In the end, Mom still made the dishes Asher liked.

The three of them sat together, talking and laughing. They looked happy and harmonious, like a family.

I felt a little lonely, so I drifted closer to Mom.

That was when I noticed a cake sitting on the chair beside her.

I smugly showed it off to the stray cat crouched by the window. "See that? Mom and Dad bought me a cake. They didn’t forget that today is my birthday."

The stray cat glanced at me, as if mocking me.

Mom handed the cake to Asher, saying she had bought it especially because he wanted to eat it. As if afraid I might hear, she even lowered her voice, "Take it to the bedroom and eat it secretly. Otherwise, if Silas finds out, he’ll cry to me again."

I had only cried that one time, yet Mom repeated that line for ten whole years. Actually, I wasn’t that sad because I knew that even if we drew lots, I would only ever draw the short stick. I had terrible luck. The cake would still go to Asher.

"I’ve never eaten cake before," I said to the stray cat. "Have you?"

Suddenly, it leaped inside, swiped a paw, knocked the cake out of Asher’s hands, and bolted away.

Asher’s hand ended up with a scratch. He burst into tears.

Mom lashed out in anger, grabbing a vase and smashing it hard against my bedroom door.

"Silas! Did you do this on purpose to hurt Asher? If you’re at home, why didn’t you close the window?"

When I still didn’t come out and open the door, Mom completely lost her temper. She was about to keep going when Dad grabbed her.

"That’s enough. Stop worrying about him. Take Asher to the hospital first. We’ll deal with him when we get back."

By the time they returned, it was already past midnight.

Mom and Dad knocked on my door together. When there was still no movement inside, they finally lost all patience.

Dad went to get a hammer, preparing to break the door down.

In the end, the neighbors complained, and they stopped after yelling a few insults from outside.

Mom bought Asher a new pair of sneakers. He spun around, showing them off.

"I cried when I got my shot. Mom felt bad for me, so she took me to buy new sneakers and have steak. You’ve never eaten steak, right? Well, that’s because you have such bad luck.

"If you had drawn the long stick, Mom would’ve taken you to eat steak and buy you new sneakers, too."

My blood seeped out through the crack under the door. Asher stepped on it and slipped, falling to the ground. He wailed loudly, drawing Mom and Dad over immediately.

"What’s going on? Where did all this blood come from?" Dad stared at the crack under the door, shocked and panicked.

"It looks like it’s coming from Silas’s room. Silas…"

His suspicion was cut off by Asher’s crying.

"I just wanted to show Silas my new sneakers. He told me to get lost. That’s my blood. My head hurts so much."

Mom exploded. She kicked the door furiously.

"Silas, come out right now! You made Asher bleed this much and you still dare to hide in there!"

This time, Mom really wanted to break the door open. Each kick was harder than the last.

I was repeatedly struck by the door until my body was mangled beyond recognition. I wondered, if they saw me like this, would they be afraid?

Nevertheless, the door still didn’t break.

Mom had no choice but to go bandage Asher first. As she left, she cursed me under her breath.

That wasn’t the first time Asher had framed me. Ever since we were little, whenever he made a mistake, he would cry first and say it was my fault.

Mom was very fair.

Every time, she would say that regardless of who was right or wrong, we would draw lots first.

Whoever drew the short stick would be punished, and every single time, I was the one who got beaten.

If I were still alive, what would the punishment be this time? Locked in the attic with no food or water? Or made to stand outside in the rain all night?

I drifted downstairs.

Then I noticed something. Tears burst out of my eyes.

At last, I understood why, for ten years, I had never once drawn the long stick.

The lottery box had been knocked over and had fallen to the ground.

Inside, there were no long sticks at all. So it turned out that Mom and Dad never loved me.

Just like Grandma had said, they only used the lottery as a shield, putting on a show of fairness while secretly doting on Asher.

I started to feel cold even though I had already become a ghost.

Because they thought I was sulking in my room, after Mom and Dad came back from the hospital, they began treating me like I was invisible. They no longer set out a bowl for me at mealtimes or called me to draw lots.

Instead, they indulged Asher without restraint. It was as if I had never existed in this house.

The neighbors started to feel that something was amiss and came knocking.

"Elena Vale, our window is right next to the window of Silas’s room. Don’t you smell it? There’s a stench. It smells like something rotting. And Silas hasn’t gone out these past few days. He hasn’t even gone to school."

Mom was preparing a crab for Asher, his favorite food. She didn’t even look up. "He’s throwing a tantrum with me. He’s stopped eating, let alone going to school. As for the smell…"

Suddenly, Mom stood up angrily and strode to my bedroom door, pounding on it hard.

"Silas, did you soil yourself in there? What are you trying to do? Do you want the neighbors to curse me for being a bad mother who didn’t raise you right?"

She shouted for a long time, but there was no response.

One of the neighbors, Mrs. Marjorie Whitlock, grew even more uneasy. "Could something have happened? He’s still so young. His body won’t be able to take not eating or drinking for days."

I squatted in the corner and lifted my gaze toward Mom. What I saw was not the concern I had hoped for. Instead, her face was full of cold laughter and mockery.

"He put Asher in the hospital twice already. And you’re asking if something happened? What could possibly have happened? Asher’s head was split open. If anyone has a problem, it’s Asher."

Seeing Asher standing there with tears in his eyes, Mrs. Whitlock couldn’t say anything more.

After she left, Mom dumped all the leftovers straight into the trash.

"So you’re giving me the silent treatment now? Fine. Let’s see how long you can keep it up. I won’t leave you a single bite of leftovers.

"Since you refuse to come out, I’ll just contact your teacher and withdraw you from school. You won’t need to go anymore. That’ll even save me some money."

My corpse was rotting more and more badly, so the stench grew stronger and stronger.

Even Mom and Dad could smell it, but they didn’t think I was dead and that the smell came from my corpse. They thought I had become an idiot who randomly relieved myself in the room.

The neighbors couldn’t take it anymore. They called the police.

The moment Mom saw the police, she slammed the table and jumped up in anger. "What do you mean by this? Bringing a whole group of police to my house… Are you trying to arrest us? Did we kill someone? Did we break the law?"

"Officer, she locked her son in the room for days with no food or water. Isn’t that child abuse?

"And she’s mentally unstable. The couple raises their kids by drawing lots and talking about ‘fairness'. But they only love the biological son they got back. They don’t care about the one who was switched at birth.

"I suspect she's already abused Silas to death."

Hearing that, Mom laughed in anger. "How I raise my child is my business. It has nothing to do with you. Stop meddling.

"Officer, my son is perfectly fine. She made a false police report. You should arrest her instead."

However, the officers who entered had already noticed the abnormal stench in the air. They were prepared to take action and break open the door.

Mom blocked the doorway. "This is trespassing. All of you, get out. My son isn’t dead at all. He’s just throwing a tantrum with me. He deliberately soiled the room to disgust me."

Dad irritably pulled Mom aside. "There’s no point saying more. Let them open it. What a joke. We’ve never abused a child. He’s just throwing a tantrum, and you people are overthinking it.

"Let Silas come out and say it himself. That damn kid. His temper is getting worse and worse."

The door was pried open.

The moment the overwhelming stench rushed out, everyone saw my corpse, rotted beyond recognition.

I floated in midair.

Instinctively, I looked toward Mom and Dad.