My Aunt's Will

I was still reeling from the shock and excitement of reliving my life when the hospital called.

The nurse informed me that Aunt Leah had been in a car accident and needed a family member to come and pay the medical fees immediately.

I glanced at the date on my phone. It was the date that was etched in my memory.

I sent a message to Camila without hesitation, asking her to head to the hospital right away. Not stopping there, I also shared the news of Aunt Leah's accident in the family group chat, updating everyone on the situation in real time.

As soon as they heard, my eldest uncle, Randy Clark, along with his wife, Athena Stevens, and daughter, Eden Clark, booked the next flight from another state.

They arrived at the hospital straight from the airport that same night while dragging their suitcases behind them. They didn't even bother stopping at a hotel beforehand.

Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief once we confirmed Aunt Leah's life wasn't in danger. It was then that someone remembered about Camila.

Uncle Randy looked around the room. When he didn't see her anywhere, he turned to me. "This is a serious situation. Why isn't Cam here yet? Aren't you two from the same school?"

"I sent her messages, but she hasn't responded. I even stepped out earlier to call her, but it kept saying the line was busy. She's probably caught up with something," I explained while holding up my phone.

The screen showed dozens of messages I had sent to Camila, with the first one timestamped 18 hours ago.

Our school wasn't far from the hospital. She would've reached the inpatient ward by now even if she had crawled.

Uncle Randy's frown deepened as he stared at the sea of unread messages on my phone.

Feigning helplessness, I added, "She's been really busy with her studies lately. Maybe she hasn't had time to check her phone."

"Busy with her studies?" Eden snorted. "From what I've seen, she seems to be enjoying herself just fine. She doesn't have time to reply to messages, but she has time to hang out with her friends."

She then held out her phone for everyone to see. The latest post on Camila's social media was a selfie at a barbecue restaurant with her friends, timestamped just eight minutes ago.

None of us—Uncle Randy, Aunt Athena, or I—could see this post. It was clearly because Camila had blocked us from viewing her updates.

Eden, however, had recently followed her on a new account. It was likely one Camila had forgotten to block.

I suggested that Uncle Randy or Aunt Athena try calling her directly. But before I could finish, they both rejected the idea.

"I want to see how long it'll take for her to remember she has a mother," Uncle Randy said coldly.

Aunt Athena and Eden both scoffed. "Her own mother got into an accident, and she's out eating and having fun. Her mother truly raised her for nothing," Aunt Athena muttered disdainfully.

I lowered my head, hiding the satisfaction in my eyes. I already knew Camila had muted my messages and blocked my calls long ago. But the rest of the family didn't know that.

All they could see was that I had tried dozens of times to reach her by sending countless messages and making call after call. She was the one who didn't respond.

One thing was clear to them: Camila simply didn't care about her mother. This was no small matter in the eyes of our elders.

If one of the youngsters behaved this way, what kind of example would it set for the rest of the family?

In the past, Aunt Leah would always excuse her whenever Camila made a mistake. She'd said she was young and immature. I wondered if she could use that excuse again this time.

I returned to school later that night. I requested a leave of absence from my professors and submitted my application for an exchange program.

The next afternoon, Aunt Leah finally woke up after the effects of the anesthesia wore off. Only then did Camila finally show up at the hospital room.

Despite her pain and sorrow, Aunt Leah's face lit up the moment she heard Camila's voice. She smiled warmly at her. "Sweetheart, why aren't you at school studying?

"You've lost weight. Have you been skipping meals because of your studies?

"I've told you before. Your health is the most important thing. If you're short on money, just tell Mom. Don't let yourself suffer."