My Adopted Sister Took My Life

The last time I called Mom, I had not eaten anything for seven days.

When I was five, Mom and Dad adopted a girl from a remote fishing village.

From that day on, she slept in my room, wore my dresses, and called my mom and dad hers.

And I was sent back to the fishing village where she had grown up.

I lived with her grandmother, who had Alzheimers.

Mom said:

She suffered too much growing up.

Youve never suffered before, so you should get a taste of it too.

Before I left, Dad ordered me to take good care of the confused grandmother and watch the house and yard.

After Grandma threw my food to the dog again, I finally could not take it anymore and called Mom to ask for something to eat.

She was terribly annoyed. How come Clara can endure hardship, but you cant?

The sea is all around you, so if youre hungry, go catch fish in the water!

I obediently listened and went into the sea to catch fish.

But while I was swimming in the sea to catch fish, a fisherman mistook me for a big fish and speared me to death.

It was not until three years later that Mom came to pick me up.

Anna, Im here to take you home.

There was a pile of bones in the center of the room, and a rusty fishing spear lay on top of it.

She kicked it without the slightest concern.

The window glass was shattered, and the sea wind poured in.

The excrement of the grandmother with Alzheimers was everywhere.

Grandma was curled up in a pile of tattered bedding, dazed, drool constantly running from her mouth.

Mom, Sophia, frowned, covered her nose, waved at the foul smell in the air, and could not help complaining:

Why is this place like a dump? Dont you know how to clean?

Anna! Get out here and clean this up!

Sophia looked around, and her voice calling my name grew louder and louder.

I happily threw myself at her, but I hugged nothing, passing through her body like air.

I forgot again.

I had died three years ago.

After hoping and waiting so long, I had finally waited until Mom came back.

She was carrying cookies and cake, and I was so greedy that I almost drooled.

I felt happy inside, thinking Mom still had me in her heart, and she had finally come to take me home.

I jumped around beside her happily:

Mom, Im here, Im right here.

Her phone rang, and unable to stand the stench in the house, she went outside to answer it.

I immediately followed her.

Baby, be good. Mom will be back soon. Im picking up your sister.

Mom bought you your favorite cookies and cake, all the things you love.

Okay, okay, Ill be back in a little while, and tonight Mom will hold you while you sleep.

I froze, and my excited heart instantly turned icy cold, as if a basin of cold water had been poured over it.

So those cookies and cakes were bought for my younger sister.

I waved my arms in grievance and roared at her:

Im your biological daughter, so why dont you love me?

I was clearly more obedient than my adopted sister, so if you didnt like me, why did you give birth to me?

She could not hear anything and turned back into the house with a disgusted look on her face.

Mom! Where is Anna? Whats going on? Ive been calling for so long, and theres no response!

Her tone began to grow impatient, and she raised her hand to check the expensive watch on her wrist, clearly anxious to hurry back.

I squatted on the ground, like the year I had almost starved to death, too powerless to hate.

For someone who does not love you, even overwhelming love is like punching cotton.

So my adopted sister was already this old, and Mom would still hold her while she slept.

But when I was five, after they adopted my sister and brought her home, I was sent to the fishing village and made to sleep with the grandmother who had Alzheimers.

When Grandmas illness acted up, she was like a violent thug and would beat me until I was covered in bruises.

I cried so hard that snot bubbled from my nose as I clung to Sophias leg and begged bitterly:

Mom, please, take me home. I dont want to stay here.

She frowned, her whole face saying I was being spoiled:

Youre the older sister, so you need to be sensible. Your sister just came to our home, and everything is unfamiliar to her, so she needs more care.

Dont be naughty and provoke Grandma, and she wont hit you. Claras grandmother is sick, and Clara endured it all, so you can too.

She always said I could do it too, so I had to shoulder so many things that a child my age should never have had to bear.

From then on, I never knew again what Moms bed or Moms embrace smelled like.

Anna, Anna catching bugs, a whole bunch, dead child...

Grandma was not clear-headed, and she could not recognize my mom as she slowly muttered to herself.

My mom stopped looking for me and stared at the ruined house in disgust, nagging:

Shes still as naughty as she was when she was little! Not quiet and graceful like Clara at all.

What kind of girl catches bugs? She made the room dirtier than a doghouse.

Shes such a big girl now, but she has no sense of hygiene at all!

And shes always trying to come home with me. With how sloppy she is, she really has been spoiled rotten by me...

She let out a heavy sigh.

It was full of disappointment in me.

My heart felt as if a hole had been torn through it, and the pain made even my soul tremble.

But Mom, I caught bugs because there was nothing to eat at home.

Grandma and I were so hungry that we were weak, and we really could not get any thinner, so I caught bugs.

I was so scared that I wailed, but I still did not dare let go.

To fight birds for bugs, I climbed very high up trees and often fell down.

Even if I managed to catch a bug and roast it, I could not bear to eat it myself.

Instead, I saved it for Grandma, and only after Grandma was full could I eat.

But Grandma was never full, and she even got so hungry that she bit a chunk of flesh from my leg.

Even after becoming a ghost, the spot where that piece of flesh was bitten away from my leg was still hollow.

Many families in the fishing village had moved away, and now only Grandma remained in this broken-down house.

After I went into the sea to catch fish and was speared to death by a fisherman, the former village chief thought my parents had picked me up.

Seeing how pitiful Grandma was, he would deliver food every week, and sometimes once every two weeks.

That was how Grandma survived.

Sophia could not bear the foul smell and retched in nausea for a while.

She really could not stay any longer, so she hurriedly opened her exquisite Louis Vuitton bag, took out five hundred dollars, and placed it on the trash-covered table.

There was a plate of fat dead bugs on the table, already covered in mold and giving off waves of stench.

Sophia ran outside in disgust and threw up for a long time.

Anna, dead child, dead child, give me bugs... big fat bugs...

Grandma chased after her, barefoot, hunched over, dirty and disheveled, like a madwoman.

Before she even got close, that thick stench filled the air.

My mom reached out to stop her. Dont come over here. You stink!

I put five hundred dollars in living expenses on the table for you and Anna, so tell her to spend it carefully.

Ill come see her again next time.

My soul followed them outside too, numb as I watched her disgusted expression.

Just as she was about to hurry away, a video call came to her phone, and the contact name was Husband.

I didnt see Anna. She seems to have gone out to catch bugs. Shes so old, yet still so naughty.

Sophias tone was full of disgust as she summarized what she had seen in a few words.

I leaned closer and saw Dad in the video.

His hair was slicked back and shiny, he wore an expensive suit, and his skin looked good.

His whole body gave off the rich air of someone raised by money.

The house behind him was bright and exquisitely decorated.

My heart felt sour, because this good life had once belonged to me.

It was just that after they adopted my sister, Mom and Dad felt that ordinary me was too spoiled, so they sent me here to receive hardship education.

I did not dare call them often, afraid they would think I was delicate, and the only time I called was seven days before I starved to death.

Maybe after suffering too much pain, nothing could stir up much emotion anymore.

I just stood numbly beside Sophia.

Honey, I thought about it, and shouldnt we bring Anna to the city now?

Anna is eight, and its inconvenient for her to go to school there.

My shattered heart was instantly stitched together a little, and tears of surprise filled my eyes.

Mom did not love me, but Dad still cared about me.

I stared at Dad and smiled.

Even though he could not see me.

Sophia let out a deep sigh, and her tone was disappointed, disgusted, and hopeless.

She covered her nose and walked into the house, aiming the camera inside:

Look, Anna made the house look like a dump.

I want to take her back too, but look at how filthy she is. How can we take her?

I felt extremely wronged and said dully:

Im not filthy. What could a five-year-old child do?

I had been dead for three years, and you still did not know.

Let me see my sisters house, let me see!

A lively and cheerful voice came through, and a seven-year-old girl with two pretty braids appeared in the video.

She was my adopted sister, Clara.

She had been raised very well, wearing a beautiful princess dress, her skin tender like a peeled egg.

She was confident and lively, like a little princess from a wealthy family.

Her smile disappeared when she saw the ruined house in the video, and her disgusted expression was exactly like Sophias.

Its so dirty. Even a dump isnt this dirty.

I wont let her come to our house. Someone this unhygienic will definitely bring lots of germs!

But the fishing village I was in had clearly been her former home.

Ethan quickly pulled Clara into his arms and coaxed her:

Okay, okay, well listen to our little princess and not bring your sister here yet.

Well have your sister fix all her hygiene habits, and after she becomes a clean little kid, well bring her here, okay?

Clara pouted proudly and pulled Ethans hand to the side:

Let her see my room. When she makes her room as pretty and clean as mine, then you can bring her here.

With a great sense of superiority, Clara showed every corner of her room to the camera.

Mom, let her see what a girls room should look like.

I dont want a sister who lives in a trash heap.

I stared without blinking at Claras room, because it had once been my bedroom.

The room was decorated cutely and brightly, and a cabinet of toys and figurines was arranged neatly inside.

Her room was very big, connected to a transparent walk-in closet.

All kinds of dazzling clothes hung inside.

Even the carpet in the room was snowy white and fluffy, like walking on clouds.

I just watched, my mind completely blank.

My heart, riddled with wounds, could not muster even the slightest strength to hate or resent.

Your sister is only like this because shes in the fishing village. Once she comes to the city, she wont be like this anymore.

When your sister comes, therell be one more person to play with you and one more person to take care of you. Wouldnt that be great?

Ethans words coaxing Clara stabbed into my heart like knives.

I hated that sentence with everything I had: youre the older sister, and you enjoyed good days for many years, so you should give way to your adopted sister and let your adopted sister live a good life.

After the video call ended, my mom took a pen and paper from her bag.

She wrote a few lines on it:

Anna, Mom will go back for now this time.

You made the house far too dirty and messy, so Mom will give you one month to clean both the house and yourself.

One month later, Mom will come to inspect it, and if the hygiene is up to standard, Mom will take you home.

If it isnt up to standard, youll stay here and continue reforming yourself.

After writing it, she looked at the house not far away and hesitated, then stuffed the note into Grandmas drafty pocket:

This note is for Anna, so you must make sure she sees it.

Ill go back for now this time, and tell Anna Ill come again in one month.

After saying that, she hurried away without looking back.

I watched her back, smiling until I started crying.

Grandma stared dazedly at her back for a long time.

Grandma, go back inside. Dont stay out here in the sun.

The scorching sun made sweat pour from her head, but she stared blankly and did not know to wipe it away.

Maybe she was also just lucky, because after getting heatstroke several times, she had managed to survive.

Anna... Anna, catching bugs, playing, dead child, sea, fish.

She began talking nonsense again.

I watched helplessly as she was left to fend for herself, just like I had once been.

Even though she was not my biological grandmother, I still did not want to watch her fend for herself the way I once had.

But I was powerless.

I ran into the house and anxiously reached out to clean the room.

But my hands could not pick up anything, and I stomped my feet and cried in panic.

I cant help you anymore. What do I do? What do I do?

But she cheerfully picked up the maggot-infested food from the table and began eating.

I cried even louder at the top of my lungs, trying to make her hear my voice.

But everything was in vain.

One month later, Sophia and Ethan came back together.

This time, their hands were empty.

I pouted and complained, What are you coming back for? Only Clara is your precious baby, so dont come back here and disgust me.

They could not hear anything, but I heard plenty of them complaining that I was sloppy and disobedient.

It just so happened that the village chief came to deliver food to Grandma.

He knew Grandma could not cook, so he only brought food enough for one day, with meat and vegetables, and the meat was stewed very soft so Grandma could chew it.

The rest was water, bread, and other instant food.

When the village chief saw my dad, he asked curiously:

Is the Clara you adopted never coming back? Then are you responsible for taking care of her grandmother?

My mom said, Anna is still here, so we sent her here to train herself a little.

The confusion on the village chiefs face grew deeper.

Sophia looked at the room that had not been cleaned at all, covered her nose, and said in disgust again:

Why does this child Anna never change no matter how many times shes taught? I told her to clean the place up, and then Id come get her!

She actually didnt clean up at all! This child really can make a person furious!

Ethan could not help feeling nauseated either, but in front of others, he held it back.

The village chief looked suspicious. Wasnt Anna taken to the city by you a few years ago?