Chapter 2

2

The atmosphere in the room turned cold. Everyone went silent.

It wasn't until Silas offered to lead the police to find me for questioning that things shifted.

"Silas, does your sister really like fishing at night? Why would she be by the river at this hour?"

"Look, I can tell she gets on your nerves. My sister is a brat too! but she's family. Just swallow your pride and make up. Don't hold a grudge against a kid."

"I told you, she doesn't deserve it! She could die for all I care!"

Silas suddenly exploded. It was like they had stepped on a landmine.

He slammed his phone onto the ground, his chest heaving with fury.

The officers looked at him with concern and confusion.

"You don't know the truth! My mother was the victim of the first vagrant attack! Shiloh killed her! She's a jinx!"

Silas's emotions were spiraling. He covered his face, trying to suppress the grief he couldn't hide.

By the end, he was practically screaming. He sounded like a wounded animal crying for its mother.

"Because of her, I don't have a mother anymore. Why would I protect a killer!"

"There wasn't even a body left! My dad and I could only build a memorial with her empty clothes!"

Silas cried, and I wept with him. I felt like I couldn't breathe.

For years, I had knelt by that river, forced to listen to those same words.

Dad said I was a curse, a murderer, the most evil child on earth.

Silas hated me. He hated that I had a fever and needed the hospital that night.

They said I was the one who destroyed our perfect family.

They would grab me by the throat and shove my head into the water. They asked me over and over why I wasn't the one who died that day.

They wanted me to know that between Mom and me, Mom was always the one who mattered.

But they forgot. I used to be the girl they held in the palm of their hands.

The people around him sighed heavily.

"The dead are gone. The living are what matters. You're blood relatives!"

"I said, she doesn't deserve it!"

The light in my eyes faded. I shook my head with a bitter smile.

If Silas knew I was dead, would he feel a little better? Would he forgive me just a little?

"Chief! We searched the riverbank! There's no one here!"

"But there are a lot of messy footprints. And look, a strawberry hair clip."

Silas had made that clip for me himself. It had a hidden tracker inside.

Once, when he forgot to pick me up from school, I got lost.

The police and my family searched for six months before finding me in a human trafficking den.

I never forgot how guilty he looked back then, or how much they cared.

He even swore he would protect me from being hurt for the rest of his life.

But all that love had turned into a blade. It had sent me right back to hell.

Silas just glanced at the clip. He walked forward to check the area, refusing to believe anything was wrong.

My heart started pounding. I was filled with hope.

I wasn't kneeling like I usually did, and my clip was on the ground. Silas was smart; he had to notice something, right?

Even if he just told the police he was suspicious... maybe they could still find me.

"Silas! Where's your sister? Could she be missing too?"