“Mom, Justin’s eye is more important. Jake
should make up for what he did!”
Mom slapped her and shouted.
“This is your fault! Your brother only has one
く
bad eye, and you have cancer!”
The sisters froze.
“What…?”
Mom started crying again.
“My Jake…”
Dad calmly said, “The test results he gave us
the other day were real. He’s blind in his left
eye.”
“He has late–stage liver cancer. It’s spread
everywhere.”
The sisters stared at me in disbelief.
“That’s not…”
Г
Ashley yelled, “Are you lying to us?”
Mom pushed her away.
“The hospital called me! Don’t question your
brother!”
Ashley stood there, changing colors.
She was the only one who saw the results.
She didn’t believe it and threw them at me
and called me shameless.
She opened her mouth.
“Jake… I…”
Brittany gave me a serious look, with a hint of
<
The room went silent.
I watched the drama, and felt tired.
Who would have thought that your folks
would send you to someone else just to
straighten you out.
Not to mention, I was tortured in that hell for
four years.
After I got back, they looked on as I tried to
live my life.
I smirked.
Those are the people I was desperate to see.
The folks looked regretful.
<
“Jake, talk to us. Don’t do this…”
I closed my eyes.
I was almost killed so many times.
At first, I prayed for my family to save me.
Eventually, I lost hope.
They ruined my life.
Now they want me to talk.
“Leave.‘
Mom cried.
Dad held her as Brittany held her out of the
Ashley stood there, staring.
As soon as they left, Claire walked in, crying.
- 7.
“Jake, I didn’t know you were so sick…”
I said calmly, “Get out.”
They had those villagers torturing me.
Weren’t they happy I ended up like this?
Why did everyone look so sorry?
It was all fake.
Claire looked pained.
:
“Јаке, 1-”
I threw a glass of water at her.
“Get out!”
“I’ll come back later…”
She left.
After that day, my folks contacted a lot of
specialists.
Unfortunately, my cancer was too far gone.
My body was getting weaker from the tests.
My mom changed my clothes and found all
the scars.
There were scars from all the wounds that
didn’t heal properly.
They were everywhere, and I was disgusted
with it.
Mom covered her mouth.
“Jake, how did this happen?”
I calmly said, “You told them to teach me at
lesson, right?”
She stared at me.
“We never did that!”
I smiled.
Г
She panicked and grabbed me.
“Jake, we didn’t do it!”
She called Dad and Ashley and told them.
They were shocked.
“What happened to you! I’ll make it up to
you!”
The three of them looked at me.
I closed my eyes.
“It doesn’t matter, I want to sleep. Please
leave.”
Even if it wasn’t them, I still suffered.
Г
Mom wanted to explain, but Dad and Ashley
pulled her away.
They realized I was tired of them.
The next day, the folks came crying.
“How could they do that to you! We’ll get
revenge!”
“Jake! My son! You suffered so much!”
I looked at them.
After a while, Ashley came in.
“Jake… I’m sorry I didn’t know…
“I was mad at you for hurting… Justin… I
“I was mad at you for hurting… Justin… I
didn’t mean to…”
She covered her face and started crying.
“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry…‘
11
I turned away and closed my eyes.
As soon as she left, Claire came in.
I was confused.
