Chapter 5

I floated above it all, watching Dad carry Elise on his back while Mom pressed down on her wound. The three of them looked like a happy little family, and even with my heart already shattered, the sight still cut deep.

If they knew I was dead, would they even shed a single tear for me?

But no one could see me. All their attention was on Elise, fussing over every little thing, terrified she might be in pain.

When I was the one dying, all they ever did was look at me coldly and tell me to stop faking it.

It didn't matter anymore. I didn't need their love. All I wanted now was for Elise to get what she deserved.

I followed them all the way back to the pack.

Elise's injuries were serious, and the healers told her to rest. I watched my parents lovingly cut her steak into bite sized pieces and feed it to her themselves.

At least I was dead now. I couldn't feel pain anymore, and I had no tears left to cry. Otherwise, watching this would have broken me all over again.

Day after day, it was the same. Under all that careful attention, color came back into Elise's cheeks fast.

One day, she asked casually, "Mom, Dad, we've been at the healing house for so long. Why hasn't Thalia come to see me?"

Dad's face darkened instantly.

"Why would we bother with her? She's got a cruel streak in her. Better that she stays away. Looking at her just makes my blood boil."

Mom pressed her lips together, hesitating before she spoke.

"When we left, we locked her in her room. She couldn't still be stuck in there, could she?"

I drifted closer to Mom, my spirit passing right through her, and whispered to no one.

"Yes, I'm still in that room. If you hadn't ignored how much pain I was in, I wouldn't have died there alone."

Dad's temper flared.

"That's impossible. There's a spare key in the house. If she'd really wanted to get out, she could have found it. I only locked her in because I didn't want her causing more trouble if she wandered off."

After hearing that, I smiled bitterly.

If I'd still been myself, I could have found that key. But by then, I'd been in so much pain I couldn't even think straight, let alone go hunting for keys.

Mom still looked uneasy.

"This is on us. We spoiled her too much and let things get this bad. I can't shake this feeling. Maybe we should go check on her."

Mom insisted, and Dad finally gave in.

Elise, ever the spoiled one, started whining before they'd even reached the door.

"Mom, Dad, is she really still home? What if she already left?"

Dad wiped the sweat from his forehead, barely masking his anger.

"I already called Thalia. She wouldn't even pick up. I bet she's still sulking about us going to the Southern Pack with Elise."

Even Mom's usual patience was wearing thin.

"That girl. We really have spoiled her rotten. The least she could do is answer the phone. Now we're worried sick."

Grumbling the whole way, they finally made it close to our house.

From a distance, Mom started calling out my name.

"Thalia, are you still here? We're home."

No answer came from inside.

Dad had reached the end of his patience and grumbled to Mom.

"I told you she'd already run off. And here we are, rushing all the way back to check on her, and who knows where she's off gallivanting now."

As they got closer to the house, a smell neither of them could place drifted toward them on the breeze.

"Ugh, what is that smell?"

Elise was the first to cover her nose, wrinkling it in disgust.

I floated there, grief pressing down on me. I'd been dead for over a week by now. My body had already started to rot.

What would they feel when they saw it? Devastated? Or indifferent?

None of it mattered to me anymore.

I was already dead. No amount of guilt from them could fix that now.

All I wanted was to watch the people who'd hurt me finally pay for it.

Mom's face went white. She stumbled through the door and froze at what she saw. It was something she would never forgive herself for as long as she lived.