Semua Bab The Last Offering: Bab 11 - Bab 20

"Why not?!"Mom slammed the table and stood up in a huff."She's your daughter!"Dad looked up at her with bloodshot eyes."Helen was also my daughter while she was alive.""But between us, who actually treated her like our own child?"Mom was rendered speechless.Hailey rushed over and hugged Dad's legs."Dad, don't leave!""Who will buy me toys if you leave? Who will bring me out for fried chicken?"She didn't ask Dad if he loved her.She only cared if anyone would continue spending money to coax her in the future.Dad looked down at her for a long while before slowly prying her fingers away."Look for your mom for that."Hailey slumped on the floor, sobbing hysterically."I'll change. I won't snatch Helen's food from now on.""Don't abandon me!"Dad shut his eyes."I'll always think of that meatball whenever I see you.""I'll think about you crying over Helen snatching your things, and how I kicked her and scolded her for being embarrassing.""I hate you, but I h

Mom was paralyzed.Due to her lumbar fracture and severe nerve compression, she lost all sensation in her lower body. On the day she was discharged and could return home, the moment she was wheeled into the dining room in her wheelchair, she immediately spotted the solid wood table."Throw it away!"Mom suddenly went berserk as she smacked the handle of her wheelchair hard."Smash it, burn it. I don't want to see it ever again!"Hailey looked at the table and said coldly, "Why throw such a good table away? We can sell it for some money."In the past, she couldn't even be bothered to pick up a dollar from the ground. Now that Mom had lost her job and they had gone through all their savings for the operation, she finally knew how much money was needed for a piece of candy and a bag of diapers.Grandma came over to take care of Mom for a few days.She scolded Dad for being heartless while feeding Mom."Men are all unreliable, running away faster than a rabbit when disaster strike

Over the next few years, Hailey was forced to grow up.She would wake up early in the morning every day to prepare breakfast, wipe Mom down, and change her diaper before carrying her bag and going to school. After coming home from school, she also had to do the laundry and clean up the dirty house. Her hands were often soaked in dirty water, making the skin on the back of her hand turn pale and crack. The gunk in her nails could never be washed off.Whenever Mom was eating too slowly, Hailey would throw the spoon into the bowl in anger."Open your mouth!""I need to complete my assignments. Can't you be faster?"Hailey was now the one in charge of the food.Mom didn't dare to argue with her and had to obediently swallow the food she was fed.Being bedbound for so long caused bedsores to grow on Mom's body. Her wounds became deeper and deeper and even gave off a foul odor of rotting skin, and the community doctor ordered her to be hospitalized.Hailey held the hospital bill in

Hailey dropped out of middle school, as the subsistence allowance they received was hardly enough for Mom's medication and diapers.Hailey would wash dishes at a restaurant in the day before going to a hair salon to learn the ropes. All the work left her with only about four to five hours of sleep a day.The restaurant owner would scold her for being slow."You can't even wash the dishes clean. Where did all the food you ate go?"Hailey worked over ten hours each day and could only eat customers' leftovers.One time, she was so hungry that she started having gastric pains. That was when she saw half a chicken drumstick in the trash can.She reached out and was about to grab it when the owner's wife kicked the trash can over."Trying to pick food from the trash? What are you, a dog?"She scolded Hailey in the exact same way Mom used to scold me.Hailey clutched her stomach, her face paling.A short distance away, the owner's wife was coaxing her own son to eat a chicken drumst

It was the first time my sixteen-year-old sister learned to make meatballs.In her first attempt, the meatballs broke apart, and there was minced meat floating everywhere in the pot.In her second attempt, she burned the meat, and the smell lingered in the kitchen for a long time.In her third attempt, she finally managed something decent, although the color of the meatballs looked a little dark.On the day of my death anniversary, she put the meatballs in a box and pushed Mom to the cemetery.Mom had completely lost her mind.She kept asking along the way, "Where are we going?"Hailey kept replying to her, "To send food to Helen."My tombstone faced the sun, and it was a warm spot indeed.It was much better than the windowless store room I had when I was alive.Hailey opened the box of meatballs and placed a few before my tombstone.She had grown up.She looked skinnier and darker, and all the prideful arrogance of her childhood was gone, leaving behind only fatigue."Hel