“She’s a drama queen! First, she’s bullied,
then abused!”
“Don’t play along with her. We’re discharging
her. We’re leaving!”
I couldn’t help but cry. Why didn’t she believe
the doctor?
Dad kept feeding Tommy, avoiding my gaze.
He didn’t say a word for me.
My uncles came to the hospital. Hearing
Mom, they frowned.
“I think Riley is mentally unstable. She’s
trying to hurt her family. Maybe she burned
Tommy herself.‘
“”
Mom was furious. She ripped the IV needle
from my arm.
“She’s so vicious. Tommy’s so good to her,
and she hurts him!”
My teeth gritted in pain. Blood poured from
my wrist.
“Mom, I didn’t…‘
“”
“Take her away! Keep her away from
Tommy!”
No one listened to me. My uncles carried me
away.
Under a tree on the hill behind the house, I
was hung upside down again.
“We’ll see if we can’t break your
stubbornness!”
“Try to fake it again, we won’t fall for it!”
little suffering will teach you a lesson
“A little suffering will teach you a lesson. You’ll thank us later!”
Three days later, my parents finally returned
home with Tommy.
Seeing I was gone, Mom raged.
“She ran away! Three days! She’s really going
to run away?”
“I raised a useless piece of shit! She can’t
handle a little adversity. She should be dead!”
“How much school is she missing? Will she
graduate late? Why isn’t she worried? It
makes me so mad!”
Dad remained silent. After putting Tommy to
bed, he opened my room. On the wall, blood-
red words were starkly visible.
“Mom, am I only not worthless when I’m
dead?”
Dad’s heart lurched. He frantically searched.
My diary was on the desk, with a line written
across the page.
“Mom, you and they are all murderers.”
His heart pounded. He was about to open the
diary…
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.
Chapter 2
“Police!”
“I called!”
Mom darted to the door and flung it open.
“I’m reporting my daughter, Riley! She
deliberately burned my son, and now she’s
run away! Can you arrest her and throw her in
jail? Let her reflect on what she’s done!”
Dad frowned, trying to stop her.
“What’s wrong with you? Riley might…”
Mom shoved him away, ignoring his
explanation.
“You only care about your daughter, not your
son?”
“Tommy’s face is scarred; he needs skin
grafts. We need to teach her a lesson!”
The officer showed his badge.
99
“Riley’s parents, right? Come with us. “Riley is dead. Her body was found on the
hill. We suspect assault and negligent
homicide. Please come to the station.”
Mom and Dad’s eyes widened.
“That’s impossible! You’re kidding! She just
ran away; she can’t be dead!”
The officer’s face was grim.
“The coroner’s report confirms it. Riley died
from asphyxiation after being hung upside
down for 28 hours. She’s been dead for
almost two days.”
Dad trembled, collapsing to the floor.
“Riley!”
His cry of grief was raw and agonizing.
Mom shook her head in denial.
“It’s not possible. Riley was healthy. Hanging
is even good for you; she couldn’t have died
so easily.”
She looked at Dad and the police, hoping for
a different outcome. Her hope was crushed.
She slumped, her heart pounding in panic.
Suddenly, the uncles arrived. Mom lunged at
Uncle Mike.
“What did you do to Riley?”
The three uncles looked confused.
“We hung her on the hill, like you asked.”
“We were just about to come get you to take
her down.”
The police watched them.
“You hung her yourselves?”
Seeing the police, the uncles felt uneasy but
nodded.
“Then let’s all go to the station!”
The uncles backed away.
“What’s wrong? We’re good citizens!”
Mom grabbed Uncle Mike’s shirt.
“Riley’s dead. She’s dead!”
“You said hanging her for three days would
be fine! Why did she die?!”
The uncles were shocked, their faces turning
ashen.
“This…this isn’t right!”
“She couldn’t be that weak!”
The police officer looked at them sternly.
“Even trained people can’t handle that for
that long. Do you think an injured patient
can? You haven’t experienced it, so you don’t
know how brutal it is.”
Mom screamed, breaking down. She hit the
uncles, but the police stopped her.
The whole family and the uncles were taken
to the station.
At the station, learning that Riley was indeed
dead, the uncles stared at each other.
“Sis, you gotta take responsibility! We did
what you said.”
Uncle Mike spoke first, and Uncle Mark
followed.
“Yeah, Riley’s just our niece, not our
daughter. We had no right to discipline her.
You asked us to do it.”
Uncle Joe nodded quickly.
“That’s right, sis. Don’t ruin our reputations
and jobs.”
