The Path of No Return

On the day of my birthday, my cousin, who does ballet, falls and injures her leg.

My father smacks my leg with a club in a fit of rage. I cry out in pain, but he doesn't care. He sneers and says, "Now, you know how it feels! Why didn't you stop to think how much pain your cousin would be in when you pushed her and made her fall down the stairs?"

He hits me with all his might until I can't make any more sounds. To drive the lesson home, he shoves me into the basement, uncaring that I'm on the brink of death.

"I'll let you out of there once you stop thinking these dirty thoughts, Yvonne!"

But when he opens the door to the basement once more, all he sees is my decomposing corpse.

When I regained consciousness, I saw my father walking toward me.

I froze in place, unsure of how to react.

It was only when he walked through me that I realized that he couldn't see me.

"Happy birthday, Queenie!"

I watched as he patted my cousin, Queenie Anderson's head with a smile and handed her a prettily wrapped-up gift.

"Thank you, Uncle Ben!"

Queenie's birthday was seven days after mine.

All of a sudden, it dawned on me that I had been dead for seven days.

My family sat around a beautiful cake, celebrating Queenie's birthday.

They laughed and spoke to each other merrily.

It didn't seem to make a difference to them whether I was there or not.

Even when we were kids, Queenie's birthday had been a momentous occasion.

No one ever wanted to mention or care about mine.

Queenie was just about to blow out her candles when my aunt, Caroline Johnson, asked casually, "Where's Yvonne, Benjamin? Why isn't she here?"

My father frowned in disgust when he heard my name. "She hurt Queenie, so I told her off. Now she's off sulking somewhere."

Aunt Caroline looked worried. "Were you too harsh on her? Yvonne's always been well-behaved. She wouldn't have run off without telling anyone."

However, Dad was unconcerned. "I just locked her up for a couple of days. She was let out a few days ago. If anything, I should've given her a harsher punishment!"

What he called a telling-off was something I would never be able to forget.

That night, he had come to me holding a thick baton and questioned me coldly. "Why did you push Queenie down the stairs?"

I was trembling with fear, but still, I gritted my teeth and explained, "I didn't push her, Dad. She fell down herself!"

He brought down the baton on my leg abruptly.

I screamed in pain, collapsing to the ground on my knees.

Dad scoffed impatiently. "Now you know how much it hurts! Why didn't you think of that when you pushed Queenie down the stairs?"

He rained blows on me, one after another, yet I bit my lip and refused to admit to anything.

The more I resisted, the angrier he got, and the harder the blows.

When he finally stopped, I was in so much pain that even my insides felt numb.

I couldn't speak. Dad took that as defiance.

He threw me into the basement, even though I was close to death.

It was dark and cramped in the basement. He tossed me onto the ground like I was a bag of trash.

I was claustrophobic. Frightened, I began to shake uncontrollably. "Dad… Dad, please don't lock me up in here!"

However, there was no sympathy in his eyes. He looked at me with cold indifference and hatred.

Shaking my hand off, he looked down at me. "I'll let you out when you stop having evil thoughts, Yvonne Linnus!"

Then, he turned and left, closing the only door to the basement without hesitation.

Darkness enveloped me. In pain and despair, I closed my eyes.

I didn't actually know how I died.

The last thing I remembered was the dark basement; ever since then, my consciousness had been hazy.

I thought that my life had ended at 18.

I didn't know that souls could still linger after death.

Aunt Caroline fell silent when she saw the obvious anger on Dad's face.

He was the head of the Linnus family, so no one dared to cross him when he was angry.

Queenie was the only exception. Eyes bright, she tugged on his hand and said, "Don't be angry, Uncle Ben. It's not good for your health to get so worked up!"

The ice on Dad's face melted immediately. "How considerate of you, Queenie. If only Yvonne could learn from you!"

I'd heard that multiple times ever since Queenie joined our family.

She had always acted considerate and kind. Was this what Dad wanted?

Little did he know of the evilness she was hiding behind that kind and gentle façade.