Chapter 3

"I saw your mom, but Elsie wasn't around. Your mom said she went off to catch rats. She's a big girl now, but she's still running wild," Mom said, sounding disgusted as she gave Dad a quick rundown of what she'd seen.

I leaned in to look at Dad on the screen. My father, Gregory Pembroke, had his hair slicked back until it shone, and he wore an expensive suit.

His skin looked healthy and smooth, and everything about him radiated the polish of someone who'd never worried about money. The house behind him was bright and beautifully decorated.

A bitter ache rose in my chest. They'd been living the good life in the city all along, and I'd been foolish enough to believe they were struggling to get by. That was why I never dared to call them. The only time I did was three days before I starved to death.

Perhaps I'd been hurt so many times that nothing could stir me anymore, for I just stood numbly beside Mom.

"Honey, I've been thinking. Why don't we bring Mom and Elsie to the city?

"There's no one left in the village, and it's hard for Elsie to get to school out there. Mom's getting older too, and we're doing a lot better now," Dad said.

My shattered heart felt like it had been stitched back together just a little, and my eyes welled up with happy tears. Mom didn't love me, but Dad still cared.

I kept my eyes on Dad and smiled, even though he couldn't see me.

Mom let out a long sigh, one full of disappointment and disgust, as if I were a lost cause. She covered her nose, walked back inside the house, and panned the camera around. "Look at this. Elsie's turned the place into a dump.

"I'd like to bring her home with us too, but how are we supposed to do that when she's such a slob?"

It stung, and I mumbled, "I'm not a slob."

What could a five-year-old even do? I'd been dead for five years, and she still had no idea.

"Let me see Elsie's house! Let me see!"

A bright, cheerful voice rang out, and an 8-year-old girl with two pretty braids popped up on the screen. It was my little sister, Lucy.

She'd been well cared for. She was wearing a pretty princess dress, and her skin was as smooth and flawless as a doll's. She was confident and bubbly, like a little princess from a wealthy family.

Her smile disappeared the moment she saw the run-down house, and the disgust on her face looked exactly like Mom's. "Elsie's house is so dirty. Even a garbage dump isn't this gross.

"I don't want her coming to our house. She's so dirty, she'll bring in all kinds of germs!"

So that was it. In their eyes, I wasn't part of the family.

Dad quickly pulled Lucy into his arms to calm her down. "Okay, okay, whatever our little princess says. We won't bring your sister here just yet.

"Let's have her fix her hygiene habits first, then once she's nice and clean, we'll bring her here. How does that sound?"

Lucy pouted smugly and tugged Dad's hand, leading him off to the side. "Let's show her my room. When she can keep her room as pretty and clean as mine, that's when we'll bring her here."

Lucy proudly paraded the camera around every corner of her room. "Mom, let her see what a girl's room is supposed to look like. I don't want a sister who lives in a garbage dump."

I couldn't take my eyes off Lucy's room. She had a soft, beautifully designed princess bed, while the whole room was decorated to look cute and bright, with a shelf full of neatly arranged toys and figurines.

Her room was huge, and it connected to a glass walk-in closet packed with every kind of outfit imaginable. Even the rug was snow-white and so fluffy that it looked like a cloud.

I just stood there watching, my mind completely blank. My heart was so battered that I couldn't find the strength to hate them or even resent them.

"Your sister's only like that because she lives out in the country. Once she comes to the city, she won't be like that anymore.

"When she gets here, you'll have someone else to play with you and look after you. Won't that be nice?"

Dad's words to Lucy stabbed into my heart like a knife.

I'd always hated being told that because I was the big sister, I had to look after my younger sister and let her have her way.