Chapter 1

Chapter 1

My twin brother and I shared the exact same face, yet my parents treated me like trash.

When my brother stole cash and framed me, Dad slapped me so hard I lost hearing in my left ear without even asking for my side of the story.

When my brother demanded seafood chowder, Mom gripped my throat and forced it down my esophagus, fully aware of my lethal shellfish allergy.

I lost count of how many times I ended up in the emergency room while my entire family stood by, laughing at my agonizing tears.

Everything came to an end when my brother drove drunk and ran me down in cold blood.

Dying in a pool of my own blood, I used my last ounce of strength to call my mother, only to hear the familiar disgust in her voice.

"You got hit by a car? Isn't that great? I should have aborted you the day you were conceived!"

Yet days later, when they were called to the morgue to identify my mangled corpse, my mother threw herself over my body, sobbing hysterically and begging for another chance to be my mom.

1

My liver was ruptured, both of my legs were shattered, and half of my torso was crushed into a bloody mess.

I gagged, vomiting mouthfuls of dark blood as I lay dying in that deserted, dimly lit alley.

Fighting to keep my eyes open, I gripped my cracked phone with trembling fingers.

Mom, please pick up, I prayed silently in my head.

Maybe God took pity on me, because after what felt like an eternity of ringing, the call finally connected.

"Are you done annoying me? How many times do I have to tell you not to call me unless you're dead?"

Her voice dripped with the same sharp contempt as always. In the past, those words would have shattered my heart.

Right now, desperate for survival, I pushed the pain aside.

"Mom... please save me. Kieran hit me with his car. There's blood everywhere. It hurts so bad..."

Scalding blood gushed from my abdomen with every ragged breath. Just speaking a single word felt like tearing my soul apart.

Silence lingered on the other end for a few seconds before Mom scoffed with utter disdain.

"Can't you come up with a better lie? Kieran is sitting right here with us celebrating his birthday! When are you going to stop trying to frame your brother?"

"You ungrateful, vile parasite!"

She let out a mocking laugh that echoed through the speaker.

"You got hit by a car? Isn't that great? I should have aborted you the day you were conceived!"

The call ended with a harsh beep, and the last shred of my will to live dissolved into nothingness.

Of course. Why did I ever expect anything different?

Ever since the day I was born, she had looked at me with nothing but revulsion, as if looking at me made her sick.

For eighteen long years, all I ever received were beatings, curses, and deep-seated hatred.

Still, I never imagined my own flesh and blood would genuinely wish for my horrific death.

In this lifetime, my existence had never been wanted by anyone.

As the blood drained from my body, my heart turned icy cold, and my hand slid off the phone onto the freezing pavement.

After an unknown stretch of time, the agony began to fade into a strange numbness.

My spirit detached from my mangled flesh, drifting upward into the cold night air.

I cast one final glance at my gruesome corpse with its unclosed eyes before an unseen force pulled my soul toward a luxury suburban estate.

This was the mansion where I had spent eighteen miserable years without ever receiving a single drop of warmth.

In stark contrast to my bloody death in that filthy alley, the scene inside the living room was so heartwarming it made my ghostly heart ache.

Kieran, the culprit who had just crushed me under his tires, was surrounded by our parents and our older sister, his face flushed red from alcohol.

And Mom, who had just told me to go die, was tenderly placing a golden birthday crown on his head with a doting smile I had never once received.

"Happy nineteenth birthday to my precious baby boy. Dad and I bought you a brand-new sports car as your birthday present."

Kieran's hands trembled with guilt as he took the keys, but he quickly masked it with a pouted, pitiful expression. "Mom, you and Dad are so good to me, but will August be mad? I really don't want him hating me anymore. We're brothers, after all."

Kieran had always been a master of playing the innocent victim. He had framed me countless times with that exact sorrowful face, and our parents fell for it every single time.

Sure enough, Mom and Dad bristled with immediate fury at the mention of my name.

"Don't bring up that garbage! From now on, pretend you don't even have a brother!"

"Your father and I must have committed a mortal sin in our past lives to give birth to such a wretched creature!"

"Today is your birthday, and not only did he refuse to show up, he even called to claim you ran him over!"

Kieran's face drained of color, turning deathly pale, but our parents were too blinded by rage to notice.

Dad sneered viciously, his fists clenched tight. "Pathological liar! Just wait until he crawls back home, I'll break both his legs myself!"

Our older sister, Chloe, gently wiped away Kieran's fake tears, her eyes full of sorrow for him.

"Kieran, stop crying. Today is your special day, and our family of four should celebrate properly. Don't waste your breath on someone so irrelevant."

A family of four...

Even without knowing that I was already dead, they had long erased me from this family.

Mom, Dad, did you forget?

Today was Kieran's birthday, but it was my birthday, too.

You bought him a brand-new sports car for his birthday. Did you want him to run over my corpse a second time?

Even as a disembodied soul, an excruciating pain gripped my chest.

Tears that I couldn't shed while dying in the alley now streamed down my ghostly face.

Only in death did I finally accept the bitter truth about the home I lived in for eighteen years.

Not a single person in that house had ever loved me, not even a little bit.