All Chapters of They Lost Me the Day They Broke the Wishing Willow: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

At dawn, the kitchen was already filled with the smell of butter and vanilla.When I came downstairs, a full spread was laid out on the long table.Garlic butter baked crab claws. Clam chowder. Cilantro beef tacos. And a plate of lemon-marinated shrimp.Steam curled up with the scent of cream.But I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. My throat tightened.I was allergic to shellfish. One bite would send me to the ER.Cilantro tasted like soap in my mouth.My mother had remembered these things for eighteen years.But today, she sat at the table in her apron, cracking open crab claws one by one, picking out the snow-white meat, arranging it neatly in a small pink bowl."Chloe loved these since she was little.""And don't skimp on the cilantro in the tacos. She said without cilantro, there's no soul.""I need to practice her favorites ahead of time. I don't want her to frown at her first meal home."I sat at the table for a long time, staring at the plates, not daring to look up."Mom, d

I pressed myself against the back of the door and didn't move.In the living room, my mother kept her voice low. "Why do we still have to wait a whole day?""That's fast enough," my father said.My mother sighed."I still think it's slow. After all these years apart, Chloe must miss us so much.""When she comes back, we'll have to make it up to her double."Strange as it was, hearing those words didn't hurt anymore.The stone that had pressed on my chest for over a decade seemed to be loosening, bit by bit.I could even calmly count down the seconds for myself.In the morning, my mother came knocking with a cake catalog."Help Mom pick one?"She handed me a box of colored candles. "You pick the candles too."I didn't take them.My mother looked unhappy. "Don't throw a tantrum. Once Chloe is back, we'll make it up to you.""It's okay. I won't need it."My mother's smile froze at the corner of her mouth.As dusk fell, Damian came.He was holding a worn notebook. He opened it and pushed i

I thought disappearing meant death.When I opened my eyes, the faint smell of disinfectant filled my nose.A woman sat by the bed, her eyes swollen from crying. When she saw I was awake, she stepped back half a pace."Don't be scared. I won't touch you."A man stood at the door, holding a thermal container."Sweetheart, have some potato soup first. No garlic, no cheese. The doctor said you need something warm."The woman set a glass of warm water on the nightstand, her voice slow and gentle."If you're not ready to talk, you don't have to. We can wait."On the blanket, a tuft of orange fur stirred.Pumpkin poked his head out from under the covers, yawned at me, and flicked his tail.My tears fell without warning.Outside the door, a nurse quietly reported my vitals: everything normal.After receiving the Wishing Willow's message, I figured it out quickly.I hadn't died. Pumpkin hadn't died either.I had disappeared from my original world—but I'd arrived in a parallel world, with a new

(Third Person POV)The celebration balloons still hung in the house. But Chloe had already introduced the family to a stranger.She wouldn't wear the white dress for photos. She wouldn't let Damian get close. Half the dishes on the table she couldn't touch.She hated anyone's skin touching hers. The curtains were only ever allowed open a crack.The TV volume was never allowed above twenty.At first, my mother tried to be patient. "Since you've come back to this world, you need to learn to adapt! You can't keep living like this!"Chloe buried her face in a pillow, hands over her ears, screaming."This is how I've always been! You're the ones who need to adapt—not me!"My mother wanted to argue, but her mind was full of that taped-up diagnosis.The psychologist had given her an entire parenting manual. She hadn't even opened it.She'd been convinced her child couldn't possibly be sick—that it was just modern kids being spoiled.Now that young woman was curled in a corner, scratching at t