On Halloween, I Was Locked in a Coffin by My Brothers

I closed my eyes in utter despair with tears streaming down my face.

Right then, the phone began to ring persistently, drawing the attention of my three brothers and Tiana.

“Sarah’s phone is ringing…”

Raymond frowned in dissatisfaction. “Didn't you turn off her phone? This is going to ruin the game...”

He walked over, intending to scold me, but went pale with shock the moment he saw my face. “Oh no! Why is Sarah’s face so white?

“Even her lips are turning blue! Could she actually be in shock?! James, give me the keys!”

As he grabbed the keys and was about to shove them into the keyhole, Tiana suddenly lunged at him and grabbed his wrist.

“Raymond, what are you doing?!”

Raymond violently shook off her hand. “Something is wrong with Sarah’s face. She looks like she’s genuinely suffocating!”

“What do you mean by something is wrong?!”

Furious and exasperated, Tiana pointed at me as I was suffocating on the brink of death. “She stole my makeup, that’s what is wrong!”

Raymond froze. “Makeup?”

Tiana’s eyes turned bright red and she bit her lower lip aggrievedly.

“Yes! The Halloween gift you guys got me, the limited-edition foundation brought back from abroad! I couldn't find it this afternoon.

“It turns out she stole it to paint her face! Her skin is so dull and dark, so of course she looks ghostly pale wearing foundation meant for my skin tone!”

The more she spoke, the more aggrieved she became with tears welling up in her eyes.

Raymond’s gaze instantly turned ice-cold. “Tiana, is that true? Sarah stole your things?”

“I didn't…”

My bloody fingers twitched with immense effort as I screamed the truth in my heart.

But no one could hear me.

Tiana nodded pitifully. “I guess she was bitter about having to give me the dress and jewelry, so she secretly used up the gift you guys gave me to get back at us.”

Raymond’s expression darkened completely. He raised his foot and kicked the side of the coffin with brutal force.

“Tiana is our biological sister! How dare you steal from her!

“And now you’re playing dead just to scare us? Do you have any idea how worried I was, just now?!”

He pointed at me, hurling curses.

But I didn't even have the strength to open my eyes. I could only feel my life slowly slipping away.

Donald and James also knitted their brows in disgust.

“Sarah, you’ve really gone too far this time. Did you think caking on foundation would fool us?

“What a waste of talent, you should have gone to Hollywood to play a corpse! No wonder Raymond is so furious!”

“Stop letting her hog the spotlight! She just can't stand seeing us cherish Tiana! Let’s go, we're going to pick out a new gift for Tiana right now!”

A final tear slipped from the corner of my eye.

I knew that the family I had loved most for twenty years was fading from my life, just as my own breath was.

They turned and left decisively, without a single shred of lingering regret.

My only remorse was that when I met my biological parents earlier, I shouldn't have cared so much about the feelings of these three brothers.

I had been so stingy that I even denied my real parents a hug.

Filled with regret and despair, I closed my eyes.

As my consciousness was about to dissolve into nothingness, I heard the screeching of brakes, followed by unfamiliar and frantic voices.

“This is where Sarah lives!”

“I have a gut feeling that something must have happened for she kept ignoring her phone!”

My Mom and Dad had arrived.

And I blacked out.