Chapter 4

After the wedding, Rupert and Louisa returned to their marital home, and my parents headed back to their own place too.

To make room for Rupert's wedding preparations, the little storage nook I'd slept in had been dismantled. My belongings were now piled haphazardly in a corner of the living room.

Irritated by the mess, my mother finally returned my call. But to her dismay, no one picked up.

Her expression soured. "He's ignoring my calls again. I bet he's still holding a grudge over what happened!"

"Don't get upset, Mom. Let me try calling him," Hannah told her before she called me repeatedly.

To everyone's surprise, someone actually answered.

"Where the hell have you been, Terence? You didn't even come home to visit Mom and Dad for Thanksgiving! Do you still consider yourself a member of this family? If you don't come back soon, I'll throw all of your junk out!"

There was a long silence on the other end of the phone. Eventually, a man's voice rang out.

"He's with me. If you want him to come home, transfer 100,000 dollars to my account. Otherwise, don't bother calling again!"

Hannah froze. Then, she hurriedly hung up.

Of course—the murderer knew my family all too well. The moment someone asked them to spend money on me, they'd do everything they could to run from the conversation.

"Well? What did he say?" Mom anxiously pressed her for an answer.

"Nothing. He hung up!" Hannah brushed her off.

Mom teared up and sank into a chair. Then, she began to berate me for being unfilial and disobedient. She even said that things would have been better if my younger brother had survived instead of me.

Those words had always been painful to listen to. Even though I was dead, the same remark still hurt more than I cared to admit.

I was an unwanted child, and that fact hadn't changed as I grew up.

I'd been missing for so long, but they weren't concerned about me at all. It had never occurred to them that I might be in danger. All I ever received from them was resentment and blame.

"Do you have any idea how scared I was on Thanksgiving Eve, Mom?" I thought to myself.

That night, I was pinned down in the mud as icy drops of rain battered against my body. I was so, so cold, and it felt as though I'd fallen into a pit of ice with thorn-filled walls.

I did everything I could to escape. I ran with all my strength, but the thorns kept tearing into me until I was covered in blood. Feeling terrified and helpless, I screamed, cried, and fought for my life with all my might. I prayed to every god I could think of and even begged for my mother to save me.

…

Ever since the wedding incident, my relationship with my family worsened even further.

On Thanksgiving Eve, my mother called to ask for money too.

"Rupert's in-laws are claiming he didn't give Louisa enough wedding gifts." She sighed. "If you have the money, do you think you could chip in 10,000 dollars?"

I couldn't believe my ears. "Are you seriously asking me to give them money?"

"You're his brother, Terry. Can't you help him out? If he doesn't offer them enough wedding gifts, he won't be respected by his mother-in-law."

I scoffed. "What does that have anything to do with me? That's something you and Dad should be worrying about."

When Mom was at a loss for words, Dad, who was sitting nearby, suddenly roared, "We need that money for our retirement. Don't even think about getting a single cent from us!

"I'm telling you, Terence. You're paying for the extra gifts. You earn so much from your job. It's only right that you support your family financially!"

I was furious. Did they think I was a fool they could extort for money?

We got into a terrible argument. By the time it was over, I was so utterly disappointed in them that I had hung up.

…

The older generation believed there was nothing better than a secure government job. However, the truth was, not everyone was suited for that kind of career.

My life wasn't nearly as easy as they imagined. Office politics were complicated, and I wasn't good at navigating them. So, I was constantly singled out for no apparent reason.

I was always being handed tasks that had nothing to do with me. I had no choice but to work overtime to get everything done, and I wasn't even allowed to take time off when I had a fever.

Even after I'd worked myself to the bone, I was never rewarded. Because I had no connections, I was forced to take the blame when something went wrong.

I tried to complain to my supervisor once. But to my dismay, he gave me a long lecture about how everything was my fault. Then, he proceeded to scream at me and call me useless. By the end of it, his verbal abuse left me dizzy and overwhelmed with anxiety.

On Thanksgiving Eve, my supervisor was especially harsh with me. I couldn't take it anymore, so I handed in my resignation.

…

It was raining that night, and the streets were especially empty.

I hailed a cab. Feeling dizzy, I gave the driver my address and leaned back to rest my eyes. The driver, who was wearing a cap, simply nodded.

I had no idea how much time had passed when I woke up and noticed that we were driving through unfamiliar streets.

This wasn't the way back to my apartment.

Panicking, I pounded on the window, but everything was locked, and there was no way for me to get out.

"Who are you? Pull over! I want to get off!"

The man chuckled and didn't reply. Instead, the car sped up.

I frantically tried to call someone, only to discover that there was no signal inside the car. Before long, the vehicle came to a stop, and I was dragged out.

We were on the side of a hill in a remote area. The man was incredibly strong, and he threw me to the ground with ease.

"What do you want?" I demanded. "Are you trying to rob me?"

To my dismay, the man wasn't after my money.

He flashed me a sinister grin. The two scars on his face looked especially terrifying during intermittent flashes of lightning.

Clamping his hands around my throat, he growled, "Why are you always competing with Rupert, Terence? He's already miserable enough because of his mental illness. Why did you have to go after his woman?

"You deserve to die! A shameless bastard like you deserves to die!"

How dare he insult me when he was pathologically obsessed with Rupert?

His grip tightened around my neck, and I could barely breathe.

Rupert? Was this the crazy ex-boyfriend I'd heard about?

Before meeting Louisa, Rupert had been in a relationship once. He said they'd met online, and that the woman loved him desperately—so much so that she'd even taken out loans to support him financially.

During that time, Rupert had practically been rolling in money. But when they finally met in person, he discovered that his so-called girlfriend was actually a man who dressed as a woman.

Feeling disgusted, Rupert refused to let our family meet him. Once he had gotten what he wanted, he simply dumped him.

"You've got it wrong—"

The man didn't even give me a chance to defend myself. He refused to believe anything that didn't fit his version of events, and his gaze was stubborn and manic.

As I struggled with all my might, I hit my hands and feet against the rocks. Pain shot through me and made my head spin.

Then, all of a sudden, something seemed to snap inside him. He lowered his head and stared at my face, his eyes filled with a strange, obsessive adoration.

"Rupert… My dear Rupert…" he called out. "I need to have you!"

He began tearing my clothes off, and I trembled uncontrollably with fear.

"No! Please, no!" I cried inwardly.

I wasn't Rupert, and I hadn't stolen his woman.

Why was he doing this to me? I had already endured plenty of humiliation throughout my life. Was I really going to be subjected to this before my death?

I kicked him with all my might, but he held my legs down and left me unable to move.

"Be a good boy, Rupert…" his demonic voice echoed beside my ear.

My fingers trembled as I frantically searched for my phone. Once I found it, I secretly redialed the first number in my call history.

"Please save me, Mom! Please come and save me!" I begged inwardly.

I waited for what felt like an eternity before I heard the faint sound of the call disconnecting.

When the man noticed what I'd done, he snatched my phone away from me and smashed it to the ground. Then, his actions grew even more brutal and violent.

"Have you been seeing other women again? Why am I not good enough for you?" he roared. "Bitch! You Bitch!"

He flew into a rage and started to hit me with a rock. Eventually, my body became battered beyond recognition, and blood splattered everywhere.

It hurt—everywhere hurt, Mom.

Blood pooled around me. I could no longer make a sound, and my tears mixed with the rain as it streamed down my face.

At last, as despair swallowed me whole, I drew my final breath.

…

Perhaps it was because of our blood ties, but my soul managed to find its way back home. For the past few days, I watched my family from the sidelines, feeling emotionally detached.

Rupert was returning to my parents' for dinner. Feeling delighted, Mom went grocery shopping, eager to prepare a feast for her son and daughter-in-law.

As the vendor warmly helped her pick out ingredients, she mentioned me in conversation.

"Your eldest son is such a nice man. I wasn't feeling well on the road the other day. When I nearly passed out, he took me to the hospital. I wanted to thank him, but I haven't seen him since.

"Go ahead and pick whatever you like. I'll give them to you for free. Consider it my way of saying thank you. You're so lucky. If I had a son like that, I'd be over the moon!"

Mom's expression stiffened. She wasn't used to hearing people praise me. She was much more comfortable with receiving compliments about Hannah or Rupert.

"He's not that great. He's terribly disrespectful to his family!"

The vendor chuckled. "Children are like that sometimes. They might just be throwing a tantrum to get your attention. As adults, we should be a little more understanding."

Mom froze, and her face turned slightly pale. She'd never treated me like her child, and she'd certainly never been understanding toward me.

Just then, her phone rang.

It was a call from the police station. At long last, she had learned that I was dead.