- 8.
Mom, Dad, and Ashley stared at Jason in
disbelief. Silence hung heavy. Mom lunged at
Jason, grabbing his shirt. “You monster! You
killed your own brother!” She tried to hit him,
but the police restrained her. It was the first
time I’d ever seen her raise a hand to him.
Jason, realizing he was caught, laughed. “Me?
A monster? You taught me! You’re the one who
called all the doctors to my room, leaving Jason
to die! You made it easy for me to kill him!”
His words hit Mom like a punch. She froze, past
mistakes suffocating her. Guilt gnawed at her.
<
wrong about you. I deserve to die…”
She crawled to my tombstone, clutching it,
stroking my photo. “Wake up, Jason. I’m sorry! I’ll do anything! You wanted to study abroad, right? I’ll pay for it! I’ll send you! No, I’ll go with
you!”
She banged her head against the stone. Police
pulled her back, but her blood stained my
photo, bright red in the sun, like the sunlight on
my face when Mom held me as a newborn.
If her apology had come sooner… Maybe I
could have felt a mother’s love. But it was too
late. I was dead. My heart was dead. Nothing
could ever make up for this. But Mom, I don’t
blame you. I just can’t forgive the years of
neglect, the despair of being left to die by my
own mother.
The police took Mom and Jason away. Dad and
Ashley were taken in for questioning.
The nurse came to my grave. “I was brave this
time,” she said. “They’re all gone. Justice will be
served.” Maybe, as a new nurse, she felt every
death was her failure. I saw myself in her,
remembering my own early insecurities. I patted
her shoulder. “It’s not your fault. Move forward.”
But I was just a ghost. She couldn’t feel or hear
- me.
