Chapter 1

The flavor of the meatball was so strong that it started to taste bitter.

I knelt on the chair, my hands gripping the edge of the table as my stomach growled in hunger.

My younger sister, Hailey Smith, pushed away the bowl before her with a frown.

"I don't want it! Meatballs are disgusting!"

The bowl tipped over, and the meatball rolled out.

Mom didn't get mad. Instead, she patiently picked up the meatball and put it back into the bowl.

"These are fresh meatballs that Grandma sent over. They're delicious."

"I don't want any!" Hailey started stomping her foot.

Mom sighed as her gaze shifted to me.

"Helen."

She spooned up the last meatball, the juices dripping off the spoon and landing in Hailey's bowl.

"This meatball smells so good. Helen, do you want some?"

I nodded profusely as saliva filled my mouth.

I hadn't eaten anything proper over the past two days.

Leftover pasta was poured into the trashcan yesterday, because Mom said eating leftovers was bad for health.

But I could eat them. I wasn't scared of that.

"Want some?"

Mom put the meatball, which was still steaming, on my lips, and I could feel the heat on the tip of my nose.

"It smells delicious. Why don't you take a bite?" Mom was coaxing me, but her gaze shifted to Hailey.

Hailey stopped stomping her foot as she started staring at the meatball.

It was hers.

I knew it was hers.

I was very familiar with the process. I should be opening my mouth and pretending to take a bite, and Mom would then move the food away and stuff it into Hailey's mouth.

Hailey would then chew on the food smugly as she made a face at me, and I would watch her finish her food as I swallowed hard.

It should have been the same this time.

I opened my mouth, feeling the meatball on my lips.

It was so fragrant.

So, so fragrant.

Before I realized what I was doing, I had chomped down on the meatball.

I swallowed the entire meatball without even chewing, simply sending it straight down my throat.

The steaming meatball slid down my throat, the heat scalding my chest, but I didn't find it painful.

I simply felt the relief in my stomach after it had been empty for two days.

Hailey was stunned, and so was Mom.

At the next second, her cries pierced through the air.

"Wahh!"

Hailey swept her bowl onto the floor, and it smashed into pieces.

"She ate my meatball! That was mine!"

Mom's face twisted in anger.

Smack!

There was a searing pain on my cheek, and my ears buzzed.

The taste of meat still left in my mouth was now tinged with the taste of blood.

"Are you that hungry?!" She pointed at my nose and yelled.

"That was meant to make your sister eat. Who told you to actually eat it?!

"Spit it out right now!"

She reached out to dig into my mouth, her fingernails scratching my gums.

However, I couldn't spit it out, as the meatball was already in my stomach.

Hailey's cries grew louder as she started rolling on the floor, throwing a tantrum.

"I want to die! Helen stole my food! I want fried chicken!"

Mom's heart broke.

She pulled her finger out of my mouth and turned to hug Hailey.

When she turned around and saw me seated on the chair in a daze, she shoved me hard out of anger that was still boiling in her.

"Go away! I get frustrated just looking at you!"

I was so light that I flew from my chair from the force.

"Bang!"

The back of my head hit the corner of the solid wood table with a dull thud, and the world started turning dark before me—the rage on Mom's face, Hailey's wide-open mouth, and the shards of the broken bowl on the floor.

I slid down weakly, my knees on the floor as my upper body slumped over with my head bowed low.

I looked as though I was kneeling for forgiveness.

Right before I lost consciousness, I was thinking, "That meatball tasted delicious."