Six years after the Jennings family threw me out for being their fake daughter, I was surviving by selling my blood.

I had just been handed a few bills and was about to call my doctor for more medication when a bodyguard kicked the back of my knee. My knees hit the floor, and I heard a scream. "You ungrateful brat! What are you doing here?! Are you still trying to kill Tina?!"

Then, there was a slap on my face. Only then did I realize that the woman in front of me was my mother, Florence. She had come looking for blood for her precious daughter, Tina.

My older brother, James, stood beside her and watched her break down. Then, he ordered the bodyguards to throw me out.

He looked down at me, saw the cash in my hand, and sneered. "Looks like the past few years aren't enough to wipe that temper out of you. To think that you're willing to sell your blood just for some money to satisfy your vanity. Tina graduates in two weeks, and she'll go abroad to further her education.

"Once she leaves, the family won't have to spoil her alone anymore, and you won't be able to bully her again. When that happens, I'll explain everything to Mom and Dad and bring you home. You'll still be the family's princess."

"Home... Princess...?" I muttered under my breath.

Then, I shook my head and laughed.

My amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) had progressed too quickly. I would not last for another month.

From the moment James accused me of being a fake heiress for Tina, I no longer had a home.

My fingers did not have the strength. Before I could hold the bills steadily, a gust of wind snatched them from my hand. Instinctively, I dragged my useless legs after the money.

Everyone around me stared as if I were a monster, but I did not care.

All I knew was that if I lost that money, the special medication I had spent so long planning for would be out of my reach again. My attention stayed on the bills flying away, so I did not even hear the passersby hurling insults at me.

Their disgust made James's face go dark.

Finally, he could not stand it anymore and roared, "Alicia! Are you so desperate for my pity that you don't even care about your dignity anymore?! We only kicked you out temporarily and sent you to another family! They were doing well enough, too! Who are you putting on this disgusting act for?"

His familiar voice struck my heart… And it trembled.

His careless words were a hell I never wanted to remember.

I could feel the bitterness rising inside of me. But in the end, I stopped and gathered what little strength I had left before taking another step.

However, the way I walked was just too strange. James's expression softened, and something changed in his dark eyes. He finally realized something was wrong.

He walked toward me anxiously and was about to speak when Tina suddenly appeared, covering her mouth in surprise.

"Oh, Alicia! Getting the hospital to issue a fake ALS diagnosis was bad enough, but now you're actually acting the part, too?" As she spoke with a wounded tone, she handed my diagnosis report to James.

"James, I know Alicia only did this because she wants to come home as soon as possible. I'm the one who ruined your relationship. Why don't you send me abroad early?" With Tina fanning the flames, James stared at the medical report. His fists clenched tighter as he gritted his teeth.

"I almost fell for it. After all these years, you've even learned to fake an illness when all you did was lie in the past? Don't fake it so well that you actually die before you even make it home!" James then threw the medical report at my face before pulling Tina away without hesitation.

I only snapped out of it when Tina looked back and gave me a victorious gaze. I smiled mockingly at myself. So what if I was his biological sister?

No matter what happened, it was my fault as long as Tina was involved. I was the liar.

But none of that mattered now anymore.

I only wanted to get my medicine as soon as possible so that my body would hurt a little less.

I picked up the money and got on the bus to the hospital.

Traffic was bad for a while. A long line of trucks with Jennings family donation banners stretched down the road.

Only after I saw a video on my phone did I learn that they were medical supplies James had donated to the countryside.

Then, my phone rang. It was my doctor. He sighed regretfully from the other end. "Ms. Jennings, you don't have to come now. Mr. Jennings gave the orders and said you're faking your illness, so no hospital is allowed to prescribe any medicine for you and waste any medical resources."

But the doctor knew my condition. He had already promised to reserve the medication for me, but no matter how I begged, he refused to give in. In the end, he hung up.

I stared blankly at the banners outside the bus window.

How ironic.

When James sponsored Tina, he never batted an eye when he paid for Tina.

Every year, the Jennings family ranked first among the aid teams supporting the countryside. Yet now, when I wanted to spend my own money on my own medication, that was a waste in James's eyes.

My last bit of hope was gone, so I got off at a random stop. I could not control my legs at all. In the end, I dropped to my knees with a thud.

The helplessness was choking me as I felt completely useless. All the emotions I had been holding back finally broke through. I cried as I slammed my fists against my legs repeatedly.

A young woman who was holding a camera hurried over and helped me to a bench by the road as she held my arm. She then handed me a tissue and asked carefully, "Did something happen? How can I help?"

My whole body went stiff.

I never thought that after all these years, what I had wanted most would come not from my family, but from a stranger who had nothing to do with me.

Six years ago, James felt sorry for Tina, the poor student he sponsored. So, he made a fake paternity test for my parents, Oscar and Florence. He then said, "Tina is your biological daughter. She's my real sister."

When I learned the truth, I was beyond shocked. I cried hysterically and begged him to tell Oscar and Florence the truth. All I got was a hard slap.

"Can you be a little more reasonable? Tina is an orphan, and she'll be bullied for that. Only when people at school know she has a family will no one bully her! You've already had so much love from us. What's wrong with letting Tina borrow your identity for a while?!"

On Tina's first day home, she started framing me over every little thing. She said I called her a country bumpkin and often used money to humiliate her. James would then hit me to teach me a lesson, while Oscar and Florence only held back their anger at me.

Until that day, when Tina came home from school with her clothes nearly torn off. She even had humiliating words marked onto her body. She fell to her knees in front of me and begged me as she sobbed, "Alicia, it's my fault! I'm just a country bumpkin! I shouldn't have stolen our parents from you. I deserve to die! I'll go and kill myself right now!"

Then, she turned and jumped into the pool, throwing the whole family into a rage.

James was the angriest. He immediately bribed a couple to pretend to be my biological parents and kicked me out. "Don't think you're untouchable. Go outside and work through that temper of yours. You can come home when you stop picking on Tina."

From then on, I lived in hell on earth.

That couple forced me to do the work of ten people by myself at their restaurant. The skin on my hands was always scarred with cuts.

Every time the man got drunk and violent, the woman pushed me in front of her as a shield. His slaps, fists, and bottles always landed on me. I almost died during the worst of it.

But slowly, they noticed something was wrong with the way I moved. I could not speak clearly and could not hold my fork steady when I ate. I did not have the strength to work. Even the way I walked became strange.

After I was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), they threw me out like trash without hesitation.

I could no longer work, so I could only sell my blood to cover the most basic food and shelter. The medicine I had wanted for so long was finally within reach, but James stopped me from getting it.

After hearing about the past six years of my life, the girl covered her mouth and started crying, her eyes full of pity.

She wiped her tears and said, "I'm a new blogger, and I'm helping strangers make their wishes come true. Do you have a wish?"

A wish?

I looked up at the stars and thought about it seriously.

"I want a coffin."

Living was hurting me too much. After I died, I wanted a peaceful place to rest.

The young woman agreed at once. Then, she carefully asked for my permission and posted my story online.

On the screen, my face was sallow and gaunt, and my clothes were in rags. For a second, I almost did not recognize myself. I used to care so much about looking pretty.

Then, a thought came to me. I wanted to look beautiful when I died.

I counted the money in my hand. I was still tens of dollars short of buying some proper clothes for when I died. I could make that much by collecting bottles, however. Still, my muscles had almost completely wasted away. I really could not walk anymore.

I could only make my way to the mall entrance and ask someone to help me write a few large words on a piece of cardboard: [Can you give me your empty plastic bottles? Thank you!]

However, there were still plenty of kind people. By the end of the day, the bag in front of me was full, and I sold the bottles for more than ten dollars.

But I had not expected the young woman's video to go viral, drawing sympathy and attention from countless strangers.

The next day, my bag was full as soon as I reached the mall. Just as I struggled to pick it up, James kicked it away. "Alicia! Why did you put that video online? Were you trying to make people pity you so they would attack Tina and torment her emotionally instead? Delete it right now and tell everyone the truth!"

I let out a mocking laugh. "The truth? Isn't that... The truth?"

Even speaking was getting hard for me, and I could no longer control my facial expression.

James rubbed his brow in disgust, as if he had just heard the most ridiculous joke in the world. Then, he sneered, "What's the point of doing all this? You made such a huge scene because you wanted me to bring you home early, didn't you? Fine. You can't even wait for another two weeks, and you insist on going against me? Let's see how far you get."

He nodded as if he had seen through everything, his eyes dark and emotions unreadable.

After James left, I tried not to think about it. I kept collecting bottles and selling them for money. I calculated that after a few more bags, I would have enough for the clothes.

But that afternoon, the blogger called me. She was sobbing, her voice full of guilt. "I'm so sorry. I probably can't help you make your wish come true anymore. My account was shut down, and my home was smashed. My grandma got so upset that she ended up in the ICU. I even have to borrow money for her treatment."

The young woman sounded like she was emotionally falling apart. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. I don't know why everything was clearly getting better, but in just one hour, it all changed..."

My head buzzed.

I had never thought… I truly never thought that James would go this far for Tina. It was one thing to hurt me, but why did he have to hurt another innocent person?

I called a cab and had the driver take me to the Jennings villa.

I grabbed a bottle and threw it at James. "What right do you have to treat that young woman like that?!"

James turned around and looked at me sternly. "Do you know how much trouble you two caused this time? Tina saw the comments attacking her, and that triggered her depression! She almost killed herself! I'll explain everything to Mom and Dad in two more weeks! I'll use everything I have to make it up to you, and everything will end then. Your partner in crime will naturally improve, too."

I suddenly laughed until my vision blurred.

When everything ended, I would already be dead. What use was compensation that came too late?

Just then, the door opened. "Tina, we're back. Look what we brought you..."