Chapter 2

Hearing that, Ethan called me, furious.

He comforted Lillian. "How could this be your fault? She's already lived such a privileged life for all these years, and yet she still had to fight you for this one chance. She's the selfish one."

The phone rang and rang, but no one picked up. Eventually, it hung up on its own.

"She knows she's guilty, so she won't even answer the phone. She's already moved out, but she's still causing drama," Ethan fumed.

"Ethan Parker's Affection Points +2," said the System.

Lillian lowered her head, pretending to wipe away tears, but a faint smirk tugged at her lips.

"Ethan, don't say that about Audrey. She's just upset right now," Lillian said.

Ethan's face was full of concern. "Lillian, you're too kind. That's why she walks over you."

Dad, impatient, grabbed his phone and fired off a few messages.

"Forget about her. She can't get out anyway. I'll text her and tell her to do some serious thinking. We promised to take Lillian out for a nice dinner, so let's not waste any time," he said.

I didn't even bother read his messages. They were probably more scolding anyway. I'd heard it all a thousand times by now, and it didn't even faze me anymore. I was used to it.

Besides, I was already dead. Even if they wanted to vent their anger on me, they couldn't.

*****

At the table, the whole family was enjoying a warm, happy meal together.

Lillian held her face in her hands, her eyes shining with grateful tears.

"Thank you, Dad, Mom, Ethan, and Ryan. Thank you for letting me feel the warmth of family, for letting me know what it's like to be loved," she said.

She let out a quiet sob and raised her glass. "Here's a toast to all of you—to the people I love, and to the love you've given me."

After that speech, even my hard-ass father got teary-eyed. "Good. That's my girl."

I smirked and floated over to check out Dad's eyes. He really was touched. It was so strange.

I spent half a month stitching a protection charm for Dad, pricking my fingers full of needle marks, and gave it to him. He told me I was wasting my time and threw it away.

But now, all it took was a few words from Lillian and he was suddenly all emotional.

Was it what I did, or was it just me?

Out of nowhere, the phone started ringing. And the caller ID was my own number. Guess someone had found my body.

Well, it made sense. With this heat and it being three days already, it was probably starting to smell.

Dad picked up the phone. For once, he actually sounded pretty decent with me. "Audrey, as long as you apologize to Lillian, we'll forgive you."

"Hello, sir. Your daughter was found to have committed suicide at home. Please come to the police station as soon as possible to claim her body," the officer said.

Dad's face hardened in an instant.

Did he really hate me this much? Even the news of my death annoyed him.

Dad snapped, "Audrey, you came up with this whole thing just to get out of it? You've got some nerve now, huh?

"Even if you really are dead, you still need to come here and apologize to Lillian."

Then he hung up the phone.

Dad was fuming, breathing hard. "She lies about everything. No respect for anyone. She got someone to fake her death just to dodge the blame."

So he never even believed I was dead.

Mom sighed. "We really did spoil her."

Ethan pressed his fingers to his brow. "She wasn't like this before."

I looked around. They all showed some degree of anger, but no one believed I was actually dead.

Lillian offered Dad a glass of warm water. "Dad, please calm down. Audrey's just being childish. She'll grow up."

"Childish? She's three years older than you and not half as good. Our daughter should be someone like you," Dad said sharply.

So that was how he truly felt.

Everyone went quiet for a moment at the table.

But soon enough, they changed the subject and acted like nothing happened, all warm and cozy again.

Maybe, even if they finally accepted I was really gone, they wouldn't even be sad.