After Rebirth, I Refused to Be Their ATM

Synopsis

The day my bank balance dropped from 600 thousand dollars to thirty, I was diagnosed with stomach cancer that had spread to my lungs. The one who took all that money was Emily Frost, the sister I'd raised for twenty-five years. Emily: [Jessica, Lucas is taking me to Coral Bay to go diving. The flights and the hotel are booked, so I went ahead and moved the money over. You're loaded anyway, so what's 300 thousand dollars to you?] On my phone screen, Emily's message from a week ago was still there. And right after that, another message came through. Emily: [Oh, Jessica, your bank password was way too easy to guess. It was my birthday.] I stared at my phone, the pain in my stomach twisting with the cold emptiness in my heart. The hospital hallway lights were blinding, and the diagnosis slip in my hand. [Late-stage stomach cancer with lung metastases] was already damp with sweat at the edges. Six hundred thousand dollars was every cent I'd worked myself into the ground for over all those years. Our parents died early, and I was sixteen, and Emily was only thirteen. The relatives passed us around like we were carrying something catching, and nobody wanted to take us in. I dropped out of school, worked in a factory screwing bolts, washed dishes in restaurants, and woke up at 3 AM to help unload trucks at the market. Later, I learned how to do nails and set up a little street stall. Day after day in the wind and sun, my hands were always cracked and bleeding. At my lowest, I worked three jobs a day, so exhausted I'd fall asleep standing up on the subway and miss my stop. But every time I came home and saw Emily's sweet smile, and heard her say, "Jessica, you're the best," it made everything worth it. I made sure she always looked her best, sent her to the top private schools, bought her designer clothes, and the newest phones. Whatever she wanted, I gave it to her; I never once said no. The day Emily got into college, I was so thrilled I couldn't sleep all night. The next morning, I sent her every dollar I'd managed to save over the past six months so she could pay her college fees. But where had Emily gone? I dialed her number, hoping she'd pick up. "The number you have dialed is no longer in service." Disconnected. Just like us.