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Chapter 4

Auteur: Amber Fleck
I froze in place like a robot that had suddenly powered down. Sienna looked flustered when I did not say anything.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like them?”

She glanced at me before quietly looking toward her mother. “If you don’t like them, we can return them after lunch and pick out something you do.”

I sniffled and forced a smile, shaking my head. “No. I love them. Thank you.”

Sienna let out a quiet sigh when she saw the redness around my eyes.

“Harry, I heard what happened from my mom.” She gently patted my shoulder. “Your mother hasn’t been herself since Henry passed away. You’ve been the one paying the price for it.

“When you start college, work hard and keep your GPA up. You can always apply to graduate school later. You’ve still got your whole life ahead of you. I know you’re going to have a bright future.”

Her words almost shattered the smile on my face. Did I really still have a future? Could I really leave Henry behind and simply live as Harry?

I got my answer that night.

The moment we got home, Mom picked up the art supplies Sienna had given me and threw them out the window. The tubes of paint burst open on the pavement below. Brilliant colors splattered across the ground like blood exploding from a body after a fatal fall.

I rushed to the window, too stunned to react.

Before I could say a word, Mom snatched the tracksuit out of the gift bag and flicked a lighter. The flames caught instantly. The fire lit up her twisted expression.

“Who said you could accept these? Henry would never have owned things like this! What do you think you’re doing, bringing them into this house?”

Sienna’s words echoed in my mind, and I could not hold it in anymore.

“Henry is dead! He’s dead! I’m Harry! I’m a living, breathing person! I have my own likes. My own dreams. My own life to live! He died when he was 18, and I’ve spent 18 years pretending to be him. Isn’t that enough?”

My answer was a slap that cut through the air. It knocked me to the floor, and my back slammed into my brother’s memorial photo. His framed portrait crashed to the ground with a sharp crack.

For one frozen moment, his dark eyes seemed to stare straight into mine.

Mom pointed at me with trembling fingers. “How dare you… How dare you… If Henry hadn’t died, you never would have had the chance to be born! Why should you get the future that was supposed to belong to my son?”

Even though I had always known that Mom never loved me, hearing her finally say it out loud still shattered my heart.

I lay on the floor as a shard of broken glass from my brother’s picture frame sliced into my palm. Blood slowly trickled out.

Mom collapsed to her knees, sobbing as she gathered Henry’s portrait into her arms. “Henry… My dear Henry… Did you get hurt? I will find you a better place.”

She walked past me carrying his portrait and never looked at me again. Dad grabbed his jacket and hurried after her, slamming the front door shut.

I closed my eyes and silently apologized to Sienna. It looked like I would not live long enough to see the future she believed I could have.

The tracksuit Mom had burned was blackened and scorched. I pulled it over my body, then looked toward the open window.

I changed my mind at that moment. I did not want to die the same way my brother had. If this was going to be the last moment of my life, I wanted to end it as Harry Stone.

It was the only act of defiance I had left.

I climbed onto the windowsill. After taking one last look at the place that had never truly been my home, I closed my eyes and let myself fall backward without a second thought.

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  • No Longer My Brother’s Replacement   Chapter 10

    However, I clearly remembered Henry was born at dawn. If it was not my brother, then Hayden was the name Mom was supposed to give me.Hayden Stone.I repeated the name silently in my heart. Somehow, my soul felt lighter than it ever had before.“Hayden, I’m sorry, my son.” Mom slowly closed her eyes.The next second, the world around me shifted. When I opened my eyes again, I was back inside a hospital room.A pregnant woman sat there, one hand clutching her stomach. Her face was twisted with pain.“Why are the contractions starting now? Henry was born at dawn. This isn’t the right time. If the baby is born at night, will it still be Henry?”As I looked at her face, I suddenly understood. This was the day 18 years ago when I was born. This pregnant woman was my mother. Dad stood beside her, trying to calm her down. “Don’t think about that right now. What matters the most is getting the baby here safely. I’ll go get the doctor.”Soon, Mom was rushed into the delivery room. The

  • No Longer My Brother’s Replacement   Chapter 9

    After collapsing at the police station that day, Mom’s mind completely broke. Dad had no choice but to send her to a care facility.She lay on the bed in a hospital gown. Her body was so thin that she looked almost fragile enough to tear. Her hair had turned completely white, making her look like an 80-year-old woman, worn down by years of suffering.When my brother died, Mom and Dad were only in their early 40s. Now, they were both in their sixties.When I was young, I would look at the old family photos of my parents in their younger days as they stood beside my brother. A quiet, shameful jealousy would rise in my heart. Why did I never get to see my parents when they were young?By the time I was old enough to stand on my own, they were already old.For a long time, I lived beneath the shadow of anxiety and fear of death. I never imagined I would be the one to leave first.At the care facility, Mom kept crying out that she wanted to find her son.Dad had no choice. Little by

  • No Longer My Brother’s Replacement   Chapter 8

    With a sharp crack, Mom’s phone slipped from her hand and hit the floor.The screen shattered.As I stared at the photo, a quiet thought settled over me. The only photo of me on Mom’s phone was the one they used to identify my body.I felt sorry for my aunt. I had never wanted her to shoulder all of this. Dad walked over and picked up the phone. The moment he saw the image, his face drained of color and he immediately turned the screen off. He turned to look at Mom, whose eyes had gone completely vacant as if she had suddenly gone blind.She clutched his arm with desperate strength. “No, no. Henry can’t be dead. He only went swimming with his classmates. He’s such a good swimmer. How could he have drowned?”She had another episode. The moment she learned that I had died, she mistook me for my brother once again.From the day I was born to the day I died, I was never allowed to be Harry Stone.Dad suddenly shook her hand off. “This is Harry! Look at him! You drove him to his de

  • No Longer My Brother’s Replacement   Chapter 7

    The entire room seemed to freeze. It was as though someone had pressed pause on the world. Mom and Dad stood motionless like statues.Sienna’s eyes turned red as her voice cracked. “Harry jumped! He was eating lunch with us just this afternoon! Why would he jump?!”Neither of them reacted.Unable to bear it any longer, Sienna turned and ran out.It was only after what felt like an eternity that Mom finally seemed to come back to herself.“He actually jumped?” She slowly sank to the floor. “Even now, he’s still trying to compete with his brother for our attention. He stole Henry’s life, and now, he has the nerve to jump off a building.”Dad’s mouth hung open, but no words came out. He simply leaned heavily against the wall.After another long silence, Mom turned toward him. “What if my sister and that boy planned this together? They’re lying to scare me. They just want me to stop talking about Henry. That has to be it. It has to be!“That ungrateful little monster! I should’ve s

  • No Longer My Brother’s Replacement   Chapter 6

    It was not until night had fallen that Mom finally struggled to her feet. Dad helped her up. The two of them walked slowly, as though every step weighed a thousand pounds.After getting into the car, they did not head home. Instead, Dad entered my aunt’s address into the GPS. The drive passed in silence, with Dad not saying a single word. Mom sat in the passenger seat, staring blankly at the charm hanging from the rearview mirror. Inside the tiny pendant was a faded family photo. It was taken 20 years ago.Time had bleached the colors, but not the joy on their faces.There were countless photos like that at home. Back then, cameras were not nearly as common as they are now, yet my parents had taken hundreds of pictures of my brother.Nowadays, anyone could snap a photo with a phone. However, I only had a handful from my childhood. Even in those, I had been dressed up to look like my brother.Mom never let me smile, so every photo captured the same stiff, reluctant expression on

  • No Longer My Brother’s Replacement   Chapter 5

    When I regained consciousness, I saw a teenage boy lying motionless on the concrete. For a long moment, I could not understand what I was looking at, and then it hit me.It was me.I was dead.The next second, an invisible force yanked at my soul. In the blink of an eye, I was standing beside my parents.Mom was kneeling in front of a gravestone, sobbing uncontrollably. “Henry, it’s been 20 years, and I still can’t move on.”They had come to visit my brother again.Ever since I was born, they had visited his grave once every single week, without fail. However, they had never once taken me with them.When I was little, I thought they were secretly going somewhere fun. One day, I begged to go too, but Mom answered with a slap across my face.Her eyes were bloodshot as she questioned me, “You already have us every single day! Henry only gets to see us once a week! And now, you want to take even that away from him? How can a child be so selfish?”I fell silent immediately. After t

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