All Chapters of When She Found Me Digging Through the Trash: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

This was the first time I'd eaten out of a trash can.Staring at a pile of meat scraps, wilted salad, and mixed-up fried mushrooms, I picked the only thing that was still somewhat clean. A piece of black bread. The second the wheat smell hit my nose, the cramping in my stomach eased.I shoved the bread into my mouth as fast as I could.Everyone in the courtyard was watching. Not a single person looked surprised.Because my poverty was no longer a secret at this school.Eating out of the trash was just a matter of time.On the first day of freshman year, my mom told me I'd completed my awakening and was a mature Alpha now. Time to handle things on my own.She bought my plane ticket. Right before boarding, she sent me one last message."Your teacher Ms. Laura is my close friend. I'll send your living allowance to her from now on. If you need anything, go to her."When I saw that message, I wasn't thrilled. I was an adult now, after all.But to put my mother's mind at ease, I went to find

Chapter 2

The second I put the phone down, the teaching assistant knocked on my desk."Elsa, we found a bookstore doing a group discount. Whole class buying together, twenty percent off. About two hundred and forty. What do you think?"I instinctively clenched the two hundred in my pocket. I swallowed several times, face burning red, trying to form words."Never mind, you look busy. I'll go ask the others."She must have seen how uncomfortable I was, because she offered me the out herself.But the commotion had already drawn attention.I forced my head down into my collar."Oh, and Alphas need to pay a mandatory accident insurance fee. About fifty. It's required. Full moon nights aren't exactly risk-free."The assistant circled the room and came back to me.I pressed my lips together and quietly handed over a hundred.She took it and walked away.I felt the remaining hundred and fifty in my pocket and wanted so badly to video-call my mom. Show her exactly how many things still needed to be bough

Chapter 3

My eyes burned. The acid in my nose made my voice crack."I haven't been wasting money. It's really just not enough."Two hundred a month. That's less than what Bobo eats in a single day. How could she possibly think it was enough?The frustration nearly shoved those words right out of my mouth.But my mother's sharp voice came first."If you haven't been wasting it, how come you can't even afford to see a doctor? Elsa, you're getting more and more spoiled!""I spend every ounce of energy running this company. And you're still like this? Do you have any idea what kind of responsibility you'll have to carry in the future?""Zero self-control. I'm so disappointed in you!"She hung up first. Again.I held the phone and couldn't understand.Why?Why do other Alpha kids live without a care in the world while I'm killing myself over a few bucks?Why have I done everything I can, worked myself to the bone, and still end up being called wasteful and ungrateful?What do I have to do to make her

Chapter 4

Then the haute couture outfit. The custom RM watch on her wrist.And me, looking like a beggar. Nobody in their right mind would think we were related.I stared at her for a few seconds, making sure I wasn't dreaming, then scrambled to my feet."Mom?""What, what are you doing here?"That one word made the entire courtyard go silent.Nobody expected the woman driving a Cullinan to be the mother of the school's most notorious poor kid.My mom didn't speak.She just looked at me, head to toe, without saying a word.My hair was a mess. Bread crumbs all over my mouth. Stains all over my clothes.And I was still gripping a half-eaten piece of someone else's black bread.The next second, she frowned, snatched it from my hand, and threw it in the trash."Elsa, have you lost your mind?""I give you a living allowance. You're out here eating other people's leftovers? Are you trying to make people think your own mother is abusing you?"My mom was angry.But did I want this? If I had any money at

Chapter 5

Hearing me, my mom froze for a second.Then her brow knotted and her voice went cold."Elsa, what are you talking about?""How could I possibly give you only two hundred a month?""You'd make up a lie this big just to embarrass me?"I was lying?I was eating other people's garbage and she still thought I was making it up?Before I could respond, a voice cut through the courtyard."Ma'am, Elsa isn't lying. She really does only get two hundred a month."It was Dr. Harper.She stepped out of the crowd, walked to my side, and faced my mom directly."I'm Dr. Harper, the school physician. She's a regular at my clinic. How she's been living, I know better than anyone.""I've watched her eat nothing but pasta and cheap bread for months. Not a single piece of meat. Not once."Hearing someone finally speak up for me, my eyes stung.These past months, everyone had kept their distance from me because I was poor and embarrassing. Only Harper had quietly helped.When she saw me too exhausted to stan

Chapter 6

Hearing my mom's words, I froze solid.Earlier, when she mentioned twenty thousand a month, I thought she was saving face. Making things up in front of people.But now, looking at her breaking down, tears streaming, I started to question everything.Could she be telling the truth?Twenty thousand a month?How was that possible?I wasn't the only one who didn't believe it.The dining hall erupted with doubt."No way. If Elsa really got twenty thousand a month, she wouldn't have destroyed her own body like this.""Right? The wolf spirit is sacred. If she had any money at all, she'd never let it get bad enough to need moon elixir.""But her mom doesn't look like she's lying either.""Then where did the money actually go?"I stared at my mom, stunned."I've gotten two hundred a month all semester.""I've never heard of any twenty thousand."My mom frowned."But I've been transferring twenty thousand to Laura every month for your living expenses."She pulled out her phone and showed me the

Chapter 7

A few hours ago, when Laura lent me two hundred and told me not to tell my mom, I genuinely believed I'd found the best teacher in the world.I even convinced myself that sometimes, the only light in your life comes from someone outside your family.I was stupid enough to believe she was kinder to me than my own mother.Now I finally understood. The person standing in front of me was the architect of every miserable day I'd lived.I looked at her fake, panicked face, and the last ember of gratitude inside me went dark."Ms. Laura, every time you soothed me, every time you lied to me, every time you played the good guy, it was to keep me grateful. To keep me under your control. To make sure I never told my mom what was really happening.""From the very beginning, you never had a teacher's heart.""To keep my mother's money for yourself, you watched me running laps in the blazing heat until my skin peeled off, until I was sunburnt and raw, so thirsty I wouldn't spend a cent on water, squ

Chapter 8

The second my mom said she was calling the police, Laura's face went white. She lunged at my mom, begging."Mona, we've been friends for years. You can't do this to me.""I was thinking about Elsa's future! My methods were wrong, sure, but my heart was in the right place!""The money, I can figure out a way to pay it back. Just stop holding one little mistake over my head, please?"My mom looked at her coldly."Friends?""When you were taking my daughter's money and living it up, did you think about us being friends?""When you watched my daughter starving, freezing, working herself half to death, and you patted her head and told her she was doing great, did you think about us being friends?""When you were trashing my daughter to my face, making me misunderstand her, making me yell at her, did you think about us being friends?""Let me tell you something. The two hundred thousand? I don't need it.""But what you did to my daughter? That bill gets paid."She pulled out her phone and di

Chapter 9

Laura's face went completely grey.In the end, under the stares of the entire school, the police took her away.Before they put her in the car, Laura shot one last look at my mom, cursing through her teeth."Mona, you heartless woman. You'll get what's coming to you!"As her voice faded, the crowd slowly thinned out.My mom held my hand and walked toward the exit. Her steps were steady. But the hand holding mine hadn't stopped shaking.I looked down. Her knuckles were white. She was gripping me loosely, afraid of touching my cracked skin.The Cullinan was parked by the school gate.She opened the door for me, walked around to the driver's seat, and sat down. But she didn't start the car.She gripped the steering wheel and stared at the snowflakes drifting across the windshield. Didn't move for a long time."Elsa.""Yeah?""Am I... a terrible mother?"I turned to look at her.She wasn't looking at me. Her shoulders were slightly slumped. Her voice was thin and rough."I should have sens

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