I’ll Be Good, Mom

Mom was a top student at a prestigious school and had always been determined to be the best at everything.

She demanded that I learn to walk by seven months, speak fluently by eighteen months, and master all addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division by the age of three.

I did all of it. Yet Mom still felt it wasn’t enough.

However, when my younger brother, Liam, didn’t speak until he was five, Mom clapped and cheered when he finally did, celebrating his “late-blooming brilliance”.

I didn’t think anything of it.

Until one day, I was wearing headphones, memorizing Spanish words, and accidentally let the sound leak out, scaring Liam. He clutched his chest and cried, saying his heart hurt.

Mom’s eyes turned red as she stormed over and slapped me. Then she grabbed my ear, twisting it a full 360 degrees with all her strength.

The pain in my ear was so intense that I lost all feeling, and the fear made me nauseous to the point of vomiting.

Still, Mom forced the headphones back on, cranked the volume to the maximum, and locked me in the storage room to reflect.

“How could I give birth to such a terrible child? You’re just jealous of Liam. No matter how much I do for you, you’ll never appreciate it!

“Love listening to words, huh? Then listen all you want.”

But seven days later, when she opened the door, she completely lost it.

The high-frequency sound waves kept vibrating inside my head, filling me with fear and agony. I couldn’t hear anything around me, even though I screamed until my throat turned hoarse.

Outside the room, it was empty and silent. There was no response at all.

I tried to take off the headphones that were clamped tightly around my head. However, Mom had installed an anti-slip locking device on them. No matter how I struggled, I couldn’t remove them.

I was in so much pain.

The sharp, piercing noise wouldn’t go away, no matter how I shook my head. Soon, a headache set in, and anxiety rose uncontrollably, as if someone was gripping my throat tightly.

I began to lose the ability to breathe. My heartbeat gradually sped up, and my whole body lost its balance.

Meanwhile, outside, Mom and Dad had already taken my little brother, Liam, who kept crying about the pain, to the hospital to have his heart checked.

No one responded to my cries for help.

Because of my screaming and crying, my ruptured eyeball bled even more.

Later on, the pain slowly turned numb. The wound began to rot, and I developed a high fever that wouldn’t go down.

My consciousness started to scatter, and all I could see was a blur of blood-red and dark shadows.

It hurts. It’s so loud… I just want some quiet…

“Mom, I didn’t mean to disturb Liam…

“I love you both so, so much. I love my brother so much, too…

“I really wanted to become your pride, but… I think I don’t have the strength anymore…

“I still have so much homework to finish. I haven’t finished memorizing my Spanish words…

“Mom, I want to do my homework… but I don’t have the strength anymore…”

…

Then, my consciousness began to rise.

My perspective shifted in a strange way, and the sharp pain from the headphones disappeared.

The feeling was so wonderful…

From the surveillance camera Mom installed to monitor the house came a burst of static, and her voice followed.

“Ellie, it’s a little cold outside. Find a jacket for Liam. We’ll come back to get it later.

“You little brat. I only said a couple of things to you, and now you won’t even respond?

“If you won’t get it, then forget it. We’ll just buy Liam new clothes!”

Hearing Mom’s voice from the other side of the monitor, I desperately tried to respond loudly.

However, I couldn’t make a sound.

‘Mom, did you forget I’m wearing headphones? I can’t hear you.

‘I’m not ignoring you. I just can’t hear anything!’

I waved desperately at the camera in the living room. When there was still no reaction, I returned to the storage room where I had been locked up.

There were so many rats surrounding me.

The big eyes Mom always praised as beautiful were now covered in blood and scabs.

If Mom saw this, she would definitely be angry. She’d say I ruined my own eyes.

What should I do?

With a creak, the door opened.

Hope had arrived!