After the chaos, the customers lost all appetite. One by one, they left with dark expressions on their faces.

“You’re such a brat! Get out!” the restaurant owner roared. He grabbed me by the collar and dragged me out the door.

At the same time, my mother and father led Maggie into the restaurant.

I tried to follow them inside, but Maggie shot me a vicious glare.

She leaned close to my ear and warned me.

“If you don’t want us getting yelled at, stay the hell away from us.”

I remained outside the restaurant and endured the terrible burning pain on my face and in my eye. I watched them feast through the window. I felt hungry and indignant.

“Little one, are your parents bad to you? How about I find you a new mom and dad who will actually love you?”

A scar-faced man had crouched down in front of me with a stiff smile. He spoke in a high, sweet voice, as if he were talking to a baby.

Really? New parents who would not make me do those terrible things? Parents who would treat me the way my parents treated my sister?

Looking at the scar-faced man, I nodded with a hopeful look on my face. Then, I took his hand and walked away with him.

He led me away from the restaurant, weaving through several streets before turning into a dark, isolated alley.

Suddenly, he pulled out a sack and tried shoving it over my head.

“Help! Somebody help! A man is trying to kidnap me!” I sensed something wrong and started fighting with all my strength.

The man clamped a hand over my mouth and nose. His expression turned vicious and cruel.

“Stay still! This place is too far out for anyone to hear you. No one is coming to save you. You should just cooperate. It would hurt less that way.”

No! If he took me away, I would only end up living a worse life than before. I did not want to go with him.

I shook my head wildly beneath his grip. I clawed at the large hands that covered my mouth and nose.

However, he only pressed harder and harder.

Slowly, my strength faded.

A crushing pain spread through my chest. My throat filled with the metallic taste of blood.

My vision darkened around the edges. My arms and legs grew numb and heavy. Little by little, consciousness slipped away.

When I opened my eyes again, I was floating above the alley. Below me, the man was still gripping my limp body tightly in his arms.

I was dead.

The moment I understood what had happened, a strange sense of relief washed over me.

Finally! I would never have to be the family scapegoat again. I would never have to be hated by everyone around me.

When the scar-faced man saw that I had stopped struggling, he loosened his grip. He finally realized I was no longer breathing.

His face twisted with annoyance, and he kicked my body.

“What rotten luck. I finally find an easy boy to trick, and he goes and dies on me. Darn it.”

He walked away without looking back.

My soul drifted and came back to my parents.

They had just finished eating at the restaurant. My mother and father walked out holding Maggie by the hand.

Watching the three of them together, a happy little family, it did not hurt anymore.

I did not feel sad or jealous.

“That little brat must’ve run off and played again. Where is he now? We even packed up some of his favorite dishes since he actually helped us out today. What a waste of our effort.”

Mom snorted angrily and tossed the takeout container straight into a nearby trash can.

“He doesn’t deserve such good food. Let’s go home.”

I had thought I no longer cared about anything. But seeing those dishes, food I had never once been allowed to eat before, thrown casually into the garbage still made something ache inside me.

There was a time when Mom and Dad really loved me. They used to buy me toys, snacks, and all kinds of little things that made me happy.

Everything changed after the day I accidentally broke a thousand-dollar vase at a porcelain shop. The owner had simply smiled and waved it off. He said, “Little boys will be little boys. Kids are mischievous. It’s fine. There’s no need to pay for anything.” After that, my parents changed.

“You’re a kid. People forgive children no matter what kids do. Your mother and I have been working very hard. Would you be willing to help us out and make life easier for us?”

I was too little and naive back then. When I heard I could be of some help to them, I nodded without hesitation.

From that day on, I became the family scapegoat.

That night, Mom received a call.

“Hello, this is the organizing committee for the figure skating competition. After reviewing surveillance footage, we found evidence suggesting a participant may have deliberately placed razor blades inside another competitor’s skates. A formal investigation has been opened. Please report to the local police station tomorrow for questioning.”

“What?” Mom was a little shocked. She tried to say something else, but the caller had hung up.

“Charlie!” Mom’s face turned crimson with rage. She screamed through the house. “Get out here right now!”

“What happened?” Dad asked with confusion. “He’s still playing outside. He isn’t around.”

“That boy put razor blades in Maggie’s competitor’s skates! The organizers just called. They want us to cooperate with the investigation!”

“That stupid boy! Does he have any idea how important this competition was for Maggie? He could have ruined everything!”

“But that doesn’t make sense,” Dad said in puzzlement. “We told him to stay home this morning and do Maggie’s homework for her. He never left the house.”

Then, as realization dawned on them, Mom and Dad exchanged a look before turning toward Maggie, who was shivering.

“Maggie, it was you…”

Before Mom could finish speaking, Maggie burst into tears, but it was not because of guilt.

“What am I supposed to do now? This is the first championship I’ve ever won! What if they take my medal away? I don’t want to give it back!”

Seeing Maggie’s reaction, Mom understood everything. She looked shocked, but more frustrated than horrified.

“How could you do something like this? If you were going to do it, you should’ve let your brother handle it for you. Why would you do it yourself?”

Dad, however, barely seemed concerned. He pulled Maggie into his arms and comforted her gently. “It’s fine. We’ll just tell them Charlie did it. Come on now, is something this small really worth our princess crying over?”

“But Charlie is a boy,” Maggie sniffled and voiced out with concern.

Dad waved the concern away without hesitation. He said with confidence, “That’s easy. We’ll put him in a wig and a dress. Nobody will notice. He dressed like a girl and solved problems for you plenty of times before.”

Dad was talking about the times Maggie had bullied other kids at school.

Ever since kindergarten, she had always picked on weaker classmates. Teachers disliked her, parents filed complaints, and eventually Mom and Dad had no choice but to move us to a different neighborhood.

When Maggie started elementary school, Mom wanted to make sure she could keep tormenting her classmates without facing any consequences. She put me in a wig and a dress and made me take the blame for everything Maggie did.

“Charlie, you’re a boy. It’s your job to protect your sister. If anyone says Maggie hurt them, you’ll step forward and tell them you did it. Let them come after you instead.”

With my mother’s permission, Maggie’s behavior at school grew worse and worse.

What started as merely tripping kids in the hallway and kicking chairs turned into cruel insults, social exclusion, and even dumping paint over classmates.

Every single time, I was shoved forward to take the fall for her.

At school, people started calling me “the little devil.” My friends gradually stopped talking to me. Even older students began cornering me in alleys after school just to beat me up.

I told Mom everything that was happening to me. I thought maybe she would protect me.

Instead, she just waved me off impatiently.

“You’re a boy. You’re tougher than you think. A few punches aren’t going to kill you.”

One day, during another beating after school, somebody ripped my wig off. That was how they found out that I was a boy dressed like a girl.

After that, the entire school knew.

Everywhere I went, people called me names. Freak. Drag. Pervert.

Even though the teachers eventually stepped in and punished the students involved, the damage had already been done. The nightmares started after that.

Every night, I dreamed of my classmates laughing at me. In the dreams, they all carried scissors. They would surround me and stab me over and over and over again until I died.

As those memories washed over me, I could not stop myself from shivering.

“Where could that brat have run off to? Look at the time. We need to drag him to the organizers tomorrow to explain everything.”

“Unbelievable. To think that we have to go out at this hour to look for him.”

With that, my mother and father pulled on their coats and shoes. They reluctantly walked toward the front door.

Just as they reached the front door, someone rang the doorbell.

Thinking it was me, Mom yanked the door open and started yelling, “You darn brat! So you finally decided to come…”

Before she could finish her sentence, the sight before her struck her silent.

Two police officers were standing outside the door with grim expressions.

The lead officer held up his badge and said in a stern voice, “Good evening. We’re investigating a homicide. Preliminary evidence suggests the case involves a member of your household. Please come with us.”

My parents looked stunned. Then they forced out a smile and said, “Officer, there must be some mistake. Everyone in our family is perfectly fine.”

The lead officer’s expression remained stern as he added, “A boy’s body was discovered about an hour ago in a dark alley behind the shopping district. The victim had severe burns on his forehead.”

At those words, both of my parents stiffened. Only then did they realize that I had been missing for ten hours.