I’ve Been Dead for Three Years

Samantha was looking at my canceled phone number with hatred on her face.

Even though Katrina and Madison were dead, Samantha had yet to give up on finding me.

She first went to the hospital to visit Anthony.

Anthony was lying in bed and playing a game on his phone. When he saw Samantha enter, he immediately started putting on a show, acting weak and fragile.

“Is Aiden still unwilling to come and help me? I knew he always hated me. It’s all my fault that I’m in bad health, and you were forced to put all your attention on me. It’s justified for him to feel slighted by that.”

Seeing that Anthony was sad, Samantha quickly reached for his hand and reassured him.

“How could any of this be your fault, Anthony? We had him because we wanted him to take care of you. Without you, he would never have been born. He should be thanking you.

“Don’t worry. I’ll find Aiden and make him donate his kidney to you. Your father’s last wish was that I take good care of you.”

Anthony sighed deeply.

“If Aiden’s unwilling to help me, just forget about it. There’s no way he would want to help me. He nearly killed me when we were younger. If you hadn’t gotten home in time, I probably would have died long ago…”

Samantha’s gaze became cold and hateful at the mention of that incident.

“Aiden was always a bad seed. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have allowed him to live until now. He’s not worthy of touching you, let alone hurting you!”

That incident was a nightmare for me. As I thought about it, I felt my insides churn with pain and hurt.

That year, I had gotten the best grades in class. For once, Samantha surprised me and promised to take me to an amusement park.

Seeing that I was so excited that I could not sleep, Anthony mocked me and laughed. “Do you really think you’ll be going to the amusement park with Mom tomorrow?”

I only thought that Anthony was jealous, so I did not pay the comment much mind.

The next day, after Dad had gone to work and Samantha had gone to buy breakfast, Anthony tricked me onto the balcony with the excuse of watering the plants. He stepped onto a stool to reach the railing.

His timing had been perfect. Just as Samantha came home, Anthony fell from the second-floor balcony.

I rushed up to try and grab him, but I failed. Yet doing so made it seem to Samantha, who was looking up from downstairs, that I had pushed Anthony off.

Panicked, Samantha rushed Anthony to the hospital. Luckily, he had only broken a bone in his leg.

That day, not only did I not get to go to the amusement park, but I was also beaten viciously by my parents. They kept scolding and cursing me as they punched me.

“If anything happens to Anthony today, you’ll be dying along with him!”

No matter how I tried to explain, they were dead set on the idea that I was a bad seed.

From that day onward, I knew that my parents were not just biased. Rather, they had never cared about me at all.

After visiting Anthony, Samantha’s thoughts refocused on finding me.

She started slandering me online, making up stories that I was an evil villain.

She put a photo of my identification online, along with all of my personal information. She claimed that I was neglecting her, my elderly mother, and my older brother, who was waiting at the hospital for me to save him. She claimed that I had driven Katrina into committing suicide and left my young daughter to become homeless.

The next day, a number called Samantha’s phone.

Samantha looked at the familiar number and scoffed.

“Finally showing yourself, are you, Aiden?”

However, the person on the other end of the line was a man she did not know.

“Mrs. Harding, I heard that you’re looking for Aiden. Don’t you know that he passed away? He saved you in that earthquake three years ago. But a steel girder pierced him through, and he died of blood loss.”