An Unfounded Debt

Faced with the sheer number and frequency of the transfer records, everyone in the courtroom was stunned.

"Isn't Yara an able-bodied adult? Couldn't she at least work part-time? What about student aid? This is just downright shameless."

"She's treating her own sister like a walking ATM."

"Alas… Nice people really do get taken advantage of. The sister was too kind and ended up sacrificing herself."

Amid the rising chorus of condemnation, Jocelyn raised her phone.

"Even then, Yara was never satisfied. She would ask me for money almost every other day. Sometimes when I truly had nothing left, she would call and curse me out, saying that I was useless, and that I didn't even deserve to be called her sister."

She pressed play.

From the recording came my voice: sharp, venomous, and unrecognizable.

"Jocelyn, you work every day. How could you possibly have no money? Don't you dare pretend to be poor. If you do, I'll come to your workplace and make a scene, telling everyone you don't even take care of your own sister. I'll ruin your reputation.

"What now? Are you perhaps spending your money on some pretty boy? No wonder your ex-husband divorced you and said you were promiscuous. Guess he was right!"

Each word was like a blade, stabbing straight into Jocelyn's heart. Her face went pale, and she nearly lost her footing.

"Yara, I supported you through school. I never asked for your gratitude, but I never imagined you'd repay kindness with cruelty."

She took a deep breath, then slowly rolled up her sleeves.

What was revealed made the entire courtroom gasp.

They were scars. Layer upon layer of them, jagged, uneven, brutal.

"This one is from being splashed with boiling oil. This one, from slipping while delivering food in the winter. These are from cuts I got working in a kitchen…"

Then, she pulled out a disability certificate.

"This... this is from when I was working at a construction site, doing manual labor. Something fell from above and struck me. I was lucky to survive, but one of my legs is permanently disabled."

Her voice broke. "What more could I have done for you? Would giving you my life have made me a good enough sister?"

Years of hardship and silent suffering overwhelmed her. She dissolved into sobs, unable to form another complete sentence.

The sight of her scars and the visibly twisted, deformed bone in her leg pushed the crowd past their limit.

"Your Honor, what are you waiting for? She should not only compensate her, she should kneel and beg for forgiveness!"

"This isn't a sister... This is a demon who crawled up from hell!"

"Disgusting. Trash like this doesn't deserve such a good sister."

The waves of condemnation grew louder and louder.

Finally, the judge spoke, his voice low and steady.

"Jocelyn, aside from this evidence, do you have any witnesses?"

Before he could finish, my mother, Samantha Lawrence, stood up from the gallery.

"Your Honor, I can testify. Everything my eldest daughter, Jocelyn, said is the truth. My husband passed away early. My son was still very young, so most of my attention went to him. Jocelyn had to take on the role of a second mother.

"I saw everything she went through. It broke my heart. I told her many times to take care of herself, but she was so obedient, so sensible. She said Yara was excellent in her studies, that even if it meant selling everything, she would support her education.

"Your Honor, you wouldn't believe this. Over these four years, Jocelyn earned more than thirty thousand dollars from selling her blood. Every last bit of it was sent to Yara."

The moment the crowd heard that Jocelyn had even sold her blood to support me, they could no longer hold back. People began to stand, shouting for the harshest possible punishment.

"What's the difference between this and a leech? She's an embarrassment of a human being!"

"She's trying to drive her own sister to death. Completely beyond saving."

"Someone worse than an animal like this deserves the death penalty! Keeping her alive serves no purpose!"

Seeing that the entire room had turned in their favor, a faint smile crept onto my mother's lips.

"Yara is cold-hearted. She has shamed her family and corrupted society's values. I, too, think she should be severely punished!"