Graduation Gift: A Half-Used Lottery Ticket

Clenching the ticket in my hand, I smiled at Jessica and said, "My mom must've been mistaken, Jessica. There's no way I'd be lucky enough to win anything on a lottery ticket."I knew Jessica was no fool. Something had to be up if she was willing to fork out 200 thousand dollars on a lottery ticket that only won 20 dollars.I could take the money, but who knew if she'd end up regretting the exchange and decide to come after me again? Basically, I couldn't let her have the ticket."You didn't win anything?"Jessica didn't believe me. She held out her hand and demanded, "Give it to me. Let me take a look."My heart was pounding, but I was able to maintain my cool as I pulled the ticket from my pocket and handed it over.She examined it thoroughly and confirmed that I hadn't scratched the winning numbers. Enraged, she let out a litany of curses as she threw the lottery ticket onto the floor and stomped on several times.Then, she glared at Mom and snarled through gritted teeth, "If

Why was everyone trying to kill me over a lottery ticket worth 20 dollars?Once I no longer heard any sounds outside, I got dressed and left Daisy's place. I also blocked her number.Still in a daze, I wandered back to the apartment complex where my family stayed. My plan was to sneak in and grab my ID while my parents were out, so I could make a run for it.But the moment I stepped into the convenience store nearby, they were there waiting for me.Dad grabbed my hair and snarled, "You bastard! I knew you were a scheming little piece of shit! You just didn't want us to have the ticket. You ungrateful brat! Just wait till we get home!"I turned to the convenience store owner for help, but he spat at me, saying, "You're an ungrateful brat, alright. To think you'd go this far just to hide a lottery ticket worth 20 dollars! You're banned from my store. Get the hell out!"My family tied me up and dragged me home."Hand over the ticket!" Mom demanded with a sneer."You already search

Alarmed, my relatives exchanged glances, panic written all over their faces.With so many people crowding into the police station, things soon got a little out of hand.My parents and Jessica quickly seized the chance to launch into a tirade about my shamelessness, demanding, "Officers, you need to arrest Henry right away!""What did he do? Calm down. I need all of you to speak one at a time," an officer instructed.My parents immediately launched into a long spiel about how despicable I was, dredging up every trivial incident from my childhood and exaggerating it countless times over. Based on what they were saying, I'd done everything short of murder.But of course, they would proceed to accuse me of murder as well.The officer listened for a while before realizing there was nothing of substance in what they were saying, so he turned to Jessica instead. Standing there in spectacles and a business suit, she looked like a well-educated professional, complete with an air of sophis

In order to make Ethan her boyfriend, Jessica came up with the idea of spending 200 thousand dollars to buy the lottery ticket with 20-dollar winnings from me.Every single one of our relatives knew the truth. Even Daisy and Andy were aware of the situation, and they were both willing to play along with my family, putting on a show for me.First, they attempted to tempt me with money before resorting to threats. Eventually, they schemed with Andy to have me shipped abroad by getting him to fake his death.Once I was taken abroad, I'd be undocumented and completely at their mercy. By then, no matter how reluctant I was, I'd be forced to hand over the lottery ticket, and Jessica could even get rid of me completely.But why didn't they just tell me the truth?I figured it was because Jessica hated me so much that she didn't even want to have anything to do with me. Back when she was still in high school, she had to work her butt off, only to end up with fairly mediocre results that g