Chapter 2

The howls were getting closer.

Terror shot through me. I grabbed the necklace and ran down the mountain as fast as I could.

I had not gone more than a few steps when my foot caught on a dead branch. I went down hard, and the necklace slipped from my hand and landed in the mud.

I quickly reached for it, but the moment my fingers touched it, a sharp, nauseating smell hit me. It was coming from the necklace.

Before, the necklace seemed to have been covered with a special coating that sealed in and concealed the smell. However, after it fell into the mud, the coating was scraped away by the dirt and bits of gravel, and the smell finally escaped.

It was strange. It smelled like rotting meat, mixed with the scent of animal blood.

Somehow, I knew that smell.

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind, and my stomach dropped.

I picked up the necklace and held it close to my nose. The smell was even stronger. It was bait, specially designed to attract wolves.

Someone had tampered with the necklace on purpose. They wanted to use it to lure a pack of wolves to me and let the wolves kill me without anyone ever knowing what had happened.

The bushes around me began to rustle. One pair of glowing green eyes after another appeared from the darkness.

My whole body went rigid. I was afraid to even breathe too loudly.

One of the wolves slowly lowered itself to the ground, a deep growl rumbling in its throat.

I knew that if I threw away the necklace, I might still have a chance to escape. However, Mom had made it clear that I could only come home if I found it, so I could not bring myself to throw it away. No matter how much I wanted to, I could not say no to her.

With trembling hands, I pulled out my phone and called Mom. She answered almost immediately. However, before I could say a word, I heard Janice's sweet voice on the other end.

"Mom, we deliberately left the necklace there to test her. Do you think she's crying her eyes out by now?"

Mom gave a soft laugh. "She said she never refuses, didn't she? Then let her search the mountain until she's had enough. We'll finally have proof that she isn't really incapable of saying no. She's just pretending to be helpless to fool everyone.

"The Graham family can't have a daughter who lies about everything."

I stood there, completely frozen.

The necklace really had been planted there on purpose.

They knew I was afraid, and they still worked together to trick me into coming there.

Janice was still laughing on the other end.

"Thanks, Mom. Dad just said the family dinner that was supposed to welcome that country girl has been changed to my birthday party. He even had fireworks prepared. He said he wanted to surprise me."

Mom answered in a warm, affectionate voice, "If she enjoys lying so much, let her stay out there and think about what she's done."

Through the phone, I could hear music playing in the banquet hall. Then, I heard Dad's gentle voice.

"Happy birthday, Janice. I hope you'll always be the only daughter in the Graham family."

My heart felt like a hand had closed around it and squeezed as hard as it could.

Memories suddenly came rushing back to me.

The truth was, I had not been born unable to say no. I was just terrified of being abandoned.

I had grown up in a foster home, always dreaming of having a real family of my own.

Whenever a couple came to adopt a child, I would make sure I was perfectly clean and neat. Then I would stand in front of them with my sweetest, most obedient smile.

However, one by one, they all left.

I thought it was because I was not good enough. So, whenever someone came the next time, I would smile even sweeter, stand even straighter, and agree to whatever they asked.

Little by little, I learned to erase the word 'no' from my life completely.

They made me get up in the middle of the night to take care of their sick little brother. They made me wash clothes with my bare hands in the freezing winter and even forced me to take the blame for everything they did wrong.

My body was covered in bruises and scars, but I never dared to say no.

They had always warned me that if I ever refused, they would send me back to the foster home. So I learned to obey, no matter what they asked of me, because deep down, I was terrified that if I was not obedient, I would be abandoned.

The only thing that kept me going through those dark days was the belief that someday I would find my birth parents.

I thought my real parents would be different. However, they were no different from the others.

They did not believe me, either. They tested me with one ridiculous demand after another. They pushed me into danger just to prove that I was lying.

Suddenly, I felt so tired. So tired that I did not even have the strength to run anymore.

The wolves slowly closed in around me. I shut my eyes and prepared to wait quietly for death.

Then, suddenly, a sharp whistle came from somewhere down the mountain.

"Is anyone up there?"

"A pack of wolves recently came over from another mountain. They're dangerous, and they will attack people! If anyone's up there, get down the mountain now!"

Several beams of flashlight swept across the mountain trail.

The wolves quickly disappeared into the darkness.

I opened my eyes and saw several mountain patrol workers in reflective vests looking up the slope. One of them suddenly bent down and picked something up from the side of the trail.

It was my phone.

They shone their flashlights around for a long time, but they could not find me.

They did not dare venture any farther into an area where wolves were roaming, so they checked my phone instead and called the emergency contact.

The call went through.

I stared at the lights below the mountain, and somehow, a tiny spark of hope flickered inside me.

What if they realized I was in danger?

Would they feel even a little sorry for me?

What if Mom and Dad were willing to come and save me?