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All Chapters of The Game My Mother Rigged: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Warm blood ran from my neck, through my hair, and into Mother’s imported rug. I tried to wipe it away, but my fingers passed through the carpet.My body grew lighter until I floated above the study. When I looked down, I understood that thirteen-year-old Elena Moretti was dead.I recognized death because I had seen Nonna Rosa lying this still six years earlier. That day, she had thrown Mother’s wooden box onto the table, scattering colored sticks across the floor.“A child should never have to draw lots for her mother’s love,” Nonna said.Mother held Sofia against her chest. “The game gives them an equal chance.”“Then buy two of something, or let them take turns.”“Some things cannot be divided. Luck makes the decision so I do not have to.”Nonna glanced at me beside the doorway. “Elena has drawn black for years. She gets whatever Sofia rejects and sleeps in a bed too small for her. You even made her draw for comfort when she had a fever. Does that feel fair to you?”Mother tightene

Chapter 2

“Mom, I’m here.”I rushed toward her and tried to throw my arms around her, but she walked straight through me. She felt nothing. Her familiar perfume lingered where her body had passed.Mother picked up the club access card she had left on the entry table. As she crossed the hall, her gaze settled on the closed study door.“Elena, how long are you planning to lock yourself in there?”She turned the handle. The door opened only a few inches before my body stopped it. I tried to explain that I had not meant to ruin her rug and could no longer clean it for her, but she could not hear me.Sofia hurried in from outside and caught Mother’s hand.“Mom, come on. The ice show is about to start.”Mother released the handle. “There’s half of Sofia’s beef sandwich in the kitchen. You can have it. I’m not making you draw today, so don’t accuse me of treating you unfairly.”The front door closed, and their black car soon disappeared beyond the gates.I drifted into the kitchen. The sandwich was col

Chapter 3

Mother made Sofia’s baked macaroni after all.The three of them sat around the dining table, talking about the lights and music at the ice show. When I moved closer to Mother, I noticed a small box on the empty chair beside her, tied with a gold ribbon.It had to be my birthday dessert. Mother had remembered. For a moment, I forgot the study, the blood, and the fact that I could no longer touch her. I only wanted to sit beside her while she lit the candle, even if Sofia helped me blow it out.I pointed it out to Nero outside the window, but Mother soon pushed the box toward Sofia.“This is the cupcake you wanted at the arena. Take it to your room and eat it there. Do not let Elena see it. She has caused enough trouble today.”Sofia lifted the lid. A single chocolate cupcake sat inside, covered in white frosting and flakes of gold.I had never eaten anything so beautiful. I followed Sofia upstairs and watched her drag one finger through the frosting. Nero suddenly jumped from the window

Chapter 4

Every stick scattered across the floor was black.I counted them one by one, but there was not a single gold stick among them.The game had always been a lie. The only gold stick I had ever held was the one I painted for my birthday, and Mother had punished me for creating the chance she had denied me since Sofia was born.She had always known I could never win. For years, she watched me practice and blame every disappointment on my terrible luck while she gave Sofia everything.A coldness settled through me that even death had not caused. For the first time, I no longer wondered what I had done wrong.Over the next few days, Mother and Father treated me like empty space. No one set a place for me at the table, and Mother stopped calling me to draw. Sofia received every meal, kiss, and gift without reaching into the wooden box. With no one left to lose, Mother no longer needed the game.She told my school that I was upset over my birthday and refusing to leave the house.Meanwhile, the

Chapter 5

The officers’ faces changed the moment they saw my body. Mrs. Donnelly covered her mouth, but a sob escaped before she could stop it.Mother and Father stood outside the study without moving closer.“I told you that smell was wrong,” Mrs. Donnelly said. “Elena lay in this room for four days. You walked past this door every day and never found her.”Mother slowly shook her head. “That is not Elena.”While the medical examiner’s team examined me, they found a crescent-shaped birthmark on my ankle. The skin around it had begun to decay, but the mark was still clear.Father stared at it. His lips moved several times, though no sound came out.“She was born with that mark,” Mrs. Donnelly said. “This is Elena.”Father looked as if he might laugh or collapse. Neither he nor Mother cried. I waited for one of them to call my name or step forward and touch my hand, but neither moved.They had both cried when Nonna Rosa died. Father had stood alone outside the church after her funeral, while Moth

Chapter 6

“Your sister has been crying for hours. Does that make you happy?”Nero’s voice came from behind me. I turned and found his body as pale and transparent as mine.“You can talk now?”“Death does that.”He sat beside me and licked a paw that no longer touched the floor.“Sofia remembered that I scratched her. While Mrs. Donnelly was calling child services, Sofia slipped into the yard and chased me into the alley with a baseball bat.”My happiness at having someone beside me disappeared.“I’m sorry.”“Cats in alleys rarely live long. Following you might be useful. We may even find Nonna Rosa. She used to leave roasted chicken for me behind the church.”I wanted to find Nonna too, but whenever I tried to move far from my body or the Moretti family, an invisible force pulled me back.Sofia was still crying in the living room. Watching her lose our parents’ attention gave me a small, shameful sense of satisfaction. Perhaps I had never been such a good child after all.The autopsy confirmed m

Chapter 7

“Your parents regret what they did,” Nero said as he sat beside me.I was surprised too. Mother had cried when she smashed the family portrait, although I had always believed the unluckiest child in the house was not worth her grief.After the medical examiner released my body, my parents sent it to the funeral home used by the Moretti family. The mortician recommended a closed casket, but Mother insisted on seeing me first.She bought armfuls of new clothes and asked to dress me herself. My body had decayed too badly, and the pale fabric quickly became stained. The staff could only arrange the clothes beside my casket.Sofia covered her nose as she approached.“Why is Elena so ugly now? She smells terrible too.”Mother turned and slapped her.Sofia pressed a hand to her cheek and said nothing else. When she lowered her head, her eyes remained fixed on the gifts surrounding my casket.Father brought dolls, books, and jewelry, as if he could replace thirteen years of neglect before the

Chapter 8

Father feared that Mother might hurt Sofia again, so he took her to his sister’s house that night.The funeral home needed to be cleaned after the fire, and Mother temporarily returned to the Moretti house. Broken glass and torn clothes still covered the floors, while unwashed dishes filled the kitchen sink.The house had always looked clean again by morning, no matter how much of a mess the family made.Mother finally remembered that I had cleaned the kitchen after school, straightened the living room, and carried Father’s abandoned jackets to the laundry room. She had never asked Sofia to do any of it, and she had rarely asked whether I was tired.“Marco comes home and thinks only about the club. Sofia waits for everyone to serve her.”Mother knelt beside my little bed and clutched the old blanket.“Elena, you were the only one who ever helped me.”The fire had ruined my casket, so Mother ordered another one made from walnut. It was wide enough for me to lie comfortably, with a dark

Chapter 9

When the livestream began, Mother placed the empty wooden box in front of the camera.“I told Elena that drawing black meant she had bad luck. There was never a gold stick in the box. I decided every loss before she ever reached inside.”“I taught one child that she had to win food, clothes, and affection. I taught the other that she deserved everything whenever her sister lost.”After clinicians evaluated her following the suicide attempt, Mother entered a residential psychiatric treatment program. The neglect case ended in plea agreements. The court credited Mother’s inpatient treatment and placed Father on probation, allowing Sofia to remain with him under child welfare supervision.Father visited many times and asked her to come home. She refused each time.“I created that game and kept it going for ten years. I need to stay here and accept treatment.”Father had to raise Sofia alone.He threw away every remaining stick and ended all games based on winning and losing. The first tim

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