Punished for a Lie, Freed by Death

I had no idea how long I was unconscious, but I woke up to someone knocking at the door. Stumbling to open it, I found my landlady, Amanda Jones, there to collect the rent. Before she could voice her complaints, she was startled by my blood-covered appearance.

"Oh my God, what happened to you? Come on, I'm taking you to the hospital right now."

After the examination at the hospital, Amanda looked heartbroken. "Honey, you're so young. How did you end up with brain cancer?"

Seeing how pale and thin I was, barely able to eat anything, she called her son to bring homemade soup. She then patiently fed me spoonful by spoonful.

I couldn't help tearing up. Eight years ago, when I learned that my real parents weren't the abusive couple who raised me, this was exactly how I'd imagined a mother would be.

She gently wiped my tears away. "Hey, don't cry. With the right treatment, you can beat this."

I shook my head and transferred what was supposed to be my final paycheck for Kayla to her instead. "Thank you so much, but my tumor is malignant. There's not much hope.

"This isn't enough to cover rent and the medical bills you covered for me, but I swear I'll pay you back everything."

Despite Amanda's protests, I was stubborn about it. She could only sigh as she watched me handle the discharge paperwork.

Walking past a consultation room, I suddenly heard Kayla's familiar voice. "Mom, you shouldn't have brought up Nathan yesterday. Dylan had nightmares again about Nathan trying to send him away."

Dylan's voice was thick with tears. "I'm so scared he'll come back and make me leave. If I can't stay with you guys, I'd rather just die!"

The next moment, we locked eyes through the crack in the door. Dylan immediately screamed. "He's here! He's really here to get rid of me!"

He ran to the window and leaned halfway out. "Don't send me away! I won't go back to Rick Parker and his family just to get beaten! If you don't want me, I'll just kill myself!"

Mom, Dad, and Kayla went pale with terror, rushing to pull him back inside.

Once they made sure Dylan couldn't run off to jump again, Dad and Kayla turned toward me with dark expressions. They both kicked me, knocking me to the ground before I could get away.

Clutching my stomach, I coughed up blood. Kayla suddenly grabbed my throat.

"Nathan, you actually dared to follow me here and almost cost us Dylan again? I'm going to make sure you experience the terror he just felt!"

She and Dad dragged me up to the hospital roof and tied my hands, leaving me dangling over the edge. "This is just a small lesson. Next time you scare Dylan, it won't be from this height!"

Listening to their footsteps fade away, I felt like breaking down completely.

I was the one who'd been switched at birth and abused for 18 years. I was the one related to them by blood. But just because I didn't want to live under the same roof as my abuser's son, my own biological family had been deceiving and punishing me for years.

Now they'd left me hanging outside a rooftop, leaving me terrified I might fall.

I couldn't accept this. I couldn't accept having brain cancer. I couldn't accept dying under my own family's punishment.

I held onto the rope for dear life. But to my horror, the tumor's pressure was making my right hand go numb.

My left hand wasn't strong enough. When I struggled hard, the knots around my wrists slowly loosened, and I slipped down inch by inch.

Just when I thought I was going to fall completely, Amanda's panicked voice called out from above, "He's here! Quick, help me save him!"

I'd planned to be discharged, but because of this incident, I had to stay in the hospital again. It took five days before I could go home.

The moment I opened the front door, Kayla was there with her arms crossed, giving me a dark look.

She smirked. "Nathan, you've gotten bold. You dared to throw a tantrum and run away from home? Did you think anyone would come looking for you?

"But it's only five days, and you already came crawling back. And here I thought you actually had some guts."

I looked at her and said hoarsely, "My arm was injured from hanging too long. I've been in the hospital this whole time. That wouldn't be hard for someone like you to check if you cared."