My fever was back and I was exhausted.
“I saw you grabbing her arm, trying to push her
in the water. Don’t lie to us!” Mrs. Smith’s voice
was piercing.
Sarah was leaning on Jake, sobbing.
“It’s not just any necklace, it was a gift from
<
mom and dad. When I was missing, that
necklace kept me going, it was all I had to
remind me of home!”
Mrs. Smith hugged Sarah and cried,
remembering how much she had suffered all
these years.
Mr. Smith was furious. He yanked me off the
stairs.
“You’re just so jealous, Ashley! You will find
Sarah’s necklace, or I’m gonna keep you in the
pool.”
He dragged me outside, and I was too weak to
resist.
I looked at Jake, hoping for some kind of help,
but his face was cold, no warmth at all.
He grabbed some goggles, and tossed them to
- me. “Wear these, find her necklace.”
I shook my head, and Jake snapped, “You owe
her that much!”
He forced the goggles on my face. Mr. Smith
tossed me back into the water without, a
second thought.
The four of them stood there, laughing,
く
enjoying themselves, but still making sure I was
doing my job.
If they thought I was taking too long, Mr. Smith
would splash the water with a long pole.
I kept my head down, searching the pool.
It got dark. The water was freezing. I could
barely see.
I gasped for air, I heard Jake’s voice.
“That necklace is the only thing that helps
Sarah sleep. If you are trying to drag this out,
you can forget it. If you don’t find it, you’re not
getting out!”
I sank down into the water.
I searched for five full hours before I found
Sarah’s necklace stuck in a drain.
I dragged myself out of the pool, and fell to the
ground.
The four of them came over, took the necklace,
and sneered at me.
Sarah, arm in arm with her parents, walked into
the house.
Jake threw out, “You better learn your lesson.”
He followed after Sarah, not turning back.
<
I lay on the cold ground, listening to their
laughter. I finally lost consciousness.
- 5.
I was alone for two days.
When I woke up, I called my real parents.
“I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want a short- term visa. Just get me permanent residency.”
They got super excited, but I didn’t feel
anything.
Leaving the city where I’d spent the last twenty
years, it hurt.
I wasn’t sure I would be happy anywhere else.
What if my real parents were like the Smiths,
always treating me unfairly?
It was a huge risk, but I knew it couldn’t be
worse than things were now.
Getting permanent residency was a hassle, with
tons of paperwork. I had to run to the embassy
a million times.
Coming out of the embassy for the last time, I
saw a flashy red Ferrari.
I didn’t have time to read the license plate, but I
knew it was one of a hundred cars in the world,
<
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it belonged to Jake.
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I panicked a bit, but then I was like, he’s too
focused on Sarah to notice me.
Even if he did, he wouldn’t care.
That night, I was all alone, the TV blasting,
trying to drown out the silence.
The door unlocked, and I saw a face I hadn’t seen in a while.
Jake walked up to me, a bit annoyed. “Where are you going?”
I just stared at him. “What do you mean?” “I saw you at the embassy today. What were you doing there?”
“Oh.” I thought of an answer quickly. “Our
experiment is finishing up. We should get
results soon. My professor said I should go to a
conference in the States. I went to file the paperwork.”
Jake nodded, hiding the look on his face.
He’d thought he was seeing things, seeing me
at the embassy.
How could I try to go to the States without him knowing?
<
He turned around, and saw me get in a cab,
and realized something was wrong.
It didn’t last long.
Jake knew that I loved him, that I couldn’t bear
to leave him.
I wasn’t that close to the Smiths, and for all
these years, he was all I had.
My love for him, it was deep and strong. I
couldn’t just give it up so easily.
Jake curved his lips and, like always, gently
stroked my hair.
“Do you want to watch a movie? I’ll stay with
you.”
I wanted to ask, “Aren’t you staying with
Sarah?“, but didn’t.
That was his usual pattern. One bad thing, then
he would give me a small act of kindness.
I ended up not saying no. I chose some old
romance movie. He was constantly looking at
his watch.
When the credits rolled, I got up. “I’m tired. I’m
gonna go to bed.”
I went to the stairs. He called out to me, “Don’t
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forget tomorrow, hotel party, celebrating Sarah getting accepted into the program. As the big sister, make sure you have a gift for her.”
I didn’t say anything, just went upstairs, without looking back.
- 6.
The next morning, Jake sent over a gift box.
I opened it and found a diamond–studded watch. It was so fancy.
The card said, “Congrats, Sarah!” and it had
my name signed under it.
I gave a bitter laugh.
Jake was always so thoughtful. I just wasn’t sure who that thoughtfulness was for.
I arrived at the hotel and the room was full of laughter.
I hesitated before grabbing the doorknob, not knowing if I should go inside.
If I did, everyone would stop laughing. They would all be mad.
And if I didn’t go in, the Smiths, and Jake, would say things like, “rude” and “heartless.” While I was thinking, I heard something break
<
inside.
I looked through the window and saw Sarah
pouting, no smile on her face.
Mrs. Smith noticed the change. “What’s up,
Sarah?”
“Nothing much. It’s just that, Ashley’s
experiment was successful. Everyone’s
congratulating her, saying what a huge
breakthrough she had, they are all saying that
she’s a genius.”
Mr. Smith’s smile vanished. Mark, not believing
Sarah, grabbed her phone, and looked at the
group chat.
Today was the day that the results of the
accelerated program came out. At first,
everyone was congratulating Sarah.
Then someone sent a message, mentioning my
successful experiment, and the chat blew up
with praise, saying that I should go straight to a
PhD. Sarah was completely overshadowed.
Mark slammed his fist on the table. “This
Ashley! She did this on purpose! She’s trying to
make Sarah look bad today!”
<
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Mrs. Smith got mad too. “Ashley is just looking
for attention. The family doesn’t want her, so
she goes to the school to get attention. So
mean!”
Mr. Smith pulled out his phone, ready to call me. “Everything she has is stolen from Sarah! Why would she try to make us look bad?! I’m calling her over.”
Mark stopped him from calling.
He looked mysterious, “Dad, you should not call her, that won’t help. We all know that she
doesn’t care about anything. I have an idea, one that will take the wind out of her sails.”
“What do you mean?” Everyone was asking at
the same time.
“It’s just an experiment. Who cares if it has any importance? We will just say that Sarah did it. Then she would be the genius, and she’d get
the PhD too!”
Sarah popped up with a big smile, all her anger
gone. “That’s a great idea, Mark!”
Mr. and Mrs. Smith nodded. “Yeah, everything
Ashley has should have been Sarah’s. It’s just a
<
tiny experiment, we helped her for all these
years. Sarah should have it!”
Mark was super excited, but he knew that him
and I were not friendly. He knew that I would
refuse to do it.
Mark looked at Jake. “Jake, what do you
think?”
My body was freezing, and my hands were
shaking. I was covering my mouth so they
couldn’t hear me crying.
I already knew that the Smiths had no feelings
for me, but to know that they wanted to tear
me apart so easily, was still devastating.
