Leaving Madness in My Absence

After my adopted sister, Mackenzie Falk, accused me of swapping the graduation thesis she had prepared for three years, I suffered a sudden heart attack and collapsed on the spot.

My three brothers, Marcus, Jeremy, and Andrew Graham, dragged me into the greenhouse as punishment. They locked the door tight after throwing me in.

I cried as I explained. I pounded on the door desperately while begging them to believe me.

Marcus' eyes were icy, and his tone was final. "The evidence is solid. Why do you think you can still argue about it? Mackenzie nearly failed to graduate. Stay in there and reflect on yourself!"

Jeremy and Andrew looked at me with disgust and eyes full of disappointment.

"Look at her pathetic pity act. It's truly sickening," Jeremy said with a scoff.

"Mackie went into shock because of you. Stay inside until you learn your lesson!" Andrew sneered.

After saying all that, they carried the unconscious Mackenzie away without so much as a backward glance. But Mackenzie was not unconscious at all. She turned back to wink at me and pressed the button on a remote control so that the pesticide would keep spraying inside the greenhouse.

A pungent odor slowly filled the air. My consciousness grew hazy until I finally died of poisoning and suffocation.

The next day, my brothers returned home with the recovered Mackenzie.

"Don't worry, Mackie. We will find out the truth about the stolen thesis," they promised.

I floated in midair and watched Marcus carefully help Mackenzie to the couch, his voice filled with concern. He used to treat me the same way. When I fell from a tree and broke my leg, he took leave to stay by my side for an entire week.

I loved to eat apples but hated peeling them, so he personally peeled them for me. At first, his movements were clumsy, but he later became so skillful that he could shape the apple peels into a rose for me.

Jeremy, the surgeon who always remained calm and composed on the operating table, was now massaging Mackenzie's head. His tender affection for her spilled forth from his loving expression.

"Luckily, it's only mild fatigue. Any later, and you might have suffered from some long lasting damage," he said.

This love once belonged only to me. When I got my first period and cried in fear, he blushed as he bought all the supplies and awkwardly made me a warm drink while saying soothingly, "Don't be scared. I checked. This is normal."

Andrew, the movie star who charmed audiences on screen, lifted a cup of warm water to Mackenzie's lips and said, "Drink some water. It'll help you stay calm. We'll handle the issue with your thesis."

He had once smoothed over everything for me countless times. But now, he chose to deal with me harshly for Mackenzie's sake.

Last year, when my classmates mocked me for dressing dowdily, he spent his entire paycheck to buy me new clothes. He had countered, "My sister looks good in anything. They have poor taste."

Once, my three brothers loved me so much. Now, they only had eyes for Mackenzie. It was as if they had completely forgotten me.

Mackenzie's face was pale, and her unshed tears pooled at the corners of her eyes.

She leaned weakly against Marcus' chest and said in a trembling voice, "It's all my fault… If it weren't for me, Bianca wouldn't have been locked up. She must hate me so much."

Marcus immediately frowned upon hearing that. "You did nothing wrong. She was jealous of you and committed that vile act to ruin your future!"

"That's right," Jeremy said with disgust as he stood up. "We're too lenient on her by just locking her up for a day. If not for the fact that her body might not be able to take it, I'd want to keep her locked up for a few more days."

I listened to their words and laughed soundlessly.

I said mournfully, "But Jeremy, I'm already dead. Your real sister had truly 'learned her lesson' inside there."

Beside them, the housekeeper, Sofia Bloom, wrung her hands in anxiety.

She said in a small voice, "Mr. Marcus, Mr. Jeremy, Mr. Andrew… Ms. Bianca has been in the greenhouse for a whole day. It's all quiet inside…"

Marcus' expression immediately soured. One cold glance from him silenced Sofia at once.

He rebuked, "Sofia, Mackenzie just got discharged from the hospital. Why bring up unpleasant things?"

Sofia tried to say more, but Andrew stopped her with a sharp glare.

"She must be playing dead in there. Let her stay until she figures things out and is willing to apologize. We'll let her out by then," he said scornfully.

One corner of Mackenzie's mouth curved into a subtle smirk, but she quickly concealed it. Her eyes teared up as she tugged pitifully at Marcus' sleeve.