Graduation Gift: A Half-Used Lottery Ticket

The party meant to celebrate my college acceptance ended up being a complete disaster. What should've been a happy occasion ended up becoming unbearable humiliation for me, and all because of a lottery ticket.

I couldn't stomach the thought of spending any more time with this so-called family of mine. Around midnight, I quietly slipped out and went to see my girlfriend, Daisy Lewis.

The moment she saw me, she pulled me into a tight embrace.

"I went over to your house to see you, but you weren't there, so I asked Hector. He told me about what had happened today. I can't believe you had to go through all of that, Henry," she said in concern.

Even though I was a fully grown man now, in that instant, tears poured down my face. I poured out all of the hurt and grievance I felt to her.

Daisy held me, comforting me the whole time. She even said she wanted to confront Jessica about it.

I quickly stopped her. "Wait! You mustn't do anything impulsive. I still don't know why she did this. If we act rashly, we might end up falling into her trap."

After a few seconds of silence, she abruptly asked me, "Henry, did you give Jessica the real lottery ticket?"

Meeting her gentle gaze, for a moment, I almost told her the truth. As it was, in my previous life, she hadn't been among those who'd watched me die.

The words were on the tip of my tongue when I caught the urgency and greed in her eyes. It felt like a hand had clamped around my throat. Alarm bells were ringing in my head, warning me not to tell her.

But Daisy kept pressing me for an answer, so I forced myself to sound calm as I replied, "After the way they strip-searched me, there's no way I could've hidden the ticket from her, not even if I had some kind of superpower."

In reality, I'd hidden the lottery ticket under a plate.

Back at the party, when I'd ended up scratching the winning number, I'd quickly slipped the real one under a plate while Mom was busy screaming in excitement. Then, I pretended to put it in my pocket, where the old lottery ticket was.

When I saw Daisy eyeing me doubtfully, I pretended to get annoyed. "Do you think I'm an idiot? Why would I turn down 200 thousand dollars and hide a lottery ticket that's only worth 20 dollars?"

She tilted her head up and kissed me on the cheek. "That's true. My Henry is no idiot."

My heart pounded like a drum. I couldn't help asking, "What do you think is so special about that ticket? Why are Jessica and the others so desperate to get it?"

"It's just a lottery ticket. How can it be special?" Daisy replied lightly. "Maybe something got into her, and she decided to use that as an excuse to mess with you and beat you up. After all, you mentioned that she has always looked down on you, right?"

Jessica had indeed always been jealous of my grades and the fact that I'd gotten into the top-ranking university in the country. But she wouldn't go as far as killing me over a lottery ticket, right?

With all the questions brewing in my head, I barely had any of the supper we ordered.

Daisy took me back to her place. "Just stay here for the night. I'll go back to your house with you tomorrow and have a proper talk with your parents for you."

That night, I tossed and turned, unable to sleep. In the middle of the night, however, I suddenly heard the sound of the doorknob turning.

I tensed up at once, clutching the blanket. I thought it might be a burglar, but then I remembered that I was on the 26th floor of an apartment building with tight security. There was very little chance a burglar could sneak in.

That left only one other possibility—Daisy was the one coming in.

Sure enough, she tiptoed over to the bed and softly called my name. When I didn't respond, she started rummaging through my clothes.

I heard her muttering to herself, "Where's the ticket? Don't tell me you really don't have it… Hmph. I only brought you back so that I could get my hands on it, so I'm going to find it no matter what!"

The room was warm, but I felt chilled to the bone.

She searched every pocket, but couldn't find the ticket. All of a sudden, she leaned over my head, covering my mouth and nose with her hand.

"Damn it! There's really nothing! Ugh, you useless piece of trash! Why do you have such rotten luck, huh?"

To vent her frustration, she covered my mouth and nose for a while before letting go, repeating the process over a dozen times before stopping.

After she left, I completely broke down.