They Faked Death to Punish Me, But Cried When I Truly Died

On my birthday, my parents gave the princess dress meant for me to my adopted sister. When I cried and threw a tantrum, begging for another, my parents got into a car crash. My brother, Liam, broke down and slapped me across the face. “You’re a curse! Your selfishness killed them!” He immediately shipped me off to a disciplinary boot camp to “fix my attitude.” Eight years later, on New Year’s Eve, I was working as a clown at an amusement park to make ends meet. And there I saw him. My brother. And with him, my parents, who were supposed to have been dead for a decade. Liam gestured magnanimously to the park manager. “Two hundred grand. I want it all spent on fireworks for my sister’s eighteenth birthday.” Scarlett snuggled into their arms, beaming. Suddenly, my mother’s brow furrowed. “I wonder how Mia is doing. Her birthday is coming up soon…” Liam scoffed. “She gets what she deserves! Crying over a single dress, trying to take it from Scarlett.” “We can just tell her the truth in ten days.” The fireworks exploded, a shower of light so bright it brought tears to my eyes. So, my parents weren’t dead after all. And the blood money I’d slaved to earn, my penance, was being turned to smoke and ash to delight Scarlett. But it was too late for me. I was already dying. There was no going back. … The boom of the fireworks still echoed in my ears. But the image seared into my mind was the adoring smile on my parents’ faces as they hugged Scarlett. “Mia! You’re on!” Someone jabbed me sharply in the arm. “Snap out of it! The young Mr. Sterling booked the whole park for his sister’s birthday. We can’t screw this up!” I was shoved onto the stage. My old leg injury gave out without warning, and the juggling balls in my hands scattered across the floor. The manager stormed over, his face purple with rage. “Mia! What the hell are you doing?” His shout drew the attention of the family below the stage. I ducked my head in panic, instinctively raising a hand to hide my face, but a powerful grip clamped down on my wrist. It was Liam. He had rushed the stage, his eyes bloodshot. “Mia?” “You got out? Why didn’t you come home?” Then he froze. “What happened to your face? Those burns…” My fingertips were numb with pain, but my gaze shot past him to the crowd. I saw my parents. The moment they heard my name, they spun around, melting into the throng of people, desperate to disappear. They couldn’t even bear to look at me. A dull blade twisted in my heart, and for a half-second, I forgot how to breathe. “Sister? Is that you?” Scarlett appeared at Liam’s side, her eyes instantly welling with tears. “After all these years… you still don’t like me, do you? Is that why you came to ruin my special birthday performance?” At her words, Liam’s expression turned to ice. He let go of my wrist, flinging my hand away as if it were something filthy. “Some things never change, do they?” “Do you really have to compete with Scarlett for everything? You even had to come and ruin her birthday?” I wanted to explain. That my leg had been broken at the boot camp. That’s why I couldn’t stand properly. But before I could form the words, Liam let out a bitter laugh. “You’re a clown, right? Then perform. Clean up the mess you made.” He turned to the manager. “She performs alone. Until my sister is satisfied.” The manager wiped sweat from his brow. “Mia, your little puppy act is always a crowd-pleaser. Get down on all fours, now!” “If you don’t perform today, you’re not getting a single penny!” A day’s wage. Fifty bucks. That was half a month’s worth of food. It was enough to buy a box of painkillers. Without hesitation, I slowly lowered myself to the stage. The crowd erupted in jeers and whistles. “Crawl, you little clown dog! Crawl!” “Let’s hear you bark!” I dragged myself forward one step. My left leg was useless, making my posture twisted and pathetic. A memory pierced through the haze of pain. A night just like this, before Scarlett came into our lives. Liam was on his hands and knees on the living room floor, grinning back at me. “Come on, Mia, giddy-up! Big brother will give you a ride!” I had giggled and climbed onto his back. “Hold on tight! The princess is ready for takeoff!” Mom and Dad watched from the sofa, their eyes full of love as they watched us play. But now, in my peripheral vision, I saw them again. They were huddled in the crowd. Mom frowned and turned her face away. Dad put a protective arm in front of her, and they both shrank back, terrified I might spot them. Seeing me humiliated didn’t break their hearts. It just embarrassed them. A sharp, drilling pain shot up my leg, and I shuddered. “Wait!” A voice cut through the noise. “You can’t humiliate a girl like this, no matter what. And I think there’s something wrong with her leg…” Liam frowned, his gaze falling to my trembling leg. But Scarlett stepped in front of him. “Oh, my sister has always been good at playing the victim, getting everyone to feel sorry for her…” Of course, he believed her. He glared at the man who had spoken up. “Humiliate her? Do you have any idea what kind of person she is?” “She’s a spoiled, selfish brat who killed her own parents! When Scarlett lost her parents and came to live with us, she tormented her relentlessly, without a shred of compassion.” His words were daggers in my heart. The truth was, I had never tormented her. It was Scarlett who would snatch the hairclips Mom gave me, only to break them. She would demand the music box Liam bought for me, then smash it to pieces. When I cried and begged her to apologize, they all said I was overreacting. I cried. I screamed. I tried to explain. But no one ever believed me. The louder I got, the more frantic my tears, the more they saw a spoiled child throwing a meaningless tantrum. Mom would just shake her head in disappointment. “Mia, why are you becoming so difficult?” Liam would snap, “Can’t you just give your sister a break? Her life is so much harder than yours! She doesn’t have parents!” Then came my eighth birthday. The princess dress they had promised me was on Scarlett. I finally broke. I sobbed and demanded they buy me a new one. And for that, for my one and only act of defiance, my punishment was ten years of believing my parents were dead. The crowd went silent for a moment, then exploded. “So that’s the story! She killed her parents and she’s still walking around?” “People like that should spend their whole lives atoning!” Every word was a white-hot poker twisting in my gut. Suddenly, I heard a familiar voice. “No, that’s not true! Mia is a good person!” “Don’t you bully Mia!” It was Noah, barreling through the crowd and shoving Liam aside. He threw his arms out, shielding me. Liam stumbled back, his eyes landing on Noah’s, which had the distinct, unfocused look of someone with a developmental disability. “Mia,” he said, his voice like frost, laced with disgust. “You’re hanging out with idiots like this now?” Noah turned to me, his big hands clumsily wiping the tears from my cheeks. “Don’t cry, Mia.” He was so gentle. My vision blurred. It was just like ten years ago. After Liam signed the papers and walked away, they threw me through an iron gate. The people inside descended on me, kicking and punching. I curled into a ball in the corner, head in my arms, crying for my brother over and over. They just laughed. “Your brother doesn’t want you anymore!” Then came a sickening crack as my left leg broke. Later, someone started a fire in the storage closet while I was locked inside. The flames licked at my skin, searing it. It was Noah who dragged me out. From that day on, he was the one who protected me, not Liam. I remember my hands shaking as I dialed Liam’s number again and again. “Liam, help me.” “They’re going to burn me alive…” His voice on the other end was cold, detached. “You’re at a boot camp. You should learn to behave. I’m out shopping with Scarlett, don’t call again.” Terrified of making him hate me even more, I never bothered him again. When I finally got out, with a crippled leg and a ruined face, the only job I could get was playing a clown. Half of the money I earned, I wired to Liam as penance for my sins. The other half I saved for Noah. Then, three months ago, I started coughing up blood. A deep, aching pain settled into my bones. It was bone cancer. Terminal. Back then, my only thought was, My atonement… it isn’t finished yet. But now, it seemed it didn’t matter anymore. … “Mia, I’m talking to you!” Liam’s voice snapped me back to reality. Scarlett covered her mouth with a delicate hand. “Sister, you’re… you’re still in contact with people from the boot camp? Isn’t that dangerous?” Liam took a deep breath and turned to the onlookers. His voice was glacial. “From this day forward, anyone who hires Mia Sterling will be making an enemy of my family.” He looked back at me. “You can stay out here and keep suffering to atone for what you did to Mom and Dad!” With that, he wrapped an arm around Scarlett’s shoulders and walked away. His back was so familiar, yet so alien. That same back used to bend down so I could climb on, carrying me home step by step when I was tired from playing. After Scarlett arrived, he never carried me again. Then I saw them. My parents, who had been hiding in the shadows, rushed forward to embrace Scarlett. Through the crowd, I watched my mother gently stroke her hair while my father handed her a beautifully wrapped gift box. The four of them, a perfect family, walked toward the brilliant fireworks display. Not one of them looked back.