All Chapters of My Life as Mom's Living Warning: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The water in the tank slowly reached my calves. I could hear Esther Kingston, my eldest sister, outside the door, pleading urgently, "Mom, please, just let Elmer out first! We can discuss the college application again later!"She rushed up to Mom and grabbed her by the hand, her voice beseeching. However, Mom just gave her a side glance before scoffing coldly."There is no room for discussion. If you insist on going to a college out of state, then you can watch your brother drown."She then took out her phone. I was in the center of her phone screen, curling up around myself at the bottom of the tank, my thin clothes all wet and soaked to the skin. The water was icy-cold and made me shiver relentlessly."Elmer! You're going to drown if you stay in there like that! Get out of there!" Esther yelled into the house.I heard her and was just about to get up to push the cover off when I suddenly heard Mom yell, "Don't you dare, Elmer Kingston!"I flinched and stopped at once, curling b

Mom brought Esther and Emily to a fancy restaurant."Let's bring some food back for Elmer," Esther said, looking at Mom and asking her for permission. Mom smiled and nodded."I'm relieved to see how well the three of you get along. You really look out for each other."Esther and Emily pulled their lips into a thin line. I knew that their feelings for me were mostly out of guilt and nothing more.When we were younger, Mom had always taken Esther's and Emily's studies very seriously. However, they were both quite playful and often sneaked out of the house to play.When Mom came home and saw that I was the only one left in the house, she asked me darkly, "Where are your sisters?""They're playing outside," I replied, proudly showing off the small flower brooch that I had made for her. "Mom, Happy Mother's—"I hadn't even managed to finish my wish when she tore my clothes off my body and began lashing at my frail body with a leather belt."Why didn't you keep an eye on them?"She

Upon entering the apartment, the floor was completely flooded with water.Mom was still live-streaming on her phone, saying that she was going to expose her useless fool of a son for doing this.Then, she caught sight of the huge fish tank in the center of the living room, with an old television set on top of the lid. She had purposely put the old TV there because she didn't want me to crawl out of it by myself.Water was seeping out from under the lid.Dad exclaimed and hurriedly went over to shut the water off."Darling? Why did you take out the old TV and set it on the fish tank?" he asked. "And where's Elmer? Why isn't he here to greet me?"Elmer? Dad's home! And I've brought gifts!"Dad kept calling out to me while walking toward the fish tank, thinking of removing the old TV, when Mom suddenly yelled at him, "Don't move!"Elmer… Elmer is still taking a nap in his room. Don't go in and disturb him."Just then, the comments on Mom's live stream suddenly increased again."

"It's all my fault!" Emily wailed. "I said that I wanted to watch a horror movie with my classmates, but Mom found out and locked Elmer in a dark room with horror movies on loop to scare him!"She said that she wanted to show me what it was like to be scared out of my wits! She warned me never to watch nonsense like that anymore!"Dad slapped Mom again after hearing what Emily said. He shuddered while yelling, "This is how you treated my son when I wasn't around, Diana Crawford?"Mom had the nerve to argue. She fought back, shoving Dad away forcefully and leaving bloody nail marks on his face."Did you think I had it easy bringing up three children by myself? I would never have had to live like this if you were home more often!"Dad was so pissed that his chest began heaving. "You're saying this is my fault? I've been working my ass off, working overtime, and going on countless business trips, all for this family! I just wanted us to have a better life! And you're saying it's my f

Mom was allowed to go home for a while the next day.The tank was still sitting quietly in the living room, as if nothing terrible had just happened."Elmer…" she murmured, walking toward the tank. "I was so foolish. Why hadn't I checked the tap properly back then? Why didn't I let you out and bring you out for dinner?"While speaking, she put the hose into the tank and turned on the tap. Then, she walked into my room.My exercise book, filled with lines from Shakespeare, was still lying open on my desk. She would even make me memorize the quote, word for word, and ultimately remind me again and again that I was nothing more than a dog. She wanted me to never forget it. I was the scapegoat, the "sacrificial" dog, whose only purpose in life was to serve as an example for Esther and Emily, reminding them never to make a mistake.Mom picked up my exercise book and flipped through the pages, her tears blurring out the writing in it. Then, she brought the book with her and went over