The Only Victim

Leo flipped through the police report and immediately spotted the familiar lunch box. He held up the photo in front of Mom and Dad.

"This lunch box—Dani used it every time she brought you midnight snacks when you worked late. Don't you recognize it?"

Dad studied it for a long time before mumbling, "It's just a lunch box. Who pays attention to that?"

Maybe Leo, like me, couldn't understand why our parents were so reluctant to connect the body to me.

Maybe it was just indifference.

They didn't care that I had disappeared. They didn't care about my safety. They only cared about whether I'd cause them trouble.

Leo paced the room twice before finally deciding to go to the police station himself to report my disappearance.

Just as he turned around, he saw Ravenna had already opened the cake box, using a spoon to smear the delicate frosting into a complete mess.

She didn't even like mango—she was mildly allergic to it. She was doing this on purpose.

But when Leo confronted her, Ravenna immediately put on a pitiful look. "Leo, I just wanted a bite of cake."

"Dani isn't back yet. This is her birthday cake. You like strawberry cake—I'll buy you one tomorrow."

Leo stepped forward to take the cake away.

"But she isn't coming back anymore." Ravenna immediately argued.

Leo's hand froze for a second. "How do you know Dani isn't coming back? What do you know?"

"I don't know! I just mean, maybe she prefers celebrating with her delinquent friends. She doesn't like me—she doesn't want to see me. And now even you're being mean to me. Mom, maybe I should just leave..."

Ravenna quickly shifted the topic, bursting into tears and throwing herself into Mom's arms.

Not wanting to listen to her nonsense anymore, Leo grabbed his coat and walked out, heading straight for the police station.

At the station, he officially reported my disappearance and provided his own biological information for future DNA comparisons.

Just as he stepped out, he ran into the officer in charge of my case.

Before he could exchange pleasantries, the officer spoke with a serious expression. "Good timing. We retrieved the surveillance footage from the engraving shop. You should bring your parents to take a look."

Back home, Mom and Dad were busy comforting their precious daughter.

And of course, the way they comforted her was by cursing me—just to make Ravenna feel better.

It took two calls before Dad finally picked up, sounding reluctant.

Leo spoke urgently. "Dad, Mom—the surveillance footage from the engraving shop is back. Get over to the police station now."