After Five Years, She Still Wants My Corneas

My mother was standing in the doorway, resplendently dressed like always. She cursed, "Where is she? She needs to sign these papers, pronto. It's just one cornea. Not like I need both of them. How petty can that girl be?"

My grandmother looked at her daughter expressionlessly. "Charlie died five years ago."

My mother snickered. "You're my mother. You're supposed to help my son, not some lowly outsider. Jeremy would never have gone blind if not for that girl. She should be grateful I'm not getting both of her eyes!"

My grandmother slapped her daughter as hard as she could. "You're no mother of Charlie's." Her daughter tumbled to the ground.

'Grandma…' I cried, but none could see it.

My grandmother's hand was trembling. I tried to hug her, but my hand passed through her like she was air. My mother was diagnosed with adenomyosis in her younger days. The doctor said she would never have children of her own.

The news hit my mother like a truck, and she lost her spirit since then. My grandmother found me lying by the road one day, however. Her daughter refused to raise me, but then she heard stories about how adopted children could act as a guide for lost souls to be born into a family. They said my existence could guide a boy into my mother's family.

Thanks to that, she took me from my grandmother and called me Charlie. Barely two years later, she got pregnant with a boy. I lost my worth to her, and she neglected me ever since. She made me Jeremy's caretaker.

"Get some ice cream for Jeremy, Charlie. He's craving some," said my mother.

It was raining heavily outside. I got Jeremy his ice cream, nonetheless.

"Jeremy's underpants need to be washed with cold water. He said they feel cleaner and better that way."

I went out into the snow and crouched down, doing the laundry with nothing but ice-cold water. That night, she kicked me out of the house, and I was wearing nothing but a thin layer of pajamas.

"Jeremy told me you pushed him. How dare you? His life is worth more than yours and ours! I ought to kill you for this! Get out of my sight!"

I had nowhere but the stairwell to sleep in, and I curled up as hard as I could. The cold almost killed me.

I had near-perfect marks for the SATs and could've gone to the best universities the nation had to offer, but instead, I was enrolled in a trade school.

My mother happily took the offer letter and the thirty grand that came with it. "Don't you worry. You can use her image as you like."

She changed my first choice of university so she could get the money for my brother's house.

After I graduated from trade school, it was time to pay the down payment for my brother's house. They didn't have enough money, so my mother schemed against me again.

"A guy in the neighborhood next door likes you. They're paying us 45 grand as a betrothal gift, and I've taken it. You're getting married next month."

That man was an old guy. He was already in his fifties and had a history of DV. My grandmother begged, persuaded, and threatened to kill herself before her daughter canceled the marriage plans.

Back to the present. My mother was looking at my grandmother with boiling hatred in her eyes, clutching her swollen cheek. "I'm not going to stop until I find her!" She shoved her own mother away.

My grandmother staggered and almost fell down. She steadied herself and threatened, "You keep this up, and I'm calling the cops."

Her daughter scoffed. "I don't think the cops would bother with our family's private affairs." She couldn't get any answer from her mother, so she scoured everywhere for me.

Alas, no matter how hard she searched her mother's house, she couldn't find any trace of me.