I was the only one left, drifting in the freezing wind. Looking down at my lifeless body below, I felt nothing at all.

…

The helicopter slowly lifted into the air, carrying the celebrating crowd toward the luxury camp at the foot of the mountain.

I was pulled along by some invisible force, drifting beside Harriet.

She leaned back against a leather seat. Sitting next to her was her boyfriend, the producer of this show, Timothy Lloyd.

Timothy held up an iPad, showing her the numbers, grinning from ear to ear.

"Harriet, you nailed it. The whole internet is calling you a 'tough love mom.' They're saying everything you did was for your kid's own good. Our company's stock is already up five percent after hours."

Harriet slipped an arm around his shoulders and kissed his cheek lightly, her smile calm and satisfied.

"Of course. Who do you think set this whole thing up? Audiences love stories like this, rich kids being forced to face reality. Elliot's too quiet, barely noticeable most of the time. If I don't push him, he'll never understand how harsh the real world can be."

Timothy leaned into her, his tone half-teasing, half-concerned.

"You're the only one who could go that far. When I saw him jump, my face went pale. Honestly, it was kind of hard to watch."

"Hard to watch?" Harriet took a sip of red wine, completely unfazed. "He's my son. If he can't even handle a staged scare like this, how is he supposed to take over my position in the future?"

She paused, the corner of her lips lifting slightly.

"Besides, everything was under control. I had the team set up three layers of safety airbags down there. Softer than his bed at home. He wouldn't even get a scratch."

I floated above them, staring at her like it was all perfectly normal.

Three days ago.

Harriet burst into my school and dragged me out, reeking of alcohol, her designer suit torn and her face marked with bruises.

"Elliot, it's over. It's all over. The company's gone bankrupt, and we owe millions to loan sharks. If we can't pay them back, they'll kill me."

She broke down completely, her legs giving out as she collapsed to the ground, clutching me tightly. I was terrified.

All my life, she was Ms. Lawson, untouchable and perfect. I never saw her like that.

Without even thinking, I shoved all five thousand dollars of my savings into her hands.

However, she pulled me into that beat-up van and drove straight into the deep mountains.

For those three days. We ate wild fruit and drank dirty water.

To let her have one more bite of that moldy bread, I lied and said I was not hungry, then turned around and scraped tree bark to fill my stomach.

My hands were torn open by thorns, and my feet were covered in blisters, but I never complained once, because she said, "Elliot, you're all I have now."

All she had.

I was always a coward, someone who could not even handle dissecting a frog in class, and yet, for her, I was willing to risk my life.

In the end?

All of that was just for her stock price, her popularity, and her vanity as some kind of "educator."

Those moments when I struggled on the edge of life and death, in her eyes, were nothing more than "emotionally rich" performance material.

So in her heart, I was not even a person.

…

The helicopter landed on the lawn of a resort hotel at the foot of the mountain. The place was brightly lit, already set up for a celebration banquet.

A long table was covered with lobster, champagne, red wine, and that so-called favorite of mine, a tomahawk steak.

The truth was, I did not even like tomahawk steak. What I liked were simple vegetables and light, home-cooked meals. That was what my dad used to make for me before he passed.

Ever since he died, Harriet never remembered what I liked.

She remembered that Timothy did not eat green onions. She remembered that he liked his filet mignon medium rare.

However, she never remembered that I was allergic to red meat.

The moment Harriet stepped off the helicopter, she was surrounded by reporters and livestream hosts.

Camera flashes burst nonstop, so bright they made my eyes ache.

"Ms. Lawson, what inspired you to design this part?"

"Ms. Lawson, some viewers say this kind of 'death-style education' is too extreme. What do you think about that?"

Harriet adjusted her suit, that perfectly practiced smile already in place.

"Young people today have very low tolerance for pressure. I did this so Elliot could understand that you can unlock your potential only in extreme situations. And look at him. In the end, didn't he do great? To protect his family, he overcame his fear. That is what growth looks like."

Thunderous applause erupted.

Comments flooded the livestream.

[Ms. Lawson is absolutely right. Kids like this need to be pushed. They can't stay in their comfort zone forever.]

[I actually cried. That look in Elliot's eyes at the end; it was so steady. That is what it means to be part of the Lawson family.]

[This is real education. It might be harsh, but it works. Respect Ms. Lawson.]

I stared at those words, a laugh almost escaping me. So this was what they called love.

Yeah. It just happened to bury me along with it.

After greeting people in the crowd, Harriet finally took her seat at the head of the table.

She cut into a piece of steak, still red inside, and chewed slowly. A thin line of blood ran down from the corner of her mouth. It looked exactly like the blood that splashed out of me when I hit the rocks.

"Why isn't Elliot back yet?" She checked the time, her brows knitting slightly. "It's been half an hour. Even if he walked up, he should be here by now."

The director was gnawing on a nearby chicken leg, speaking with his mouth full.

"He's probably still down there throwing a tantrum. He's a teenager. Realizes he got tricked, feels embarrassed. It's normal to sulk a bit."

Timothy chimed in from the side. "Yeah, Elliot's always been a bit proud. He's probably hiding somewhere, waiting for you to come comfort him."

Harriet let out an icy laugh and slammed her knife and fork back onto the table.

"Comfort him? That will only make it worse."

Her tone turned sharp. "That kid is way too self-centered. No sense of the bigger picture at all."

She glanced around at the guests, lowering her voice, which somehow made it even harsher.

"Tonight is a celebration banquet. With so many important guests here, he actually dares to embarrass me in public?"

She pulled out her phone and dialed my number. Her phone screen was still being mirrored onto the big display, and the entire room went quiet, waiting for the touching moment of a mother and son reunion.

The phone rang a few times.

"Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently powered off," The mechanical female voice echoed through the hall.

Harriet's expression darkened. "Oh, so now he dares to turn off his phone."

She stood up and shouted at the director. "Send people down to find him. Tell him if he doesn't show up in front of me within ten minutes, I'm cutting off all his allowance next month. Let him go earn his own living."

I floated right in front of her, watching her lose her temper.

"Mom, do not bother. Dead people did not need an allowance," I let out a silent, helpless sigh.

The director did not dare waste a second. He grabbed a walkie-talkie and contacted the search team below.

"Joshua, Joshua! Stop wasting time and get Mr. Lawson up here now. Ms. Lawson is angry!"

Only static came back at first.

After a long pause, a broken voice finally answered. "We checked the whole area and didn't find anyone."

"What do you mean you didn't find anyone?" The director's voice rose in panic. "Weren't there three safety airbags? Did he just vanish into thin air?"

"The airbags! The airbags are empty." The voice on the other end trembled.

"And, we found a shoe next to the airbags."

The director froze for a second, then instinctively looked at Harriet.

Harriet's face was dark as she drank in silence. The moment she heard that, she snatched the walkie-talkie, clearly annoyed.

"A shoe? What's the big deal? He left it there on purpose to scare me. That kid, so now he's trying to get back at me because I tricked him?"

She shouted into the radio, "Keep searching. Expand the area. Even if he dug a hole and buried himself, you dig him out and bring him to me."

She tossed the walkie-talkie aside and angrily loosened the collar of her shirt.

"Kids these days are full of tricks. Look at that. He even took off his shoe just to make me worry."

She complained to Timothy, "This is what happens when a child isn't disciplined properly. When he gets back, I'm locking him in his room for a month."

Timothy tried to calm her down while agreeing, "Seriously, Elliot's being ridiculous. He's not a kid anymore, still playing hide and seek like this. Doesn't he realize how exhausted everyone is?"

The tone in the livestream chat started to shift.

[This kid is so ungrateful. His mom went through all this trouble to teach him, and he's throwing a tantrum?]

[Exactly. He's overdoing it. It's just a show. Why go missing like this?]

[I feel bad for Ms. Lawson. Being a mom is so hard.]

I looked at those comments. Felt nothing.

That shoe fell off while I was struggling in the air. Not far from it, my body lay quietly among the rocks, already cold.

Then it started to rain.

The clear night sky suddenly filled with dark clouds, and heavy drops began crashing down.

The camp fell into chaos. Staff rushed to move equipment out of the rain.

Harriet sat under a large umbrella, watching the storm outside, her expression growing worse by the second.

"That brat really expects the whole crew to stand out there in the rain for him?"

She cut into a medium-cooked steak while replaying the livestream footage on her phone.

The screen was filled with comments like "insane," "amazing acting," and "this mother and son duo really know how to create buzz."

Harriet watched with obvious satisfaction, letting out small, pleased laughs.

"Look at this traffic. The company's stock is definitely hitting the limit up tomorrow." She speared a piece of beef and put it into her mouth, the one that was supposedly bought for me.

Another half hour passed.

The rain kept pouring, and the search team still did not return.

Harriet checked the time again, her fingers tapping impatiently against the table. She took out her phone and dialed my number again.

"Sorry, the number you have dialed is currently powered off."

She threw the phone onto the sofa, frowning as she snapped at the director. "Is this kid seriously this petty? Hiding down there just to scare me?"

The director did not dare respond. He could only keep urging the search team again and again.

Harriet turned back to the camera and complained, "Kids these days are too spoiled. Acting in a show like it's real, making the whole crew stand out in the rain for him."

Right then, the walkie-talkie crackled with static. Then the trembling voice of the search team leader came through.

"We didn't find him. We only found a shoe." This time, his voice was clearly shaking.

"And, the shoe was covered in blood."