Their Debt for My Heart

Three minutes after my death, I wandered beside mom as a spirit.

In the hospital room, mom gently laid my sister down on the bed and asked anxiously.

“Doctor, why does my daughter have a stomach ache?”

The doctor replied with a professional calm, showing no particular emotion.

“Your daughter ate something bad this morning—she’ll feel better with some medication.”

“What…?”

After hearing the doctor’s words, mom stared worriedly at my sister, who looked weak in bed.

“Did Zinnia Lewis that little villain give you something unclean to eat, making you unable to take the exam properly!”

My sister clutched her stomach, looking miserable.

“Don’t blame Zinnia, mom. She was just being kind…”

With that, she turned to the side, covered her mouth, and retched, while holding onto the edge of the bed to gasp for breath.

Mom quickly patted her back, helped her sit up, and handed her a glass of water.

“You’re still defending her even like this!”

“I heard from your good friend—your sister picked that food up from the ground and gave it to you. She deliberately wanted to stop you from taking the exam!”

A flash of panic crossed my sister’s eyes, as if she couldn’t believe it, and she looked ready to cry.

“Zinnia isn’t like that…”

Picked it up from the ground?

I stood aside watching, a wave of bitterness washing over me.

She had clearly seen the entire process of me buying hotdog.

That was the last hotdog left—I’d struggled to get it.

I never would have given it to her if she hadn’t said she was starving.

Yet that gave her and her friend an excuse to frame me.

My heart ached fiercely.

“Ring ring ring!”

A sharp phone call broke the silence. Mom answered it, and a heavy voice came from the other end.

“Are you Zinnia Lewis’s mother? We’re sorry to inform you that your daughter failed to survive the heart attack—please accept our condolences. Could you come to the hospital when you have time to claim her body?”

The worry on mom’s face instantly turned to disgust. She shouted into the phone, “How much did Zinnia Lewis pay you to put on this act? Faking a faint wasn’t enough, so now you’re faking her death? She’s really grown some nerve! How could I have given birth to such a villain!”

Before the person on the other end could speak, mom hung up abruptly and threw her phone far away. Her breathing was rapid, and her chest heaved violently with anger.

“All she does is beg for attention! Now she’s hiring people to act with her! Does she really think I’m stupid!”

My sister placed her hand on mom’s to comfort her.

“Don’t be angry, mom. Zinnia just wants you to spend more time with her—she didn’t mean it.

And I saw her faint… maybe something really is wrong. Why don’t you go check on her? I’ll be fine alone.”

Mom calmed her breathing and patted my sister’s hand affectionately.

“Leave her be! She’s in perfect health—how could she suddenly faint? She’s been faking since she was a kid, and now she’s faking death. If she dares, let her die and spare me the sight!”

I floated in the air, trembling uncontrollably. Sharp pains stabbed at my chest, and overwhelming despair wrapped around me, suffocating me.

Mom, I wasn’t putting on an act.

I really am dead.