Chapter 6
My parents only started feeling guilty after I got sick and disappeared.
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Elizabeth finally realized how much that LEGO set meant to me -the one Tracy had smashed to pieces. She went completely nuts trying to find it around the house. In the end, she tracked down the bag at the nearest dump, of all places.
A foul stench clung to the plastic bag, its contents of LEGO pieces now even more shattered after being jostled around so many times. The whole thing looked like forgotten trash someone had tossed in a corner–completely unremarkable.
Kind of like me, back when I was still part of that family.
After Elizabeth tore into Kevin, he finally realized just how badly he’d neglected me. Now he was going all out, pulling every string and calling in every favor to search for me across the entire
country.
When Tracy got discharged and came home, all hell broke loose. She stormed through the house, smashing glassware everywhere in a blind rage.
“So now you all suddenly care about Feona?” she screamed. “Where does that leave me? She’s the one who barged into my life and took everything that was mine! I’m the victim here! Who the hell do you think you are, playing the concerned parents
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now?”
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Tracy’s hysterical shouting only deepened the guilt etched across my parents‘ faces. Nobody dared answer her. Only James, looking completely drained, tried to calm her down. “Feona is missing, Tracy. Everyone’s worried sick. Could you maybe not make this harder than it already is?”
His attempts at peacekeeping just poured gasoline on the fire. Tracy went on a rampage, trashing everything in sight before slamming the door so hard the whole house shook.
But nobody had the energy to chase after her anymore.
My parents were pulling out all the stops to find me, but I might as well have vanished into thin air.
It was like I’d vanished into thin air. There was not a single trace of my existence left behind.
Elizabeth’s face stayed permanently tear–stained while Kevin chain–smoked his way through each passing day. Time kept ticking forward, and with every hour that slipped by, their chances of finding any leads grew slimmer and slimmer.
Five days after I disappeared, the skies opened up with a massive downpour. That was when the police station called my parents with news that made their blood run cold. They’d found a headless female body in the suburbs and needed my parents to come identify whether it might be me.
Elizabeth nearly collapsed, one hand clutching her chest as she
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struggled to breathe. Kevin, frantic with worry, rushed her into the car to head to the station. But they never made it there.
The crash happened so fast. Kevin’s legs got completely trapped in the wreckage–the rescue team had no choice but to amputate right there on the scene. Elizabeth’s head smashed into the windshield, shredding her corneas and stealing her sight forever.
The seemingly picture–perfect family of four shattered overnight.
It was during this crisis that devastating news silently arrived.
Tracy had tested positive for HIV. Her dance company immediately handed her a termination notice, and multiple performance contracts were canceled all at once. Just like that, Tracy’s career was completely destroyed.
Elizabeth couldn’t believe it. “How the hell did you get something like this?” she demanded, her voice rising.
She desperately wanted to believe Tracy had contracted it through a blood transfusion gone wrong or literally anything else. Elizabeth couldn’t bring herself to consider the obvious.
But she knew perfectly well that Tracy hadn’t undergone any procedures requiring blood work or surgery in months. She’d been perfectly healthy, making infection through those routes highly unlikely.
Elizabeth never imagined her beloved younger daughter could
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be so reckless with her own life, contracting an incurable disease.
Tracy lay in the hospital bed, sobbing uncontrollably, yet her eyes blazed with defiance.
“This is my revenge on all of you,” she spat. “You brought Feona back and let her steal love that was supposed to be all mine! I wanted you to realize I’m your only real daughter! That ugly freak doesn’t deserve anything!”
Tracy’s rant grew increasingly manic, culminating in wild, hysterical laughter. Throughout her outburst, James stood silently to the side, his face draining of color until he actually stumbled backward.
My parents seemed to age a decade overnight. They stared at their daughter—this stranger she’d become—and felt nothing but horror.
After Tracy died down, she turned her cold gaze toward James, who stood frozen in disbelief at the doorway.
Her smile looked just like a vengeful ghost, sending James fleeing in terror.
James was just a small–town guy who’d finally found his footing in the city. If he got sick too, his entire life would crumble.
Unfortunately, ten days after I left, James tested positive for
HIV.
