Countdown to Cancer: May Your Guilt Kill You

After purchasing the cheapest painkillers that were available, I didn't even have enough money left to take the bus. As a result, I had to walk 18 miles home. The journey took me over four hours.

The party was in full swing when I arrived at the Lewis residence. It was Summer's coming-of-age today. Many powerful and illustrious figures in the city had shown up to celebrate her special day.

Everyone knew that Summer became part of the Lewises because the nurse had switched us at birth, causing me, the true heiress of the Lewis family, to be taken away by a poor family in the outskirts for eight years.

Despite that, my biological family hated me. When I was about to enter the villa, I was blocked by the security guard.

"You don't have the permission to enter. Mrs. Lewis informed us that Ms. Summer's party had started. Latecomers are not allowed to enter because they have no respect for Ms. Summer."

Night had already fallen, and the biting winds were picking up in intensity. Soon after, rain began to pour from above relentlessly.

When I tried to leave, the security guard said coldly, "Mr. Jimmy said that as punishment for delaying Ms. Summer's party, you need to stand at the door and reflect on your actions. You're not allowed to leave before the party is over."

I had no other choice but to stay rooted in the spot. Jimmy had a short temper. He would take his wrath out on me if I didn't follow his orders.

The rain came down harder. Chunks of hail were mixed in with the raindrops. My clothes were drenched in no time, and it hurt when the hail collided with my body.

I squatted down and covered my head with my arms, doing my best to protect my head from getting injured. It didn't take long before stinging pain began to radiate from my hands.

I could hear excited cheering coming from inside the villa. Every cheer felt like an arrow that pierced my heart. The arrow would then be plunged deeper into my heart, twisted slowly to hurt me as much as possible. The pain was unbearable.

It was actually my birthday today as well, but I didn't have a party, a cake, or any blessings. In fact, no one remembered that it was my special day, too.

I recalled how Summer had slipped and gotten hurt during one of my birthday celebrations in the past. Kenneth and Autumn had rushed her to the hospital, and everyone had stayed by her side to watch over her.

I had used all my savings to buy a small cake to celebrate my birthday at the time. When Sherman returned home and saw the cake, he had been so infuriated that he threw the whole thing into the trash.

He told me that by celebrating my birthday, I would be bringing misfortune upon Summer since we shared the same birthday. It was why she had fallen and hurt herself. As a result, I was forbidden from celebrating my birthday from that day forward.

I recalled the first time I was brought back to the Lewis residence. There were over a dozen rooms in the building, but Summer's belongings were scattered in all of them. She had wailed loudly and refused to let me stay in even one of the rooms.

"This is my dance room. That's my piano room. And that's my study. I need all of them!"

Autumn hurried over to Summer to comfort her, saying, "It's alright; you can keep all of them. Don't cry."

Kenneth's heart had clenched painfully when he held Summer's hand. He then turned to me and said, "We're sorry, Winter. You'll just have to stay in the storeroom temporarily."

Andy had been there, too, and he had chimed in to support Kenneth. "That's right, Winter. You can stay in the storeroom for now. We'll move you to another room later."

Sherman and Jimmy had also joined in to convince me. I didn't want to trouble them, so I agreed.

The storeroom ended up becoming my permanent room for the next eight years. The winds and the rains would often leak into the storeroom. After staying there for so long, I developed rheumatic disorders.

The Lewises didn't treat me particularly well even from the beginning, but at the very least, they respected me. Their behavior toward me changed in the span of a single night when Summer dropped by the storeroom.

I had switched off the lights, so I became frightened when I saw someone's shadow looming in the dark. When I pushed her away, a cry echoed throughout the villa.

Summer tumbled down the staircase after I shoved her. She had been holding the family heirloom, an emerald pendant, when she fell down the stairs, and it shattered into a million pieces upon impact.

Upon hearing the commotion, Kenneth, Autumn, Andy, Sherman, and Jimmy rushed to where we were.

"Winter, why did you push me?" Summer wailed, clutching onto what was left of the emerald pendant.

She was gasping heavily, and the back of her head was bleeding profusely. She looked utterly miserable and pitiful at that moment.

I wasn't given the chance to explain myself when Kenneth aimed a powerful kick at me, causing me to collide against the wall.

"Summer wanted to give you the emerald pendant out of the kindness of her heart. How dare you return her kindness by hurting her?" he screamed.

"Winter, you've crossed the line," Autumn scolded. "You may be jealous of her, but that doesn't give you the right to do something so despicable!

"The emerald pendant is broken, too. That pendant was passed down in our family through so many generations. You're truly nothing but an evil eye!"

Andy carried Summer in his arms, feeling heartbroken for her sake. When he looked at me, his eyes were as cold as ice, regarding me as if I were a sworn enemy.

"Thank God the staircase wasn't too high up. If anything happens to her, I'm going to make you pay with your life!"

I attempted to explain myself again, but Jimmy didn't give me a chance and interrupted me.

"Stop trying to make up excuses. We don't have the patience to listen to your lies. It only makes sense that a country bumpkin from a backward village would have a strong sense of jealousy.

"You're nothing but a useless piece of crap. Our kindness is completely wasted on you. Dad, Mom, let's go. We should leave her to her own devices in the future."

From that day forth, the Lewises treated me coldly.

As I was pulled out of my memories, the terrible pain racking through my body assaulted me all at once. I felt like I was drowning in a sea of hurt. Eventually, I lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground.

Those who saw my unconscious form chose to ignore me. No one was willing to send me to the hospital.

The cancerous cells in my stomach continued to spread rapidly, pushing me into the last moments of my life.