Their Forgotten Faces

By the time Mom had gotten pregnant with me, Dad and his company had already made a foothold in Oceanton, so money was no longer a problem. Mom had been careful from the very beginning of her pregnancy this time, and everything she ate and used was the best.

That was why I had always been healthy, from the day I was born all the way through childhood. I was lively and cheerful too, always laughing and running around.

But when Mom was pregnant with Zack, she had worked too hard. He had been born weak, with one health problem after another.

He had always found me annoying. He hated the fact that I was always smiling and never got sick. Even when I caught a cold, a couple of pills were enough to make it go away. What he hated even more was that when he felt miserable, I could still bounce around and pester Dad and Mom.

That annoyance built up day after day until it slowly turned into disgust.

Back then, I did not understand.

I had never imagined that being healthy could become a sin, not until Zack sank into severe depression and slit his wrists. When he was rushed to the hospital, I was standing beside him, crying in panic.

Dad, who had never even raised his voice at me before, suddenly slapped me across the face when he heard me cry.

"You've still got the nerve to cry?! Your brother ended up like this because of you! If anything happens to Zack, I'll kill you!"

I was stunned and terrified.

Thankfully, Zack was saved. He survived, and nothing else happened.

From that day on, I grew more careful around him. I never dared to run around again. I even pretended to be sick on purpose a few times. That was because I realized that whenever Zack saw me looking unwell, he would give me a rare smile. He believed that a sister as unwell and delicate as he was was the kind of sibling he wanted.

Still, that did not last long because I was just too healthy.

Even after I deliberately took a cold shower before my physical exam, the results would still show that I was completely healthy.

The experienced doctor frowned and gave Mom some advice. "She's fine. She just gets cold easily. She's only twelve, so stop giving her anything cold to eat or drink all the time. You had her take a cold shower yesterday, didn't you?"

Mom and Dad froze.

I nervously clenched my fingers and looked at Zack. His face darkened. He shot me a glare and ran off.

After that day, the plan that haunted me for three years officially began.

I was only thirteen when I suddenly learned that my whole family had died in a car accident, and I completely fell apart.

Their plan was thorough.

They arranged for someone to help me with the funeral from start to finish, hired a nanny to take care of me and make sure I stayed in school, and had a lawyer tell me they had already made a will so that I would inherit everything after I turned sixteen.

I was too naive.

It never crossed my mind that they were lying to me.

I just kept grieving, falling apart, pulling myself back together, then grieving all over again...

Repeatedly without end.

Until two years ago, when I ran into them at a theme park in Oceanton.