3

Dad went to the kitchen, cut a slice of blueberry cheesecake, and brought it out to my sister.

Chloe took the cake and carried her new doll upstairs.

She planted herself outside my door on purpose and raised her voice.

"Millie, look at my new doll. Her dress is real silk.

"That's what you get for cheating. This is what happens when you break the rules.

"Dad said this doll was supposed to be yours, for getting into the prep school. Too bad your luck is so awful. It's mine now."

Through the door I looked at her smug little face, and nothing moved in me at all.

Ten years.

I was used to it by then.

When I didn't react, Chloe got angry and turned to leave.

But her foot came down on the coin at the edge of the rug.

It was the fake coin I'd dropped.

Her body tipped sideways and she went down hard, and the cake smeared across the floor.

A ceramic ornament lay broken in the hallway, and her palm landed on one of the shards. Blood welled up at once.

"Aaaah—"

Chloe let out a bloodcurdling scream.

My parents came flying up the stairs like they were on fire.

"Chloe!"

"Baby, what happened?"

Mom threw herself down and grabbed her, her voice shaking.

Chloe held up her bleeding hand and pointed at my door.

"It was Millie...

"I was being nice, showing her my doll and my cake, and she kicked the door from inside and scared me and I fell.

"She wants to kill me!"

Dad's face went dark with rage, and he pounded on the door.

"Amelia Reed, get out here right now!

"Your sister tried to share with you, and you went crazy and scared her?

"All those books you read, and you learned nothing!"

I hovered off to the side and explained to no one, "I didn't.

"I'm already dead. How would I kick a door?"

Mom pressed down on Chloe's bleeding hand and shouted at the door, "How did I ever give birth to something this evil!

"You can't stand to see anyone else happy, can you?

"Daniel, get the spare key! I'm going to teach her a lesson myself!"

Dad ran downstairs to find the spare key.

What he didn't know was that Chloe had thrown the key into a storm drain long ago, for the pettiest of reasons.

She hated the green charm attached to it and thought it was too ugly for the key box in the entryway.

Dad searched for ages, found nothing, and came back up in a fury and kicked the door.

The frame gave a dull thud.

The body behind the door rocked with it.

The wound on my forehead released another trickle of black-red fluid, which ran slowly down the sloping floor toward the gap under the door.

"Forget it, let's get Chloe to the clinic first!" Mom was frantic, her forehead damp with sweat.

"She's lost so much blood. What if it gets infected?"

Dad glared at the door.

"Amelia Reed, just you wait!

"When we get back, you'll see what I do to you!"

They scooped up my sister and hurried out.

The whole house went quiet again.

I drifted back into my room and looked at my own body lying face down on the floor.

A small patch of dark red had already soaked out from under the door.

If they had looked down even once, they would have seen that it wasn't from Chloe's hand.

But they didn't.

In their minds I would always be the one doing harm.

Chloe would always be the one harmed.

They finally came back after it was fully dark.

Chloe's hand was wrapped in thick gauze, and she curled up in Dad's arms like a little rabbit that had suffered the worst injustice in the world.

"The doctor said we were lucky, no nerve damage." Mom patted her own chest, still shaken.

"No water on it for a few days. Anything you want to eat, Chloe, I'll make it for you."

When they reached the second floor, they stopped outside my door again.

Mom's voice was thick with disgust.

"Amelia Reed, we took your sister to the doctor. After all that commotion, you couldn't even ask if she was all right?

"Is your heart made of stone?

"I'm your mother. I carried you for nine months, and this is the coldness you pay me back with?

"Since you love hiding in there so much, then don't ever come out!"

Dad, still holding Chloe, added coldly, "Tomorrow is a long weekend. We had a beach house booked. We were going to celebrate you getting into the prep school while we were there.

"Clearly you don't deserve it.

"You can stay home and reflect on what you've done for three days. There's cheese and whole-wheat bread in the fridge. Make yourself a sandwich when you're hungry.

"Don't expect us to go soft."

Chloe hung over Dad's shoulder and made a face in my direction.

"Millie can stay home and keep the mice company.

"We're going to the beach to pick up seashells!"

They actually started packing.

Not one of them looked down and saw the blood under the door.

Early the next morning, all three of them came to the entryway in their nice beach clothes, wheeling their suitcases.

Before she went out, Mom called up the stairs one more time, "Amelia Reed, this is your last chance.

"If you open the door now, apologize to your sister, promise never to cheat again, and accept the rule of the coin without complaint, I'll forgive you and take you to the beach with us."

The house was silent.

The ticking clock was her only answer.

Mom waited a few seconds, and then her face went cold all the way through.

"Fine. You've got nerve.

"Then rot in your own selfishness and your own stubbornness!"

The front door slammed shut.

I hovered on the second floor and watched their car pull out of the yard.

I had already finished reflecting on what I'd done.

If there was a next time, even as a ghost, I would never toss a coin again.

Because in this gamble called family, I had been born to lose.