger to my lips, shushing him.

My clothes were soaked through with cold sweat, and the stray hairs on my forehead were plastered to my skin. I must have looked an absolute mess.

Silas Kane got the message and fell silent, listening with me to the commotion next door.

My mother couldn't find me anywhere.

So she started begging Mina Rhodes. "Sweetie, you've always been Mommy's favorite, haven't you? Just take Mommy's place this once, okay? Mommy will buy you candy."

Next door, Mina Rhodes's screams could be heard throughout the entire building.

I closed my eyes. I felt no relief, only terror.

A family like that... it sends a chill down your spine.

"It was her! It's all her fault!" a voice rang out from next door again.

It was my mother's voice, pointing the finger. The mob must have broken in.

"How could it be me? I'm just a student! My mother did all of this! Every debt has its debtor. If you want someone, go after my mother!" my sister's voice was so shrill with terror it was about to break.

Just moments ago, she had been so self-righteous when trying to convince me to take our mother's place. But now that it was her turn, it was a different story.

"Look at me, I'm already an old woman! What man would possibly be interested in me?"

My mother was so desperate to pin the blame on my sister that she'd say anything.

Next door, the people who had violently broken down the door were starting to get confused.

"Sis! Which one of these two is it?" a gruff voice called out.

Even through the wall, I knew who that was.

The woman's younger brother.

He was stout and brawny, and he was the one who had called in their whole crew.

And because he had some special connections, he was able to arrange things so no one could call for help.

"It's her!"

"It's her!"

Two voices shouted simultaneously from next door.

It was my mother and Mina Rhodes.

They must have been restrained, and now they were frantically blaming each other.

"Two of them?" a woman's voice asked.

A chill ran through me instantly.

In my past life, when I was paraded through the streets in shame, this was the voice that gave the order.

She was one of the main culprits.

"No, it was just one person! This whole thing was my worthless daughter's doing," my mother interjected again, trying to get her word in first.

But then, to everyone's surprise, the woman said, "If that's the case, then they can both be paraded through the streets. Anyone who could raise a daughter like that can't be a good person, either!"