Chapter 3

My old, worn-out padded coat was ripped to shreds. Yellow cotton stuffing drifted out.

I'd been wearing it for two years.

It had been stitched and patched over and over again.

As I grew taller, the sleeves became shorter and shorter. Cold wind slipped through the cuffs, and the coat didn't keep me warm at all.

A few days ago, I had cautiously asked Mom if she could buy me a new coat.

She slapped me hard across the face.

"How selfish can you get? All you care about is how you feel. Why don't you think about whether Jaslyn is cold down there?

"Aren't you a thief? Aren't you capable? If you want new clothes, go steal money and buy them yourself!"

When I came back to my senses, the stray dog had already torn all the clothes from my body.

It sank its teeth into my stomach.

Terrified, I tried to kick it away, but my foot passed straight through its body.

I tried pulling it away with my hands, but the same thing happened.

"Go away! Go away!"

In the end, I could only helplessly watch as it tore my corpse apart.

I recalled what Mom had shouted at me after learning that Jaslyn had burned to death.

"Nina! Why wasn't it you who died instead?"

Now her curse had come true.

My corpse had been torn to pieces. I truly had died.

Fortunately, someone in the distance noticed what was happening.

He ran over and drove the stray dog away with a stick.

I let out a sigh of relief.

Finally, someone had found my body.

Surely he would call the police. Before long, Mom would probably come and identify my body.

But he didn't do as I hoped.

Instead, he crouched down and carefully examined my body.

A lecherous grin appeared on his face as he dragged me toward the woods.

Only then did I realize that he was a homeless man—a man with no morals and no line he wouldn't cross.

I knew what he intended to do.

Panic seized me.

"Don't drag me away! Don't drag me away!"

But I was only a drifting soul. No one could hear me.

I was frantic.

In the blink of an eye, I was dragged back to Mom's side again.

I moved closer to her.

"Mom, please save me. Please, hurry up and save me."

But she couldn't see me either.

She smiled and went into the bedroom. When she came back, she was holding an expensive down jacket.

It was pink and had cartoon designs on it. It was perfect for a young girl, especially someone my age.

My frantic heart stopped for a second.

Then it plunged into an abyss of ice.

I watched as Mom placed the jacket in a metal basin and set it on fire in front of Jaslyn's portrait.

"Sweetheart, are you cold down there?

"It only recently occurred to me that you would have grown taller. Your old clothes must be too short now. I was so careless that I never thought of it."

The flames rose higher and higher.

They bathed everything around them in a fiery red glow, but I couldn't feel the slightest bit of warmth.

The following afternoon, Mom went to the supermarket and bought a huge basket of fruit.

She picked out two apples first.

After all, apples were cheap this time of year.

But a few seconds later, she put the apples aside and replaced them with mangoes.

I was allergic to mangoes, but Jaslyn loved them.

'Mom, you really think about Jaslyn every second of every day.'

Mom took the fruit to my classmates' homes.

The moment someone opened the door, she apologized.

"I'm so sorry that my daughter stole the class fund. Please accept these fruits as compensation."

The person stared at her in confusion.

Mom continued, "She really is a thief. She stole our neighbor's gold jewelry when she was younger and got her sister killed."

She went from house to house.

Everyone was left completely baffled.

Only I understood what Mom was trying to do. She wanted everyone to join her in condemning me.

Perhaps only then could she feel at ease blaming me for Jaslyn's death was entirely my fault.

But now I was dead too.

Even my corpse had been desecrated beyond recognition.

Those rumors no longer mattered to me.