Chapter 3

I happily ran over to them, wanting to hug Mom.

But my little hands passed straight through her body.

Oh, right. I forgot I was having an out-of-body experience.

What a pity. It had been so long since I last hugged Mom.

I pouted.

Just then, I noticed Mom glancing over at the dog crate.

I felt so happy! Mom still loved Lily!

But she only looked for a second before carrying Leo into the bedroom, ordering Dad to follow her.

I sighed.

Whenever it came to my brother, Mom always got so tense.

It seemed Mom was really, really angry this time.

Before, the worst she would do was hit me, yell at me, or starve me, but she had never ignored me completely like this.

I started to panic and followed them into the bedroom.

I lay at Mom's feet.

"Mom, please don't be mad at Lily anymore, okay?"

"Lily was a good girl and died like you wanted! Can you forgive me now?"

But they couldn't hear a word I said.

I paced around in circles, tears welling up in my eyes.

If Mom couldn't hear me, how was I supposed to apologize?

Dad couldn't seem to bear it anymore. He wrapped an arm around Mom's shoulders and coaxed gently,

"Lily's been locked up all afternoon. Let her out, okay?"

Mom's face remained dark as she clutched Leo tightly in her arms.

"That brat hasn't made a single sound since we got back! She's throwing a tantrum to spite me!"

"If I don't break her spirit this time, I'm not her mother! Let's see if she ever dares to hurt Leo again."

No, Mom, you've got it wrong!

Lily didn't want to hurt Leo.

I wanted to make a sound, and I wanted to hug you both, but I can't speak anymore.

My heart broke again at the thought.

Dad’s lips trembled, but in the end, he said nothing.

In the middle of the night, I saw Dad quietly get out of bed and walk over to the air vent.

He was holding a donut, trying to push it through the small opening.

"Lily, eat this donut first to fill your stomach. Dad will buy you your favorite pizza tomorrow."

"Mom is sick. You're a big girl now, so let's not be upset with her, okay?"

Seeing that I wasn't taking the donut, Dad assumed I was still angry. He waited for a moment, sighed, and walked back to bed.

My eyes were glued to the donut, and I swallowed hard.

Even though I couldn't feel hunger anymore, the memory of that extreme, agonizing starvation before I died was deeply engraved in my mind.

But my hands couldn't touch the donut, and my mouth couldn't eat it.

I could only follow close behind Dad, hoping to catch a sniff of the scent to ease my hunger.

The next morning, Mom got up to make breakfast in the kitchen.

To get there, she had to pass the dog crate in the living room.

I wondered when Mom would notice that Lily was dead.

Once she knew, she could finally be happy.

Hearing Mom's footsteps, Bella let out a low whimper from inside the crate.

Mom's face instantly darkened. She ignored the crate completely and walked straight into the kitchen.

Not long after, Dad woke up too. He walked into the living room, suddenly stopped, and asked Mom uncertainty,

"Honey, do you smell something weird?"

Oh no! Lily's body was starting to rot and smell bad.

Panicking, I scrambled on all fours to Dad's feet, trying to stop him from going over. If Mom found out, she would hate me even more!

Sweat poured down my ghostly face as I waved my arms frantically to block him.

But it was useless. He strode right past me toward the crate.

The closer he got, the stronger the smell became.

It was the sickening, rotting stench of decaying flesh.

If you looked closely, some yellowish fluids were oozing out from the cracks.

Even Mom was drawn over by the smell!

Dad frowned, sensing something was wrong. He reached out to open the crate door.

But before his hand could touch the latch, Mom slapped it away.