Beranda / Emotional Realism Cerita Pendek / Graduation Gift: A Half-Used Lottery Ticket / Bab 1 - Bab 8

Semua Bab Graduation Gift: A Half-Used Lottery Ticket: Bab 1 - Bab 8

8 Bab

Chapter 1

"Don't be calling me stingy now, Henry. I'll have you know that this scratch-off lottery ticket is worth a million dollars!" Jessica Boone declared. "I already scratched half the numbers, which means I helped you eliminate half of the wrong options, too. The rest is in your hands, and you get to keep whatever you get."Out of habit, I took the half-scratched ticket before coming to my senses and hastily tossing it aside.I looked up at the wall clock. It read 11:00 pm—exactly 30 minutes before I died.No one knew I had been reborn.Tonight was supposed to be a party to celebrate my college acceptance. My parents had invited all of our relatives over. Jessica, who'd always looked down on me, had come as well.In my previous life, she'd used a half-scratched lottery ticket to humiliate me. I'd been both furious and embarrassed, while the rest of our relatives simply brushed it off, saying we were a family. They'd persistently urged me to scratch off the rest of the numbers, which

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Chapter 2

Clenching the ticket in my hand, I smiled at Jessica and said, "My mom must've been mistaken, Jessica. There's no way I'd be lucky enough to win anything on a lottery ticket."I knew Jessica was no fool. Something had to be up if she was willing to fork out 200 thousand dollars on a lottery ticket that only won 20 dollars.I could take the money, but who knew if she'd end up regretting the exchange and decide to come after me again? Basically, I couldn't let her have the ticket."You didn't win anything?"Jessica didn't believe me. She held out her hand and demanded, "Give it to me. Let me take a look."My heart was pounding, but I was able to maintain my cool as I pulled the ticket from my pocket and handed it over.She examined it thoroughly and confirmed that I hadn't scratched the winning numbers. Enraged, she let out a litany of curses as she threw the lottery ticket onto the floor and stomped on several times.Then, she glared at Mom and snarled through gritted teeth, "If

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Chapter 3

The party meant to celebrate my college acceptance ended up being a complete disaster. What should've been a happy occasion ended up becoming unbearable humiliation for me, and all because of a lottery ticket.I couldn't stomach the thought of spending any more time with this so-called family of mine. Around midnight, I quietly slipped out and went to see my girlfriend, Daisy Lewis.The moment she saw me, she pulled me into a tight embrace."I went over to your house to see you, but you weren't there, so I asked Hector. He told me about what had happened today. I can't believe you had to go through all of that, Henry," she said in concern.Even though I was a fully grown man now, in that instant, tears poured down my face. I poured out all of the hurt and grievance I felt to her.Daisy held me, comforting me the whole time. She even said she wanted to confront Jessica about it.I quickly stopped her. "Wait! You mustn't do anything impulsive. I still don't know why she did this. I

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Chapter 4

Why was everyone trying to kill me over a lottery ticket worth 20 dollars?Once I no longer heard any sounds outside, I got dressed and left Daisy's place. I also blocked her number.Still in a daze, I wandered back to the apartment complex where my family stayed. My plan was to sneak in and grab my ID while my parents were out, so I could make a run for it.But the moment I stepped into the convenience store nearby, they were there waiting for me.Dad grabbed my hair and snarled, "You bastard! I knew you were a scheming little piece of shit! You just didn't want us to have the ticket. You ungrateful brat! Just wait till we get home!"I turned to the convenience store owner for help, but he spat at me, saying, "You're an ungrateful brat, alright. To think you'd go this far just to hide a lottery ticket worth 20 dollars! You're banned from my store. Get the hell out!"My family tied me up and dragged me home."Hand over the ticket!" Mom demanded with a sneer."You already search

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Chapter 5

Andy seemed genuinely worried about me. He even teared up as he urged, "Stop being stubborn, Henry. Make a run for it now!"I remained completely calm. I even feigned a display of naive foolishness as I remarked, "I don't think they'll seriously kill me over a lottery ticket, Andy… Unless you know something I don't know?"His expression stiffened for a split second, then his tears came even harder. "Henry, what kind of person do you think I am? Have you forgotten that if it hadn't been for me, you would've been taken away by those human traffickers back then?"In the past, whenever he said that, I would always feel moved by that memory. But right now, it sounded like a threat.Andy tried to push me onto the scooter. He was prepared to take me away by force, but he made it sound like it was for my own good.Suddenly, out of nowhere, a truck sped straight toward us. His face changed, and he gave me a hard shove, shouting, "Get out of the way!"The truck sent Andy flying, and the dr

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Chapter 6

Alarmed, my relatives exchanged glances, panic written all over their faces.With so many people crowding into the police station, things soon got a little out of hand.My parents and Jessica quickly seized the chance to launch into a tirade about my shamelessness, demanding, "Officers, you need to arrest Henry right away!""What did he do? Calm down. I need all of you to speak one at a time," an officer instructed.My parents immediately launched into a long spiel about how despicable I was, dredging up every trivial incident from my childhood and exaggerating it countless times over. Based on what they were saying, I'd done everything short of murder.But of course, they would proceed to accuse me of murder as well.The officer listened for a while before realizing there was nothing of substance in what they were saying, so he turned to Jessica instead. Standing there in spectacles and a business suit, she looked like a well-educated professional, complete with an air of sophis

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Chapter 7

That single sentence threw the entire police station into an uproar. My parents rushed forward to cover my mouth, but the police officers were quicker and stopped them.One of the officers looked at me sternly. "You understand that the law will hold you accountable for everything you say?"I nodded firmly and replied just as seriously, "If you go now, you might still catch Andy celebrating with the driver who hit him.""Where are they?"I gave them a location—the exact intersection where Andy had supposedly been hit.My parents, Jessica, and the rest of my relatives looked stricken. Some of them even tried to stop the police officers from leaving, but they were quickly restrained.As the police cars headed out to the intersection, everyone left at the station stared at me like they wanted to eat me alive.I simply sat in silence. In my head, I replayed the series of events that had occurred today. I'd come so close to being doomed beyond salvation.About half an hour later, the

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Chapter 8

In order to make Ethan her boyfriend, Jessica came up with the idea of spending 200 thousand dollars to buy the lottery ticket with 20-dollar winnings from me.Every single one of our relatives knew the truth. Even Daisy and Andy were aware of the situation, and they were both willing to play along with my family, putting on a show for me.First, they attempted to tempt me with money before resorting to threats. Eventually, they schemed with Andy to have me shipped abroad by getting him to fake his death.Once I was taken abroad, I'd be undocumented and completely at their mercy. By then, no matter how reluctant I was, I'd be forced to hand over the lottery ticket, and Jessica could even get rid of me completely.But why didn't they just tell me the truth?I figured it was because Jessica hated me so much that she didn't even want to have anything to do with me. Back when she was still in high school, she had to work her butt off, only to end up with fairly mediocre results that g

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