Favored the Adopted, Lost the Real: A Mother's Remorse

My body was discovered on a remote mountain.By then, I had been dead for a week. Due to the sweltering summer heat, my corpse was already decomposing. The stench was absolutely horrendous.The morning jogger who had stumbled upon me couldn't stop vomiting, his face deathly pale. With shaking hands, he called the police to report his finding.Mom was at Winona Langdon's birthday party when she was pulled away by an emergency call. She had no choice but to rush to the crime scene.As a forensic doctor, she had seen her fair share of horrifying scenes over the years. Even so, she couldn't help but frown when she saw my mutilated corpse; for a brief second, a hint of genuine anguish flashed in her eyes. Prolonged exposure and decomposition had caused the body to bloat grotesquely. The face was smashed to a bloody pulp. Bones peeked out here and there, stabbed through the skin of the naked form. Putting on a pair of gloves, Mom began her preliminary examination of the body, sticky

Winona immediately called Mom and tearfully reported what had happened. The instant she hung up, the tears stopped. Then, she sat down on the couch and began playing on her phone, as if nothing had happened.Meanwhile, I continued to bleed on the floor, my vision blurring until I eventually lost consciousness. When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed. The first thing that greeted me was a resounding slap from Mom. "How could you be so wicked? she screamed. "Just because Winnie ate an extra egg, you hurt her like that?"Dumbfounded, I turned to look at Winona, only then noticing the bandages wrapped around her arm.I was brought out of my memories when I saw Mom lean over to inspect the scar more closely, a frown on her face.A few seconds later, she calmly said to her assistant, "This is an old scar, not an injury left by the killer."At that moment, her phone rang—the ringtone specifically set for Winona.Mom hurriedly took off her gloves and walked into the corridor to answe

Once Winona was gone, he seemed to sense my consciousness. He stepped toward me and tilted my face up to meet his. His gaze was icy and unwavering, searching my eyes as if peeling back the layers of my very soul. For a long while, he simply gazed at me. Then, he suddenly swung a fist into my face. The pain knocked the breath from my lungs. Following that, he brandished a small, curved dagger and dug out one of my eyes. In that instant, I thought I would die. Sheer agony exploded through me until my vision finally surrendered to the dark. Even when I fell unconscious from the pain, the man didn't stop. He used my phone to video-call Mom, wanting her to see the horrifying state I was in.However, Mom rejected the call without any hesitation. When the man tried again, he discovered that my number had been blocked. He tossed my phone away with disdain; it shattered against the hard floor.The next time I woke, it was to the man throwing a bucket of cold water over me.Drenched to

Winona's voice sounded so sincere, yet to me, it was like nails on a chalkboard.Unable to hold back any longer, Mom burst into heaving sobs.The faux concern on Winona's face had me trembling from sheer hatred. She was as much my killer as that man was, yet I could only watch her cry crocodile tears. …As if Grandma were still watching over me from above, the police's relentless efforts finally paid off. After reviewing the surveillance footage, they finally caught my murderer.In the interrogation room, Mom screamed at him hysterically, demanding to know why he had killed me. Her voice held grief, pain, and anger in equal measure, while resentment poured from her in waves.Yet, the killer smiled smugly at her grief-stricken face, his eyes shining with malice. He mocked disdainfully, "How does it feel to lose a loved one?"His words, sharp as daggers, stabbed deep into Mom's heart. When she learned that he was the father of the robber who murdered Dad years ago, she broke down

Mom left the cemetery in a daze, her retreating figure stark and desolate. From then on, she drifted through her days in a constant fog. Her spirit was crushed, her eyes clouded with pain and regret, no longer holding their former light. In the end, unable to bear the torment, she suffered a mental breakdown and was committed to the hospital.The hospital hallway was bathed in dim yellow light, highlighting Mom's thinning frame. She would often sit by the window, her gaze vacant as she stared into the distance.Every day, like clockwork, she would call my name late at night, her voice filled with yearning and grief.Tired of being tethered to her, I began wandering the metaphysical world, searching for a way to break free. One day, Mom's mental state seemed to improve slightly, and she requested the nurse take her out for a walk in the garden. The air was perfumed with flowers; sunlight dappled the leaves. Mom sat on a bench, her hands tightly gripping a book. It was my fa