After My Mother's Cure Killed Me のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 1 - チャプター 10

My spirit did not fade. Instead, I drifted toward the cheers rising from a seaside restaurant and saw my mother and my younger sister, Vivian Ashford, seated by the window.A grilled steak, seafood salad, and two glasses of chilled blueberry juice sat on the table.My mother held her knife and fork, but she made no move to cut the steak in front of her.She looked at that frosted glass of blueberry juice, and something soft flickered across her eyes."Iris used to love this."My mother murmured under her breath."When she isn't having one of her episodes or making trouble, she's actually a very bright girl."She had straight A’s and glowing recommendation letters for her college applications."I drifted to her side, my eyes burning with tears."Mom..."Vivian's voice was soft and sweet. She propped her chin on her hand and swung her legs back and forth."Mom, should we go help her? She really did look like she was in pain...""Leave her alone!" My mother's eyes hardened instantly, and

The year I turned twelve, the illness struck for the first time.My family drained their savings, sold my father's beloved black stretch limousine, and moved out of our house with its yard and apple tree.Because my father took so much time off to bring me to appointments, his company's cash flow also collapsed.Overdue bill notices stuffed our mailbox month after month."If every cent goes into this bottomless pit, what happens to Vivian? How are we supposed to live?" my mother sobbed one night, her face buried in her hands.My parents would sit across from each other at the dining table and argue past midnight over a single medical bill.My illness had dragged the entire family into ruin.In the midsummer of the year I turned fourteen, Vivian was preparing to audition for American Ballet Theatre's youth company.But I brushed against the ultraviolet sterilizing lamp in the living room and ended up rolling on the floor in pain.My mother rushed down from upstairs and held on to me.As

But she had barely taken two steps when Vivian rushed over and grabbed her arm."Mom, if you go after her now, she'll think you've caved in again!"The desensitization treatment we finally started will all have been for nothing!"Vivian clung to her arm."Do you want her spending her whole life as a vampire who can't come out in daylight and drags the family down with her?"You go soft every single time, and that's why she has no shame about holding us hostage with her illness!"Wait a little longer. It'll be dark soon and she'll come back on her own."My mother went rigid where she stood.She looked out the window.The sun really had dropped toward the west.Images of the chaos that followed my flare-ups flashed through her mind. The flicker of pity she had felt was quickly smothered by irritation.She slammed the tuna sandwich back onto the table."You're right."I can't keep indulging her. She needs to learn a lesson she'll remember."I crouched by the coffee table, watching my moth

My mother's screaming brought the security staff in the distance running.Floodlights swept across the desolate rocky beach.The harsh light fell across the body and illuminated the terror on my mother's face.But she seemed to feel none of it.She knelt in the blood, unscrewed the repair cream with shaking hands, and smoothed the milky cream onto my face."It's all right. Iris is all right."Mom bought medicine. It won't hurt once I put this on."But that ruined skin couldn't take being touched at all.The moment the cream went on, a patch of skin came away under her finger, showing the raw red underneath.My mother's eyes went red instantly."How can this be happening? Why isn't it working!"White ointment mixed with dark blood and smeared across her hands and sleeves.She called my name over and over, as though if she were only loud enough she could call me back out of death."Iris, wake up!"Mom was wrong. Mom will never make you go out in the sun again!"She gathered the rigid bod

While mother and daughter hurled accusations back and forth, the office door swung open.My father, Daniel Ashford, who had been working abroad to cover my crushing medical bills, burst into the room, exhausted from the journey.He was out of breath, his eyes red, a manila envelope clenched in one hand."Where's Iris?"Where is my Iris!"When my mother saw him, she scrambled toward him like a drowning person grabbing driftwood."Daniel, help me!"Iris didn't make it. She's left us..."My father looked down at her blood-soaked clothes.The unmistakable, cloying stench of death twisted his features in an instant.He grabbed her by the collar with enough force to lift her off the floor."What do you mean she didn't make it? Why did the police tell me you left her out in the sun?"My mother cried so hard she couldn't get out a full sentence.On the flight back, my father had been checking the message from the research center over and over.He had thought that if he could just bring that re