6
My real dad was actually Lily’s uncle. Dad’s
older brother.
He was a friggin‘ genius, but he died before
he even hit forty.
And my mom? Lily’s parents stole everything
she had.
They drove her so far into the ground, she
had no way out.
So after I was born, she snuck me to their
doorstep, hoping I’d have a better life.
But those monsters didn’t want to give me a
く
penny, so they threw me in an orphanage.
Then Lily got sick with bone cancer, and
nothing could fix her.
They spent a fortune, and found some shady
priest who gave them a way to swap souls to
save her life.
That’s why they set the trap. That’s why they
brought me home, hoping I’d be grateful
enough to walk into a death trap.
The reason I’m back is because of my father.
He was a director at Chase Corp, and spent
his whole life building up the company and
helping people.
After he died, he gave up his chance to be
reborn, and promised to serve the Underworld
for a century, just to give me a second
chance.
The ‘person‘ in the Underworld told me
everything right before my soul faded away…
I put the bones in a bag and hid it behind the
curtain. Then I took a shower before crawling
back into bed.
I was finally warm.
I set my alarm, and fell asleep.
It was the first good night of sleep I’d had
since coming back.
The next day, I put on some light makeup to
make myself look pale.
I had to get rid of the stuff under the bed, so I
didn’t want to risk Mom coming into my room.
The doll looked like a doll for once. Its eyes
were dead, and its teeth were nowhere to be
seen.
I carried it out of my room and found the
three of them eating breakfast.
“Good morning, sweetie! What are you doing
up?”
“I was thirsty, Mom. Couldn’t fall back
asleep.”
Mom took the doll. “I’ll go change her.”
Dad gave me a glass of water.
I smiled sweetly. “Thanks, Dad!”
“Your mother knows how much you love that
doll, so she wanted to dress her up.”
Lnodded. “Yeah, I know. What girl doesn’t like
to look pretty?”
My heart skipped a beat.
He was an old fox. I had only been looking at
Mom’s back, and he was already explaining
himself.
I looked down at my breakfast and took a
small bite.
Mom didn’t yell at me for not eating. Instead,
she had the maid make more food that I
loved. She told me it was okay to eat as much
く
as I wanted.
I smiled and scoffed on the inside. Of course
it was okay. I had to be healthy to be Lily’s
blood bag.
I had to eat and sleep so the evil energy
would break me, and my soul would fail…
I hesitated. I had ordered a slingshot, but was
having second thoughts about going through
with it.
They didn’t come into my room often, but
Mom did come in every morning. What if she
caught me?
And I couldn’t guarantee I could break the
skull in the chandelier. It was way too high
up…
Then I heard Dad leaving for work.
Now was my chance!
I grabbed the bag and threw it out the
window into the flowers.
It was a blind spot, so the cameras wouldn’t
see it.
I grabbed a hammer and ran downstairs.
“What are you doing?”
7
