The Deadly Cake: My Family Killed Me, Now They’ll Pay

In eighteen years, this was the first time my mother had ever celebrated my birthday.

To prove that I didnt look down on the cake my sister made, I ate it.

Even though it was covered in peanut butter, which I was deadly allergic to.

Suffocation hit me instantly. I clutched my throat, collapsing to the floor in agony, but my mother didnt even spare me a glance.

"What are you acting for? Chloe was nice enough to bake this for you. Who are you trying to get sympathy from?"

She grabbed Chloe's hand, her face filled with disgust.

"Lets go, Chloe. Ill take you out to get some fresh air. Ignore this ungrateful brat."

The heavy front door slammed shut, cutting off my last, faint cry for help.

I lay on the cold hardwood floor, my airway swelling shut, millimeter by millimeter.

As my soul slowly drifted upward, I looked at the direction my mother had left, my heart filled with a strange guilt.

Im sorry, Mom. I ruined the very first birthday you ever gave me.

"Audrey, try some! Your sister spent the whole night learning how to bake this just for you."

Chloe pushed a neat slice of cake in front of me.

The cake looked exquisite, radiating a rich, heavy scent of roasted peanuts.

I stared at the plate, my palms breaking into a cold sweat.

I had a severe peanut allergy.

Just one tiny bite could trigger acute laryngeal edema, or even anaphylactic shock.

But this was the first time in eighteen years that anyone had celebrated my birthday.

Growing up, every single birthday party in this house was for Chloe.

Today, my mother had unexpectedly announced she wanted to celebrate mine.

I had even put on my favorite white dress for the occasion.

I foolishly thought that, finally, my mother was seeing me.

"I... I can't eat this."

I gently pushed the plate away, my voice trembling.

The smile on Chloe's face froze.

Her eyes welled with tears instantly, looking incredibly hurt.

"Audrey, are you still blaming me?"

"Do you hate me because you think I stole Moms love? Is that why you won't even touch the cake I made with my own hands?"

She sniffled, reaching out to take the plate back.

"It's fine. Since you hate it so much, I'll just throw it away. Its my fault for being useless."

"Bang!"

My mother slammed her hand onto the dining table.

The forks and knives on the plates rattled loudly.

"Audrey! That is enough!"

My mother glared at me, her eyes filled with disappointment and disgust.

"Your sister burned her fingers on the oven just to make you a birthday cake!"

"Who do you think you are, putting on airs like this?"

I shook my head frantically, tears of panic stinging my eyes.

"Mom, no, that's not it. I really can't eat peanuts..."

"Don't talk back to me!"

My mother cut me off instantly.

"Everyone else can eat them. Why are you so special? Why are you so delicate?"

"When are you going to stop this pathetic habit of faking illnesses just to get attention?"

I froze.

It felt as if a needle had been driven straight into my heart.

To her, whenever my body failed me, I was just "acting for attention."

"You are eating this cake today, whether you like it or not!"

My mother pointed a finger toward the front door, her voice freezing cold.

"If you dare trample on your sisters kindness like this..."

"Then pack your things and get out of my house!"

"And don't ever call me your mother again!"

Cutting ties.

Those words felt like a mountain crushing down on my chest.

I looked at my mother's angry face, then at the fleeting smirk at the corner of Chloe's lips.

I was so desperate for maternal love.

Even if it was just a tiny, pitying crumb of it.

With trembling fingers, I picked up the fork.

I scooped up a large piece of cake and shoved it into my mouth.

"I'll eat it."

I forced down the rising nausea in my throat and swallowed.

It was so sweet.

So sweet it tasted bitter.

The moment I swallowed the second bite, the reaction hit.

My throat began to itch violently, followed by a burning, searing pain.

It felt as if an invisible pair of hands was choking my windpipe.

Breathing became a luxury.

"Cough... gasp..."

I dropped the fork, clawing at my neck with both hands.

I fell from the chair, my knees crashing heavily onto the cold floor.

I opened my mouth wide, gasping like a fish out of water, desperately trying to get some oxygen.

But it was useless.

No air could reach my lungs.

"Oh, look at her. Shes starting her little show again."

My mother sat in her chair, looking down at me.

There wasn't a shred of worry on her face.

"Audrey, you really are something."

"Just to ruin your sister's night, you even rehearsed a whole seizing-on-the-floor act?"

Chloe covered her mouth, gasping in mock horror.

"Audrey, don't scare me like this."

"I only added a tiny bit of peanut butter for flavor. It can't be this bad, right?"

She turned to my mother, looking terribly victimized.

"Mom, I think she's doing this on purpose to protest."

My mother snorted.

"She's just being dramatic! Hasn't she been like this since she was a kid?"

"When she was five, she didn't want to go to kindergarten, so she rolled on the floor faking a stomach ache."

"When she was ten, she wanted the new clothes I bought for you, so she stood in the rain to get a cold just to look pitiful."

"Now shes eighteen, and shes still pulling the same cheap tricks!"

I curled into a tight ball on the floor, weeping in agony.

My fingernails scratched deep, bloody welts into my neck.

"No, Mom."

"When I was five, it was acute appendicitis."

"When I was ten, Chloe locked me out of the house in a storm all night."

"And now... I am actually dying."

With a final surge of strength, I reached out, trying to grab the hem of my mother's pants.

"Help... please..."

The broken words wheezed out of my throat.

"Take me to the hospital... please..."

My mother took a disgusted step back, avoiding my hand.

"Don't touch me!"

"You're really committed to the act, aren't you? You even squeezed out real tears."

She grabbed her car keys from her purse, not sparing me another glance.

"Chloe, let's go."

"What a buzzkill. She completely ruined a perfectly good evening."

Chloe sighed, sweetly wrapping her arm around our mother's.

"Mom, don't be mad. It's not worth ruining your health over."

"If Audrey wants to lie on the floor, just let her lie there for a while."

My mother nodded, pulling Chloe toward the door.

"Come on. Ill take you shopping to cheer you up. We'll buy that designer bag you've been eyeing."

"Let her stay home and think about what she's done!"

At the door, my mother turned back to give me one last warning.

"Audrey, if you're still lying there when we get back..."

"Don't even think about getting dinner!"

"Slam."

The heavy security door shut.

The apartment fell into a dead, suffocating silence.

My vision began to blur.

The world before me was stained with a dark, bloody red.

My chest felt like it was exploding.

My mouth hung open, but I couldn't make a single sound.

So, this was what it felt like to suffocate to death.

Hopeless, agonizing, and endless.

My hand fell limply onto the floor.

My consciousness slowly drifted away.

I don't know how much time passed, but suddenly, my body felt incredibly light.

I floated up to the ceiling.

Looking down, I saw the corpse lying on the floor, her eyes staring wide and lifeless.

Her neck was covered in raw scratches, her skin pale and blue, her lips turning a dark, bruised purple.

That was my body.

I was dead.

I died on the very first birthday my mother had ever celebrated for me.

Eight o'clock in the evening.

The sound of the key turning in the lock echoed.

My mother and Chloe walked in, carrying shopping bags, laughing and chatting.

"Mom, I love this bag so much! Thank you!"

"As long as you like it, sweetie, I'll buy you anything."

My mother changed her shoes and tossed the shopping bags onto the couch.

The living room lights were off.

But with the dim light coming from the hallway, she instantly spotted me still lying on the dining room floor.

Her smile vanished, her brows furrowing into a tight, angry knot.

"Audrey! You're still lying on the floor?!"

She marched over.

"What did I tell you before we left?"

"Do you just live to make my life miserable?"

She stopped beside me, raising her foot and using the toe of her shoe to kick my shoulder.

"Get up! Stop pretending to be dead!"

My body rolled slightly under her kick.

Limp and heavy, it flipped over.

My face turned upward, staring blankly at the ceiling.

My mother gasped, taking a half-step back in fright.

"You brat! Who are you trying to scare with those wide eyes?!"

"Do you think wearing dead-person makeup is going to fool me?"

I floated in the air, quietly watching her.

"Mom, I'm not wearing makeup."

"This is just what a dead body looks like."

Chloe walked over too. When she saw my face, a flash of panic crossed her eyes.

But quickly, she put back on her innocent, harmless mask.

"Mom, is Audrey mad because we didn't take her shopping?"

"The floor is so cold. She might catch a fever."

My mother sneered, her anger flaring even hotter.

"If she wants to freeze, let her!"

"Does she really think I'm going to feel sorry for her?"

"Audrey, I'm going to count to three. If you don't get up right now, you won't get a single penny for your allowance ever again!"

"One!"

My mother's voice echoed through the empty living room.

I didn't move.

"Two!"

My mother's face grew darker.

"Wow, you really think you're tough now, don't you?"

"Fine, keep lying there. Let's see if you can lie there for the rest of your life!"

"Three!"

Still, there was no response.

Only the cold night breeze blowing through the open window, making the curtains rustle softly.

My mother let out a bitter, angry laugh.

"Fine. Great."

"Chloe, let's have dinner. Let's ignore this ungrateful leech."

She pulled Chloe to the table and began clearing the leftover mess from earlier.

The plate with the cake I had taken a bite of was still sitting there.

Chloe picked it up, hesitating.

"Mom, should we save this piece for Audrey?"

"Save it? Throw it in the trash!"

My mother snatched the plate and dumped the cake into the garbage can without a second thought.

"She doesn't deserve it!"

I hovered nearby, watching the cake get buried under trash.

Strangely, I didn't feel sad anymore.

After all, I was already dead.

Dead people don't feel pain, right?

After cleaning up, my mother made two bowls of pasta in the kitchen.

She and Chloe sat at the table, eating happily.

Meanwhile, my corpse lay less than two yards away from them.

"Mom, this pasta is amazing."

"Eat more if you like it, sweetie. You've gotten so thin lately."

My mother looked at Chloe with eyes full of warmth and adoration.

That was a look I had never once received in my eighteen years of life.

After dinner, they went back to their respective rooms.

When passing my body, my mother didn't even look down.

It was as if she were simply walking past a bag of smelly trash.

The morning sun pierced through the curtains, casting sharp, fragmented shadows across the floor.

I was completely, utterly dead.

My body was cold and rigid, like a lifeless block of wood.

The master bedroom door clicked open.

"Audrey! What time is it?! Why isn't breakfast ready? Are you trying to starve your sister and me?!"

My mother walked out in her silk pajamas, wearing slippers, marching angrily into the living room.

Seeing me lying on the floor in the exact same position as last night, her face turned pale with rage.

"Are you seriously addicted to this act?!"

She strode over and kicked my thigh hard.

"Get the hell up!"

The corpse made a dull, heavy sound as it rocked, but there was no sound of pain.

"Fine, playing hardball, are we?"

With a cold, contemptuous sneer, my mother turned and walked into the bathroom.

"Splash!"

A basin of ice-cold water was dumped directly over my head.

Water splashed everywhere, soaking the white dress I had specifically worn for my birthday.

Yet, I still didn't move.

Chloe was woken up by the noise. She rubbed her eyes as she walked out of her room.

"Mom, why are you screaming so early in the morning?"

She glanced at me on the floor and gasped, covering her mouth.

"Oh my gosh, why is Audrey completely soaked?"

"Don't worry about this ungrateful brat!" My mother threw the basin aside, her chest heaving violently.

"Just to get attention, she's actually willing to sleep on the cold floor all night!"

"If she loves lying there so much, let her!"

Chloe stepped forward, kneeling beside my corpse, her voice dripping with sweet concern.

"Audrey, stop throwing a tantrum. Just get up and apologize to Mom."

"Yesterday was your fault anyway. Even if you didn't want to eat my cake, you shouldn't have faked an illness to scare us."

"Damaging your own body like this... do you know how much it breaks Mom's heart?"

"Breaks her heart?"

I hovered in the air, watching her perfect acting with mock amusement.

My mother snorted. "Break my heart? I wish I had never given birth to her!"

"Faking death over a peanut. She can't even let people enjoy a single birthday!"

"Audrey, this is my final warning."

"Today is the day of your sister's big movie audition. Don't you dare bring bad luck into this house!"

"Get up this instant and clean up this wet floor!"

I remained completely still.

My mother's patience finally snapped.

"Fine! You want to play the silent treatment with me?"

"Do you really think I'm stupid enough to believe you'd die over a single peanut?"

"I'm telling you, even if you are dead, I will drag your corpse out of my house myself!"

She lunged forward, grabbing a fistful of my hair.

"Get up!"

"Thud!"

Because she pulled too hard, my head hit the tile floor with a sickening, heavy thud.

But my eyes remained closed. No cry of pain came out.

My mother froze. The strange, unnatural texture of my hair and skin made her frown.

"Why is she so cold?"

Chloe chimed in carelessly from the side.

"Well, she slept on the floor all night and got drenched in cold water. Of course she's cold."

"Mom, Audrey's getting weirder and weirder. Just ignore her."

"Ignore her? She's trying to rebel!"

Grit teeth, my mother grabbed my arm, attempting to forcefully drag me up.

"Audrey! If you keep pretending to be dead, I swear to God I'll slap the nonsense out of you!"

But the moment her fingers gripped my skin, she recoiled as if she had been electrocuted.

Something was wrong.

It was too stiff.

When a person is asleep or passed out, their muscles are limp.

But right now, I was as rigid as a stone. My joints wouldn't even bend.

My mother's breathing grew shallow and rapid.

She swallowed hard, her trembling hand reaching out to grab my shoulder again.

She pulled hard, flipping me over.

My corpse rolled over with a heavy thud, face up.

My blue, swollen, and horribly distorted face was fully exposed to the light.