A Mother's Misguided Love

It was not until late at night that my parents and Jason returned, laughing as they walked in.

"Dinner was really good today. That hotel was nice. We should go again sometime, just the three of us," my mom said cheerfully.

I stood in the living room, my heart filled with a tangled mix of emotions.

When she said 'the three of us,' she had completely left me out of the picture.

As I watched her take off her shoes, I instinctively stepped forward, ready to hang up her coat.

It was my duty in this family.

Standing before her, I spoke softly, "I was wrong. I'll work even harder in the future. Will you forgive me?"

However, my words faded into the air.

My mom did not hear a thing.

Instead, she frowned slightly in irritation.

"My ears suddenly feel itchy. Am I getting sick?"

I stood there awkwardly, lowering my head to look at my own transparent body.

I had almost forgotten.

I was already dead, and no one could hear the words of the dead.

"Why hasn't Erwin come out yet? Go check on him. Something might be wrong."

My dad mentioned it with a frown.

I looked at my mom hopefully.

Would she worry about me?

Would she realize that her punishment had gone too far?

She rolled her eyes.

"What could possibly be wrong? It's just a cold bath. It's not like he could die from that."

After changing into her pajamas, she slowly walked to my room.

When she pushed the door open, she saw me lying face down on the floor, completely motionless.

It looked as if I were asleep.

"Lying on the floor to slack off, huh?" she asked, clearly displeased.

"You think pretending like this will make me go soft? You're such a useless child. Stop playing dead!"

I rushed in front of her, shaking my head desperately.

"Mom, I'm already dead! Please come closer and have a look! Please, save me!"

However, she did not move.

She was convinced I was just pretending to be sick.

Jason walked over, looking at me with a provocative smirk.

"Erwin, pretending won't help you. The software doesn't lie. Whether you passed or failed, Mom will know. Just get up already. Don't make her angry."

My mom let out a cold laugh.

"Jason, you're my only good son. Since Erwin wants to slack off so badly, let him lie there. Let's see how long he can keep this up."

My dad looked uneasy.

"Wasn't Erwin running a fever? Maybe we should let him sleep in the bed."

"No!" my mom shouted firmly. "He's just a lazy brat. I'm not letting him off that easily. He couldn't even memorize 500 words, and now he's lying on the floor pretending to be dead, hoping we'll feel sorry for him!

"Look at today's evaluation... He didn't memorize a single word. This is absolutely ridiculous!"

After saying that, my mom glanced at the wet marks on the floor and frowned in disgust.

"You can call yourself my son again when you're done cleaning up these disgusting stains of yours!"

She turned and left.

I stood there, a deep ache filling my chest.

'Mom…'

If she would just step inside and take a closer look, she would see that I was already dead.

Yet, she despised me so much that she would not even listen to me.

In the middle of the night, I saw Jason sneak quietly into the room.

He stole the homework I had already finished a few days earlier.

In the past, I would have tried desperately to stop him.

At that moment, I could only float silently in the air, watching as he swapped it with a blank notebook.

"You won't fool the software like this," I said softly.

However, he did not see me.

He simply turned and walked away.

I crouched on the floor, looking at my body lying there.

"It's okay. After all, I'm already dead. From now on, I'll never have to try so hard again. I can take a good and long rest."