"Oh, and also, Anna really likes the doll Stella plays with during the holidays. I heard it's a BJD doll given by your brother, so how about you lend it to our Anna to play with for a couple of days?"
That doll was a birthday present from my uncle and I treasure it dearly. I didn't let anyone touch it.
My mother knew how much I cherished her, so she'd definitely protect it for me.
But the next second, a fawning smile appeared on my mother's face. "It's just a doll. If Anna likes it, just take it. Why say 'lend'?"
My uncle and his family of three left satisfied. They took bags and bags of stuff from my room.
After taking the BJD doll, my mother even took all my other dolls with it.
She called it an apology.
Still, what did I do wrong? Why should I apologize? It was clearly my cousin who was in the wrong!
The moment my father came home with my little brother from kindergarten, anger was written all over his face. My mother quickly asked what had happened.
My father fumed, "Stella thinks she's all grown up now. She actually had the nerve to skip kindergarten! When I picked up our son, the teacher even asked me why I hadn't asked Stella for leave. That's when I found out Stella missed the morning school bus. I'm going to teach her a lesson today!"
As he spoke, my father picked up a broom, preparing to head to the balcony to beat me.
However, my mother stopped him. She was also annoyed. "Since she's so stubborn, let her stay there. Let's ask Stanley for leave and take him to the beach. I want to see if she can keep being stubborn then."
I placed myself on their path to the balcony, desperately wanting them to notice me.
I wanted to tell them that I didn't skip school because I was being stubborn. I skipped school because I was dead, that's why I couldn't go.
"Mom and Dad, I wasn't being stubborn. I wanted to meet my teacher, too. I also wanted to see my classmates."
But they walked right through me, took some clothes and left. Not once did they look in my direction.
The kindergarten teacher had called my smartwatch, probably to ask why I hadn't come to school. Sadly, I couldn't touch the watch, so I just stayed quietly beside my own body.
My cat could see me, but she didn't like the way I looked now. Every time I got close, she would hiss at me.
I watched helplessly as my body turned from pale to developing strange blotches. Even some liquid started seeping out from under the cardboard box.
The clothes that the neighbors downstairs were hanging quickly got stained by the dripping liquid. They grumbled angrily, "People upstairs! Have you no sense of public decency? How could you dump dirty water from your balcony?"
Unfortunately, no one was home. The curses they hurled were destined to go unheard by my parents.
I drifted downstairs, apologizing over and over again. Then I drifted back to the balcony, wanting to find something to wipe up the liquid from the box.
Seeing that no one was taking care of it, the couple downstairs called the property management. They asked the management to contact the occupants, but they still couldn't reach anyone.
In the end, the staff decided to climb up from the balcony below to investigate the source of the problem.
Later, a few workers climbed up and reached the cardboard box. That was when they found me.
My parents, who were playing in the sand with my brother at the beach, received a call from the police.
"What happened to my daughter?"
"An accident? You must be joking. You're definitely a scammer. That stubborn girl, Stella, is perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She can manage just fine even when we're not around."
"Don't even think about tricking me into transferring money."
Just as he was about to hang up, my father heard my grandparents' voices.
My grandparents' voices were trembling.
"You two bastards, worthless things, where have you been? Get back here!"
"Get back here right now!"
"Something happened to the child."
