After Wendy and I finished our exams, my parents took Wendy abroad for a trip.

Meanwhile, I was sent to a rehabilitation institution for corrective education because of bad behavior and psychological problems.

I was tortured by that human purgatory for a whole fifty days.

They, who were far away overseas, were laughing so happily and brightly.

The same thing was happening right now.

Wendy was wearing a precious dress and walking in front, while my parents were carrying suitcases with indulgences in their eyes.

"Sweetheart, slow down. Mind the steps."

"Mom, I'm already eighteen. I'm not a kid anymore. I won't be tripped easily."

Mom affectionately held her hand and passed through my transparent soul. "Even if you're twenty-eight, you will always be a little girl who never grows up in my eyes."

Dad, who was following behind, smiled happily and followed them.

See?

Without me, the three of them were so happy.

Yet in the next second, they stopped laughing.

When they opened the door, they ran into their neighbor, who brought me up casually. Their neighbor asked my mom, "Salena, you're back. Where's Violet? I heard she got some great grades this time."

Salena Ward was my mom. Her expression suddenly changed, and the indulgence in her eyes was replaced by disgust.

"I don't wanna bring her up. So what if she has great grades? Her character is questionable. I'm so unlucky. She causes trouble all the time!

"I spent 6,000 dollars to enroll her in an institution. The professionals will teach her a lesson.

"6,000 dollars for fifty days! I did it for her own good, and she complained about me. When I called her, she didn't even look at me.

"I gave birth to her, or I wouldn't have given a damn if she was beaten to death."

…

My mom always talked non-stop when I was brought up.

She wanted to show everyone that she was so aggrieved raising me.

The neighbor awkwardly smiled, "Well, she's your daughter, isn't she? Be tolerant. Perhaps things will get better after she comes back."

"Hope so. Enough about her. Wendy is going to college next month. We were abroad and didn't have time to throw her a party for celebration. Can you help me get a reservation at the biggest banquet hall in your hotel?

"I wanna throw my precious little girl a grand celebration party."

I was so upset that I could barely feel anything.

Wendy was her precious little girl.

And I was just a troublemaker in her eyes.

Wendy and I were twins.

Since birth, she had been smarter and more beautiful than me. Everyone loved her.

At the age of three, I couldn't even speak clearly, but she could already recite poems.

Yet Wendy got lost when the nanny took her out to play.

My mom was in agony.

She missed Wendy every day.

From then on, I had been enveloped in Wendy's shadow.

At first, I didn't remember that I had an older sister.

I asked foolishly, "Mom, why are there two toothbrushes in my room?"

My mom held me in her arms and said, "One of them belongs to a person who's very, very important to me."

Her eyes turned red, but I didn't think too much.

Because I was just a little girl back then.

Wendy was found back when she was thirteen years old.

When she came back, her skin was very pale, and she looked skinny and malnourished.

My mom held Wendy and cried until she fainted several times.

She swore that she'd spend her whole life making it up to Wendy.

To do that, she'd love Wendy wholeheartedly, which meant she'd stop caring about me."

"Violet, be good."

"Wendy has suffered so much. From now on, you should take care of her with us. She'll live in the room with the balcony because she likes it."

"You have a lot of dresses. Give Wendy this one. She likes it."

"Stop eating! You've eaten so much! Go. Take this plate to Wendy."

...

Later on, I became completely invisible in this family.

Wendy was the only one they cared about.

In high school, I burned her arm with a cigarette butt, leaving a scar.

I found someone to strip her naked, beat her up, and threaten her not to compete with me for our parents' favor.

Then I got my parents' attention again.

My mom slapped me hard a few times.

"Are you an animal? Wendy is your sister! How could you do that to her?

"Do you know how much effort we put in to find her? If you drive her away, you might as well kill me!"

But I didn't drive Wendy away.

I saw her hanging out with hooligans and walked over because I wanted to tell her to stay away from them.

But then I saw her smoking too while getting along with those people, laughing and joking.

Maybe she didn't want me to tell on her.

She burned herself and then staged a drama with her friends.

Then my parents knew about it.

My mom firmly believed in what she said.

On the contrary, in my mom's eyes, I was a total liar.

It was very cold that night.

I knelt in the corridor until midnight...

The reason why my parents sent me to a correctional institution this time was because Wendy had severe diarrhea and vomiting after eating the ice cream I gave her before her dance competition.

As a result, she missed the opportunity to win an award.

My mom slapped my face again.

She made me kneel and apologize, looking ferocious. "Violet, you disgust me!

"Wendy is way better than you whether she wins or not. You're nothing compared to her."

I refused to admit it, and I wouldn't apologize, and in the end, I was forcibly taken to the institution.

The institution claimed they could make teenagers' psychological problems go away.

The sound of mechanical rotation interrupted my thoughts.

The door was open.

After I was dead, I walked into this house again.

As soon as I entered the house, Snowball rushed out of her nest.

Snowball was a stray dog that I picked up.

After sniffing around and realizing that I wasn't there, she whimpered and paced around the house.

When she was about to reach Wendy, my mom impatiently kicked her away.

"So filthy! Go away.

"How come it's still alive? It's so lucky."

Then she started complaining to my dad, "You shouldn't have agreed to let Violet bring it back. It's so annoying with dog hair everywhere."'

"If you didn't let her bring it back, she'd make a fuss for days. We won't be having it here for many days. She'll take it away when she goes to college."

My heart went cold again.

It hurt.

My dad wasn't talkative, and sometimes he'd even side with me.

Turned out that he just didn't want any trouble.

He found me annoying...

Hearing my parents arguing, Wendy smiled and mediated.

She was as beautiful as ever, and her voice was very sweet. "Mom, it's fine. Snowball is cute. I'll take care of her while Violet is away."

My mom instantly calmed down, and her eyes became gentle and doting again.

"Both you and Violet are my daughters. How come she's so different from you?

"If she could be half as sensible as you, I would be very glad."

The smile in Wendy's eyes became even stronger as she hugged Snowball, who kept retreating, and returned to her room.

As I expected, as soon as the door closed, she lifted Snowball high up.

Her face, which was always beautiful, was twisted.

I ran over at once, but Snowball passed through my palms and fell heavily on the floor.

"You're as disgusting as Violet."

Watching Snowball whimper in pain, I felt that my heart was torn into pieces, and it was killing me.

Snowball was afraid of Wendy, so she kept scratching at the door, trying to get out.

Wendy got annoyed, so she tied up Snowball's limbs and mouth and threw Snowball into the trash can as if Snowball were garbage.

Snowball was so small. When she curled up, she wasn't as big as a basketball.

My hands trembled as I wanted to pick Snowball up, but my palms couldn't touch her body no matter what.