Chapter 3

Mom was getting impatient. She pinched the cat’s neck hard.

The normally gentle cat’s fur stood on end instantly. It began shrieking in pain.

My mouth hung open. My soul couldn’t shed tears, only tremble. I screamed until my voice gave out.

“No!”

But it was too late. The cat struggled so violently that Dad threw it.

He’d forgotten that right outside my door was the apartment balcony.

My mind went blank. A thud. Blood sprayed everywhere.

Mom tried to stop him but it was too late. Seeing people gathering below, she clicked her tongue.

“Someone’s definitely going to ask how the cat died. We can’t let this ruin our reputation.”

“We’ll say Chloe accidentally dropped it. Make her come out and apologize.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Dad snapped out of his panic and grabbed my door handle.

“This is all because you insisted on sulking! The cat dying is your own fault!”

I stared at the cat’s body below, too numb to speak. But heaven seemed to take pity on me.

The cat’s soul floated up beside me. Only then did I avoid collapsing completely.

The soft, furry sensation was just like when it was alive. I brought it back into the room with me.

Were Mom and Dad finally going to discover me? What would their reaction be?

Ring, ring, ring!

Dad’s phone suddenly rang. A police officer’s voice came from the other end.

“We caught Dylan. Do you want to come to the station to press charges?”

Hearing that name, my grief was instantly replaced by terror.

That man lurking in the alley, asking me for directions.

He’d taken advantage of my distraction to drag me into the alley and grope every part of my body.

He’d rubbed his disgusting thing back and forth in front of me.

When I got home, I scrubbed my body frantically.

After Mom found out, she went straight to the police station that night to file a report. From that day on, she drove me to and from school.

But the predator was hard to catch—until today.

Dad and Mom exchanged glances, then Dad put on a show of resolve.

“You know what? That bastard’s father came to me. Said he’d give me two hundred thousand to drop the whole thing.”

Mom glanced at the closed bedroom door.

“That would cover Felix’s meal plan for next year. After all, what happened to Chloe can’t be undone. As long as that pervert learns his lesson…”

“And look at Chloe now with her weird attitude and sulking. She needs to learn a lesson too.”

I sat in the back seat with my cat as my parents drove to the police station. The face from my nightmares sat there smugly with his legs crossed.

He looked at my parents with contempt. His father was even more disdainful as he shook my dad’s outstretched hand.

“Good man, let’s talk privately.”

I heard Dad accept the two hundred thousand hush money with fawning agreement. It sounded like my heart breaking.

The pervert swaggered out of the police station. I wanted to pounce on him, eat his flesh, drink his blood.

But my parents had already sold me out. I could never get revenge.

On the drive home, Mom and Dad were silent. What were they thinking?

“Honey, I still don’t think we should take this money…”

Dad gripped the steering wheel tighter and tighter, as if afraid he might change his mind.

“I know you’re worried about Chloe being upset. We just won’t tell her, right?”

“Chloe has always been so healthy. Felix is sickly and it breaks my heart watching him suffer. Think of this as the last thing Chloe does for her brother.”

“When we get home, we’ll let her out and take her somewhere fun to relax. She won’t have to do that trial either.”

I sat in the back seat, my heart dead as ash.

Dad, don’t bother. I’m already dead. I can’t go anywhere.

Mom’s phone rang. It was my teacher calling.

“Hello, what is it? We’ve been excusing Chloe’s absences these past few days, so she hasn’t been at school.”

“I understand this is a difficult time for you as parents, but you absolutely cannot show it in front of the child…”

Mom interrupted her.

“What are you talking about? What difficult time?”

“Huh? Chloe didn’t show you the cancer diagnosis? Haven’t you been taking Chloe for checkups these past few days?”