8
I didn’t want my dad, my mom, or my brother anymore.
This time, I was going to live for myself.
Since the surgery, my body had been in worse shape than ever.
Even though I pushed myself through physical therapy, the missing organ had left me permanently weakened.
But I wanted to live–really live–so I fought hard to recover, no matter how slow the progress was.
Eventually, I was well enough to go outside.
That day, I wandered across the lawn outside my building, taking cautious steps in the sunlight. I could feel my parents watching me from a distance. They never left me alone anymore. They wanted to be near me, but they were too scared to get too close, afraid I’d reject them again.
I’d told them to leave me alone countless times, but they wouldn’t listen.
So lignored them. They were no longer my problem.
But today, another unwanted guest showed up.
James–my brother–appeared in front of me.
He looked clean and put together, but his face was tired, his shoulders slumped. He approached me slowly, his voice soft and pleading.
“Jessica, I’m so sorry,” he said. “I’m not asking for your forgiveness. I just want a chance to make things right.”
I stared at him, trying to think of something to say, but before I could open my mouth, a sharp, searing pain shot through my chest.
Blood surged up my throat, and I doubled over, coughing violently.
I barely had time to register what was happening before I collapsed to the ground.
James reached for me, panicked, but before he could touch me, Mom came running. She pulled me into her arms and slapped James across the face, the sound cracking through the air like a whip.
“What di
D
6
<
James froze like a scolded child, stammering but unable to explain himself.
I curled into myself, clutching my mouth as tightly as I could, but blood still spilled through my fingers. Tears streamed down my face from the pain, but even through the agony, I forced myself to speak, my words garbled and weak:
“Go… Go find your real sister. I’m not… worthy…”
I didn’t want anything to do with them anymore.
But then James suddenly pulled out a stack of papers–a DNA report–and shoved it toward me.
“You are my real sister!” he said, his voice desperate.
I struggled to lift my head, glancing at the report in his hands. But the pain overwhelmed me. Blood poured from my mouth, and the world went dark.
The last thing I remembered was the chaos of voices and footsteps around me. Someone screamed for help.
When I woke up, the first thing I heard was someone sobbing.
As my eyes fluttered open, I heard an excited voice shout, “She’s awake!”
A crowd of people rushed to my bedside.
A woman grabbed my hand, her tears falling uncontrollably. “Thank God you’re okay,” she cried. “If you didn’t wake up, I don’t know what I would have done!”
I turned my head slightly and saw a man kneeling by the door, his eyes red and swollen.
The woman noticed where I was looking. “Your brother upset you,” she said quickly. “I’ll make him pay for it!”
I blinked at her, confused. Then I whispered, “Mom? Brother? Who are you people?”
The room went silent.
The woman’s face turned pale. She looked at the doctor, her voice trembling. “What… What’s wrong with her?”
The doctor sighed, flipping through the charts and X–rays in his hands.
“It’s nothing too serious,” he said. “She had a post–surgery infection that spread to her nervous system. It likely caused some damage to her hippocampus, resulting in memory loss.”
“Memory loss?!” the woman shrieked, her voice rising in panic.
She turned toward the man kneeling by the door–James–and kicked him hard in the side.
“James! What are you even doing here?!” she screamed. “Are you trying to kill her? Is that what you want?!”
James looked up at her, his face stunned. “Mom! She’s my sister! I would never hurt her!”
The woman broke down, burying her face in her hands. “This is karma… karma for everything we’ve done…”
I watched them both, barely holding back a laugh.
They thought I’d lost my memory. But I hadn’t.
I just wanted peace. A clean break.
My life had already been destroyed once. I wouldn’t let it happen again.
But then the doctor suggested something that made my stomach sink: they should take me home to help me “recover” my memories.
<
Mom stayed at the hospital with me, while James went back to the house to gather my personal belongings.
I didn’t want to talk to her, so I pretended to sleep, staying silent as she sat by my bedside.
Suddenly, James burst into the room, holding something in his hands.
“Mom!” he called out, waving her over. “Come here! You have to see this–I found Jessica’s journal!”
If it were the past, I would’ve fought to snatch my journal back–because it held every humiliating, heartbreaking memory of my childhood.
It was hard to imagine that a seven–year–old girl had to go an entire week without eating just to save up enough money to buy that little
notebook.
But now? I didn’t care anymore. It all felt like something that had happened to someone else in another lifetime.
“It’s fine,” I heard Mom say outside the room. “Jessica’s asleep. You can come in.”
James hesitantly tiptoed in, holding the worn, black journal in his hands. He opened it carefully, as though it might fall apart at any moment.
[Entry: MM/DD/YYYY – Sunny]
Does Mom not like me? Am I really her daughter?
[Entry: MM/DD/YYYY – Snowy]
It’s so cold outside. If I froze to death out there, would Mom be sad? Probably not.
[Entry: MM/DD/YYYY – Sunny]
Today, I got into the same prestigious high school as Savannah. I thought Mom would be proud… but instead, she beat me. She said I was trying to take something from Savannah.
What am I even taking?
[Entry: MM/DD/YYYY – Cloudy]
Mom threw Savannah a huge party for her 18th birthday. I was so jealous–she got two cakes.
I wish I could have a cake too… just once.
[Entry: MM/DD/YYYY – Rainy]
Savannah left for school today, and Mom started being nice to me. I’m so happy!
[Entry: MM/DD/YYYY – Sunny]
Mom took me to the hospital for a checkup. I heard Savannah is really sick.
Mom must be worried about me, so she had my blood tested, It must’ve cost her so much money.
I’ll save up and buy her a gold bracelet someday!
Mom turned to the last page and gasped.
Inside the notebook was a plain gold bracelet, tucked carefully between the pages.
It was the gift I’d bought for her but never had the chance to give.
Her hands trembled as she clutched the bracelet, her face crumpling as tears spilled down her cheeks.
6:11 PM C
<
“She… where did she get the money for this?” Mom whispered, her voice shaking.
“She didn’t even eat properly… how long did she have to save up to buy this?”
“She’s such a good child,” she sobbed. “This is all my fault. I’ve failed her. I’ve failed her so badly…”
Mom cried so hard she couldn’t make a sound. She just clutched the journal to her chest, her shoulders shaking violently.
She looked at my sleeping face, her hand hovering near my cheek but too afraid to touch me. Her tear–filled eyes traced every part of my face, as though she wanted to memorize it.
Holding the journal tightly to her chest, she whimpered, “I was wrong. I’ve been so, so wrong…”
I heard her words, but they didn’t stir anything in me.
The doctors had told her not to upset me–my body was still too fragile.
After that day, Mom and James began taking turns caring for me.
One afternoon, after the doctor called them out of the room, Savannah showed up.
There was a time when Savannah and I had been close.
But ever since she took my kidney, she seemed to hate me.
The moment she heard about my “memory loss,” she came prepared–with a bag full of gifts Mom had given her over the years.
She sat down, unzipped the bag, and began pulling each item out one by one, smiling sweetly as she introduced them to me.
I pretended not to understand her, but she saw right through it.
“You’re not fooling me,” she said with a smirk. “Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted? Your mom’s love?”
Her smile turned cold. “Too bad you never got it. You’ve spent your whole life begging for crumbs, and you couldn’t even get a birthday cake.”
I lowered my eyes. “I don’t remember any of that.”
She laughed, a sharp, cruel sound. “Of course you don’t. You’ve never deserved to be loved.”
Her voice grew colder, her words sharper. “Do you remember how you could never measure up to me? How you barely made it into the same high school as me, and your mom wouldn’t even let you go? Or how you worked so many miserable jobs, and she didn’t care?
“You’re pathetic. Honestly, you’d be better off dead.”
I stared at her, unflinching.
Savannah was terrified I’d want something back–my kidney, my dignity, my life. She wanted to get rid of me, to finish what she’d started.
But before I could respond, the door flew open with a deafening crash, the handle slamming into the wall so hard it shattered the glass window beside it.
James stood in the doorway, his face red with rage.
In one swift motion, he stormed over to Savannah and slapped her across the face.
“You disgusting liar!” he roared. “You’ve fooled our entire family, and now you’re trying to kill my sister?!”
10
