Chapter 2

"Mom! What the heck are you doing?" Esther yelled. "I've already withdrawn my college application and changed it to a local one! What else do you want me to do?"

Mom looked at Esther's urgent and heartbroken expression and felt dissatisfied with her reaction.

"Who do you think you're yelling at? If you dare to speak another word to me in that tone of yours, I will lock Elmer up inside the tank for the rest of his life! Wanna bet?"

Esther gasped. She knew that Mom was totally capable of following through with that threat of hers. She lowered her head and apologized to Mom quietly.

Mom's expression finally lifted. She then glanced at her phone, which was still live-streaming, and said, "But well, someone else doesn't seem to care about her own brother's life for the sake of 'love'.

"Everyone, let me show you how to make your rebellious children see the error of their ways, especially if they're already eagerly getting into a relationship before you said they could!"

While speaking, Mom sent a video to Emily of her stabbing the embroidery needle into my head before she trapped me inside the fish tank.

"If you keep disobeying me, Emily Kingston, I'm going to drive this needle right into Elmer's temples."

After sending out that sinister voice message, Emily's figure quickly appeared in the apartment building hallway.

"Mom. I've already broken up with him. I wasn't even dating him. I was just trying to make you mad," she said apologetically while crying.

Mom reached out to wipe her tears away and said, "Remember that you're not allowed to joke like that with me anymore. If not, your actions will directly impact Elmer's life. Do you understand me?"

Emily hurriedly nodded. "Mom, Elmer's alright, right?"

At this point, the water in the tank had filled up to my chest, and it was starting to get hard to breathe. I kept trying to wiggle around and was just about to try to lift the lid when I suddenly saw Mom glaring at me.

"So, you've also decided to disobey me now as well, haven't you, Elmer Kingston?"

Her face was filled with fury. I wanted to explain myself, but Mom shoved me right back into the center of the tank, splashing water all around.

Esther and Emily heard the commotion inside and tried to open the door, but they heard her say, "Don't come in. Elmer's just changing out of his clothes."

Esther tested the waters and said, "Mom, can we bring him out for dinner later?"

My stomach began rumbling when I heard that. I carefully said, "Mom, I'm hungry."

However, Mom just shoved me back into the tank with a cold expression on her face and said, "Your sisters might have obeyed me for now, but I know that they're only doing so reluctantly.

"You know that you're just a dog, right? So, you'd better be a good dog and fulfill your purpose so that Esther and Emily will never dare to disobey me ever again."

She spoke while caressing my wet hair. "Be good and wait for me to come home. I'll bring home some fried chicken for you."

I nodded at once when I heard the words "fried chicken".

"Okay, Mom. I'll be good. Please hurry back."

Mom smiled. Then, she turned off the tap and covered the lid on the giant fish tank again. After that, she walked out of the door and told Esther and Emily that I was tired and going to sleep.

Neither Esther nor Emily dared to go against Mom, and I gradually heard their footsteps fade away until they disappeared.

My world then plunged into a dark stillness. The only thing I could do was rely on the very small dot of light coming from the infrared camera inside the tank, humming softly to myself so I would be less frightened.

I gradually fell asleep. However, I soon jolted awake when I realized I was choking on water.

It was Mom. She didn't shut off the tap properly.

I stared at the rising water level that was dangerously close to my nose in fear, screaming for Mom, but nobody answered me.

In a desperate attempt at survival, I pushed at the lid above me with all of my strength, but it wouldn't budge.

Eventually, my tears and cries for help soon dissolved into the water.