Chapter 2

My roommate wouldn't let it go, so for the first time, I told someone my story.

The Hill family had once been known for its two prodigies—my twin brother, Samson Hill, and me.

But when we were ten, he was killed during a kidnapping.

From that day on, I fell into severe depression.

I locked myself away in my room. I was terrified of going outside and terrified of being around people. The only thing I could do was paint.

My paintings became the only place where I dared to reveal even a fraction of my feelings.

After losing one son, my parents couldn't bear the thought of losing another.

They made a drastic decision. Despite their promising careers and groundbreaking work in medicine, they left the field and devoted themselves to psychology instead.

To protect my fragile state, our home became unnaturally quiet.

My parents hovered around me as if I were a dying animal, terrified that the slightest misstep might upset me.

Then one day, everything changed.

While accompanying me to a treatment session, they found a young boy.

He was filthy and thin, curled up on the ground with his knees hugged tightly to his chest.

But there was something familiar about him.

He looked a little like Samson.

My mother held him in her arms, her hands trembling uncontrollably.

"Julian, he looks like Samson. Can I bring him home?"

Her eyes were already brimming with tears.

How could I possibly say no?

After the boy was cleaned up and dressed in fresh clothes, he looked so much like Samson that it was almost frightening.

Tears streamed down my mother's face as she clutched him tightly.

"Samson's back. I've finally found you."

She gave him a name: Samuel Hill.

I stood silently in the doorway, watching them hold each other and cry.

From that day forward, all the love my parents could no longer give my brother was poured into Samuel instead.

The house that had once been silent was suddenly filled with laughter again.

So, I retreated to my room once more and shut myself away completely.

Then one day, Samuel sneaked into my studio and scribbled all over one of my paintings.

My breathing immediately turned ragged.

A scream tore from my throat as my body went into an uncontrollable spasm.

When my parents rushed into the room, I was curled up on the floor, unable to breathe.

"Julian, don't scare me like this!" my mother cried. "Sam! Didn't I tell you not to go into your brother's room? Why did you come in here?"

She was frantic, pulling me into her arms.

"Honey, get his medication!"

My father bolted for the door.

But Samuel blinked innocently.

"Does Julian really have depression?"

He tilted his head.

"Because I saw him flushing his pills down the toilet in the middle of the night."

Then he added, "Oh, and I heard him say that as long as he pretended to be depressed, Mom and Dad would never blame him for getting his brother killed. What did he mean by that?"

The look in my parents' eyes turned cold in an instant.

The next second, my mother stormed through the studio and began smashing everything in sight.

The paintings I poured countless sleepless nights and endless suffering into were torn apart and scattered like trash.

I desperately tried to save them, but my mother struck me across the face.

The blow sent me crashing into a broken easel. Splintered wood drove deep into my shoulder.

"For all these years, I've buried my grief because I was terrified of losing another son!" she screamed. "And all this time, it was you who got Samson killed! You monster!"

Her voice broke as she sobbed.

"Samson... I'm so sorry. I’m so sorry."

My father looked down at me, unable to hide the disappointment in his eyes.

Blood streamed down my arm without stopping.

I collapsed onto the floor, numb and dazed, gathering the torn scraps of my paintings into my arms one piece at a time.

At the doorway, my mother held Samuel as though she recovered something precious she had once lost.

"I knew it," she whispered through her tears. "I knew Samson had found his way back to me."

She hugged him even tighter.

"You exposed Julian's lies. I won't lose you again. Never. I'll never let anyone make you suffer, not for a second."