Chapter 3

The living room fell silent.

I stared blankly at Roundy, lost in thought.

Mom noticed that the recording had played, and when I still hadn't called her back, her voice came through again.

"Max? Are you still mad at me?"

The house was silent. No one answered. Mom grew anxious and tried to remotely control Roundy to turn on its camera.

[Roundy, locate Max.]

Roundy was just about to head toward the bedroom when I hurriedly stood in its way.

But I was already dead. If Mom found out I was dead now, Dad wouldn't be able to come back!

Roundy passed straight through my body, its mechanical voice repeating over and over.

[Locating kitty! Locating kitty!]

I summoned every bit of strength I had and tried to press the call-back button on Roundy's body.

Come on, Max! Don't let Roundy into the bedroom!

Perhaps my desperate prayers had finally moved God, because I discovered that I could actually touch Roundy.

There was no time to celebrate. I immediately pressed the call-back button.

The next second, Roundy fell silent.

[Kitty's location detected. Search procedure canceled.]

On the other end, Mom let out a sigh of relief.

"Max, you scared me to death."

She let out a long breath and ended the connection with Roundy.

I floated over to the window and looked up at the sky.

One by one, the stars began to appear, twinkling like Dad's eyes.

Dad had once told me that when people died, they became stars and watched over the people they loved from the sky.

Would I become a star someday, too?

Would Mom and Dad recognize me and wave hello?

I looked down at my transparent hands and smiled.

As long as Dad could come back, Mom wouldn't have to lock herself in the laboratory every day, staring at Dad's photograph until dawn.

She could smile just like she had in those pictures and take Dad and me to the dessert shop for strawberry cake.

She could watch The Powerpuff Girls with me over and over again.

And...

I froze.

I was already dead. I wasn't part of that anymore.

I smiled.

It was okay. As long as Mom and Dad were happy, that was all that mattered.

I didn't know how long I floated around the house. Roundy brought me two more meals. I sniffed the cat food, but I couldn't smell anything.

Finally, I heard footsteps approaching in the hallway. My heart gave a violent thump.

It had to be Mom bringing Dad home!

I hurriedly floated toward the front door, staring at it.

Dad, are you back?

But the closer the footsteps came, the more disappointment washed over me. It was Deandre.

"Melina guards against me like I'm some kind of thief every time. She changes the door code every single day. What a joke! All that damn research, day in and day out. Does she really think it'll bring a dead man back?"

That's not true! Dad isn't dead! He's coming back very soon!

Deandre was a bad man! Every time he showed up, Mom and Dad would fight. He always wore white shirts and drenched himself in strong cologne.

Whenever he saw me, he'd smile and say, "You must be Max. You're just as cute as I heard."

But in private, he would secretly pinch me. Then, when I cried, he would act all hurt and complain that I didn't like him.

That was the first time Mom had ever scolded me. "Why did you turn out just like your father? You're so jealous! I've told you, Uncle Deandre and I are just ordinary friends!

"If you can't raise Max properly, then you can stop looking after him!"

Mom took me to the laboratory, and I didn't see Dad for an entire month.

Then, when I finally saw him again, I suddenly noticed that there was no light left in his eyes.

After Deandre finished checking Roundy's application data, he threw all the cat food I hadn't eaten into a trash bag.

Then he sat down on the sofa, blacked out Dad's face in the photographs, and wiped it clean.

"One useless man raised an even more useless little brat. Once the little brat is taken care of, this whole family will be mine."

He hummed a little tune. But when he saw the incoming call on his phone, his expression changed.

"Deandre, is Max okay?"

It was Mom!

Deandre's voice immediately softened. "Max is doing great. I just made him scrambled eggs. He even said mine tasted just like his dad's."