The Missing Adopted Daughter

This summer, a foul stench suddenly filled our home. And as the temperature rose, the smell grew even stronger, but no one except me could smell it.

They told me I was sick. However, after my sense of smell was checked out, the result showed it was normal.

I had tried everything, like moving out, getting spiritual readings, getting hypnosis and others, to get rid of the smell, but the situation just kept getting worse. And this made me on the verge of losing my mind!

Then one day, as I passed by the butcher shop downstairs, something the owner said jolted me.

"Miss, have you ever considered that there might actually be a dead body in your house?"

——

"What did you just say?" I asked.

"I said, have you ever thought that maybe there is a dead body in your house?" he asked again. "Perhaps, everyone smells it, but they're just too scared to say it out loud. I heard from the older generation that when someone does too much evil, their descendants will suffer for it. That misfortune will come back to torment them.”

“There’s really such a thing?” I asked.

“Oh, sure. And the more evil thing someone has done, the more meat they and their family eat, the stronger the stench becomes. You can even smell their malice. If you want to get to the truth, do what I say. Buy exactly two pounds and four ounces of meat every day and eat it for seven days straight. Then you’ll know what’s really going on.”

I looked at the butcher skeptically, doubting his words. That was because ever since I first started smelling this stench, I’d tried everything I could think of and not a single thing had worked.

Will his method work? Or was he using this bizarre story to sell more pork?

It seemed the butcher knew what I was thinking. He mysteriously raised the boning knife in his hand and assured me, “Young lady, I’ve been slaughtering pigs for over twenty years. I never lie in front of the knife. That’s the rule in this business. If I were to lie, this boning knife would turn against me and I’d suffer the agony of being cut to pieces.”

“I’ve been running this butcher shop in the neighborhood for years. Everyone knows everyone around here. I’m only telling you this because you look like a good kid. Trust me, follow what I said and you will find the source of the smell.”

Despite my doubts, I believed him … mostly.

I ended up buying two pounds and four ounces of meat and took it home.

The stench truly tormented me. I could smell it everywhere I went, but it was especially unbearable at home. The smell was so intense, it kept me up at night.

I had to take sleeping pills just to fall asleep and I could not help but increase the dose every night.

No one in my family cared about my plight, saying I was being overly sensitive and fragile.

My younger brother even cruelly mocked me, "Have you been reading too many CEO romance novels and developed a psychological disorder? Are you imagining yourself as the fragile, sensitive female lead?"

My parents laughed at me when they heard him, brushing off my condition as imaginary nonsense. There was not a shred of concern for my condition in their heart.

I’d already visited nearly every hospital I could and what little savings I had were almost gone and my parents never once offered to help.

When I walked in with two pounds and four ounces of meat, my mother, who had been planning to cook, put down the pan and prepared to leave.  

“Kaylee, you’re back just in time. You cook the meal, because I’m going to visit the neighbors. Emma upstairs invited me over to take a look at the new clothes she bought.”

Bang!

Slamming the door, my mother walked out without looking back.

The room echoed with my younger brother’s intense cursing as he played video games, while my father was busy with his fossil research in the study. Everyone in the family was indifferent and even extremely cold for an unknown reason to me.

My nose stung and I was about to cry, when the overwhelming stench hit me again. It was so strong I nearly passed out.

I forced back the tears, took the meat and walked into the kitchen.

Just then, I heard a noise from an empty cupboard in the southeast corner of the kitchen. An unfamiliar foul stench that was worse than anything I had smelled before leaked from it and the cupboard was locked tightly with a padlock.