I’ll Be Good, Mom

Now Mr. Thompson leaned his head in from the doorway, peeking inside with a look of undisguised gloating as he asked what had happened.

“That damn girl doesn’t know what’s good for her! First, she deliberately bullied Liam. Then, when we came back, and Liam took the initiative to talk to her, she started putting on airs!

“Thompson, looks like I wronged you before. That wretched girl is just shameless by nature. Born bad!”

“Heh, kids make things up all the time. You really need to discipline her properly.”

“Yeah… shameless, born bad! I told you my dad isn’t like that!” Mandy lifted her chin proudly beside him, repeating the adults’ words.

‘No! That’s not true! Mom, he bullied me!

‘Mom, I didn’t lie. What he did was really strange!

‘Why did you defend me before, but now apologize to him?

‘Mom, I really didn’t lie!’

I spun anxiously in midair.

Mr. Thompson continued with a righteous expression, “When a child starts lying young, that’s no small matter. It’ll only worsen if you don’t correct it now.

“For her own good, you have to punish her properly this time.

“But don’t go too far. She’s still just a child, after all!”

After the neighbors left, Liam seemed even more pleased with himself. He would linger by the storage room door, deliberately making noises now and then.

Sometimes he even whistled at me smugly.

Until one day, a foul stench began to seep out from the doorway.

There were also the squeaks of rats and the sound of gnawing.

I knew that the sealed space had sped up the decay of my body. My eyeball was already crawling with dense little white maggots.

Liam covered his nose and shouted, “Mom! The storage room where Ellie stays smells so bad!”

Mom’s face changed instantly.

She immediately pulled Liam away, her face filled with indescribable disgust.

“Liam, stay back. Don’t let it get on you.”

Her eyes fixed on the storage room door. She reached out her hand several times, but each time she pulled it back.

“Just open the door. If the little girl dirtied her clothes with poop and pee, that’s not hygienic at all,” Dad said from the side, seizing the chance to persuade her.

After hearing that, Mom’s hesitant look suddenly turned firm.

“A child needs to be disciplined from a young age. She’s getting more and more outrageous!

“She actually relieved herself in the room and still refuses to come out. Isn’t that just deliberately going against us?”

At that moment, the sound of rats came again from inside.

My heart filled with hope, thinking Mom would notice something.

I was always afraid of rats.

Every time I saw one, Mom would immediately pull me into her arms. Then she would pretend not to be scared and chase the rat away.

Only after it was gone would her body start trembling slightly from fear, while I would hug her tightly and give her a big kiss.

“Mom, don’t be scared. When I grow up, I’ll protect you!”

Mom would instantly calm down and hug me tightly, her eyes glistening with tears.

Just now, I saw a brief moment of distraction cross Mom’s face, only for it to be quickly replaced by blazing anger.

She pointed at the storage room door and cursed loudly, “Ellie, are you even a girl? Do you have any shame?

“You can even poop and pee in your room?

“And you’re still in there giggling? What are you laughing at? What right do you have to laugh?

“I told you to stay in there and reflect on your mistakes, and this is how you take revenge on us? By doing something this disgusting?

“I really raised you for nothing! I might as well have spent all that effort on Liam. All these years of feeding you. It’s like I was feeding a dog!”

Seeing Mom’s body trembling from extreme anger, I felt so wronged.