Chapter 3

For the next three days, other than eating and using the restroom, I hardly left my room.

I spent my days either studying or reading.

Occasionally, the happy shouts of the little boy from outside would make me pause my pen.

It made me think of when David hadn't cheated yet.

Back then, every day when he came home from work, my dad would carry me on his shoulders, and I'd hold a doll in my arms, shouting with joy that Dad's shoulders were my very own pumpkin carriage.

Then, from the kitchen, I'd hear Lorelei's nagging.

She'd ask David why he wasn't taking me to clean up yet.

She'd say I was always getting into mischief all day long.

Back then, I'd always giggle with laughter on Dad's shoulders.

Perhaps life was too beautiful back then, so beautiful that even now, tears welled up in my eyes.

Staring at the blurred words, I hastily pulled at my sleeve to wipe them away.

But the more I wiped, the more the ink bled on my homework, the more the words blurred on my page.

It seemed I don't deserve good memories.

Two more days passed. One afternoon, there was a knock on my door.

The moment I heard it, my body instinctively tensed. I straightened up, stood, and went to open the door.

Elara was standing there, holding the little boy's hand, looking at me with an appeasing smile.

"Aubrey, Auntie Elara bought you something."

Saying this, she handed me a plastic bag.

I looked down and saw sanitary pads.

She saw my expression and quickly said, "Aubrey, Auntie Elara saw you were using toilet paper in the bathroom, I'm sorry, so I took the liberty of getting you some."

"Oh, and do you not have any money on you? Can I get your SnapChat to send you some money via PayPal?"

I looked at her plastic bag, hesitating.

But thinking about how uncomfortable it was using toilet paper, I finally took the plastic bag from her hand.

I also complied, pulling out my phone to add her on SnapChat.

After doing everything, I closed my door.

But within a few minutes, Elara knocked again. "Aubrey, Auntie Elara made you a warm herbal drink for your cramps. Would you like to open the door and drink some? It can really help ease the pain."

"Girls your age often get bad cramps."

Listening to Lorelei's voice through the door, I clenched my fists tightly.

This reminded me of two years ago, when I first started my period. My periods were irregular, and the cramps were so bad I'd be rolling on the floor in agony every time.

Back then, I cried and begged Lorelei to take me to the doctor.

I told her I was in so much pain, so much pain.

My mom snapped at me, annoyed:

"You're so dramatic! It's just period pain, what's the big deal?

"When do I have time to take you to the doctor? Even if I did, I wouldn't want to.

"Ever since you were disfigured, every time I take you out, I feel like a criminal. Strangers stare at me all the time; it's utterly humiliating!

"And besides, I'm going on a trip with my boyfriend today, I don't have time."

"If you're really in so much pain, there's some brown sugar in the fridge. Just mix it with hot water and drink it."

After saying that, Lorelei grabbed her bag and walked out the door.

That night, due to severe cramps and a persistent high fever, I almost died at home.

It wasn't until I crawled out and knocked on a neighbor's door that she took me to the hospital, and I barely clung to life.

When Lorelei was called to the hospital,

Her first reaction wasn't to comfort me.

It was anger.

"Aubrey, why are you so much trouble? I leave for a second and something happens to you."

"I must have been cursed in a past life to have such a jinx for a daughter!"

Thinking of the despair I felt lying in that hospital bed back then,

A sudden surge of anger, I don't know why, erupted in my chest.

Loudly, angrily, I yelled at the woman outside the room.

"I don't want it! Go away!"

It was a long time before I heard the woman's retreating footsteps outside.

And the moment those footsteps disappeared, tears streamed down my scarred face.

That night, I didn't go out for dinner. Elara came to my door several times.

Each time, I thought she was going to knock.

But each time, she only stood at my door for a moment before leaving.

It wasn't until midnight that I suddenly saw a SnapChat post from her.

"Hey ladies, any advice on how to communicate with a teenage daughter?"

My fingers tightened around my phone.

The word "daughter" hit me like a ton of bricks, stabbing deep into my heart.

Ever since I was disfigured, Lorelei had never publicly acknowledged me as her daughter.

Even when she took me out, she wouldn't let me call her mom.

When others asked, she would only introduce me as a relative's child.

When we were alone, she explained it to me.

She said if people knew she was my mom, they would condemn her, saying what kind of mother lets her young child get so horribly burned.

She also said that my disfigurement was all David's fault.

If David hadn't cheated and divorced her, she wouldn't have tried to take her own life, and I wouldn't have become... this monster.

So, I couldn't guilt-trip her, my mother.

If I wanted to hate someone, I should hate David.

And hate the woman who was now posting on SnapChat, calling me her daughter.