Chapter 2

2

When I opened my eyes again, an entire day had passed.

My phone was terrifyingly quiet. Not a single notification, not a single missed call.

My entire family had collectively forgotten I existed while they celebrated Cora's stolen success.

My body throbbed with a dull, aching pain. As I tried to sit up, a pair of hands caught me.

"You just had surgery! You can't get out of bed yet. At least have some water first!"

It was the nurse from the entrance. She looked worried as she pressed a cup into my hands.

The warm water felt like heaven against my parched throat.

But the old habits of a neglected child kicked in, and I felt a surge of anxiety.

"Thank you... I can do it myself. I'm sorry for being a bother."

My reflex to apologize left the nurse looking baffled.

"You haven't done anything wrong, honey. Why are you apologizing to me?"

She was right. Why was I apologizing?

It all started the year the Great Plains Tornado hit our old town.

So many families were destroyed that day. Cora was brought home by my parents the following week.

She hid behind my mother's skirt, looking small and fragile, triggering my mother's protective instincts.

"This is your sister now. Her parents are gone. You better not bully her!"

At the time, I was naive enough to be excited about having a sister. I took her to my room to share my snacks.

But the second the door closed, the sweet girl vanished.

Cora slapped her own face hard and began to wail at the top of her lungs.

"I'm sorry, Elara! I didn't mean to touch your things! Please don't hit me!"

The sudden act left me paralyzed. I didn't even have time to process it before my mother burst in.

The slap my mother dealt me was so hard I couldn't even find my voice to defend myself.

I just stood there, repeating the same useless sentence. "I didn't touch her."

But my mother chose to believe a girl she'd known for three hours over the daughter she'd raised for years.

The look in her eyes was pure disappointment.

"I told you she wouldn't take your place! Why are you so cruel?"

"I never thought you were this selfish! You've let me down, Elara. No dinner for you tonight!"

My explanations meant nothing. I watched my mother lead her away, cooing sweet words to the liar.

From then on, Cora found a reason to frame me for something every single day.

Every time she had a mysterious bruise, I was the one who got screamed at.

To survive in that house, I learned to apologize the moment the air felt tense.

I realized then... I didn't have to live like that anymore.

I gave the nurse a sad, tired smile. "I'm just... used to it."

The nurse's eyes softened with sympathy, but then she caught sight of my arm.

"Good God! Look at these scars! What on earth happened to you?"

Memories of my mother's belt and my father's cold indifference flashed through my mind. I pulled my sleeve down.

"It's nothing... I'm just clumsy. I trip a lot."

A second later, I felt the cool sting of antiseptic on my skin.

As the nurse gently blew on the scratches to dull the pain, I didn't know how to react.

Was this what it felt like to have someone actually care?

If a stranger could be this kind, what had I been doing all those years, groveling for scraps of affection?

I looked at my empty message logs one last time and took a deep breath.

With trembling fingers, I blocked my parents and Cora on everything.

If being with them only brought me agony, then I was done being their punching bag.