My younger brother, Owen Rivera, and I are playing in Dad's refrigerated truck.

Owen wants to grab my ice cream from me, but I refuse to let him have his way. He shoves me forcefully, causing me to lose my balance and fall to the floor, knocking me out on the spot.

When I finally wake up and locate him in the freezer, I find out that he's gotten reduced to a frozen statue.

The security footage shows that Owen has been screaming the words "Mommy, help me!" hysterically for three hours before his death.

After Mom is done watching the footage, she breaks down on the spot. Then, she yanks me by my hair before slamming me against the wall.

"What were you doing? You were at the entrance, dammit! Why didn't you open the door for Owen?"

With reddened eyes, Dad throws me into the freezer.

"Owen was cold and frightened in the freezer! You should have a taste of the same thing too!"

The thick and heavy door is slammed in my face. Darkness and a bone-chilling coldness devour me instantly.

I curl into a small ball in the corner Owen has just died in. My teeth are starting to chatter, and my consciousness is starting to slip away.

I'm sorry, Mom and Dad. I don't feel cold. I'm not cold at all.

I will never eat ice cream ever again in my next lifetime.

The freezer at minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit left me shivering uncontrollably. It was so cold!

No matter how much I shouted, Mom and Dad refused to let me out.

With no other choice, I could only rub my hands desperately and jump around in the cramped space just to barely hang on. But eventually, I ran out of strength to keep jumping.

After my little brother, Owen Rivera, froze solid, Mom broke down on the spot. She screamed in anguish and finally remembered me, the one she blamed for everything.

"Are you dead or what? Why did you have to faint? Were you faking it? What good does killing my son do you?"

I shook my head frantically, trying to explain, but Mom wouldn't believe me. I turned to Dad for help, but he slapped me across the face.

Then, as if that wasn't enough, he threw me straight into the freezer.

"Your brother was cold and scared in there. Now you can experience what that feels like."

"Mom, Dad, I really didn't mean to. How could I want to hurt Owen? I loved him too!" I insisted.

I pounded on the door while pleading, but no one paid attention to me. I felt like my entire body was freezing solid.

Just as I reached my breaking point, my body suddenly floated upward. All the pain I felt vanished.

I thought I'd gained some kind of superpower that made me immune to the cold. But the next second, I saw my own corpse. It was a small figure with blood smeared across her features.

Frozen solid, I still maintained the posture of knocking on the door. In the last second of my life, I was still calling out to Mom and Dad for help.

But no one answered me. And just like that, I'd frozen to death.

Even after I died, I still worried about my parents. My soul immediately drifted toward them.

Mom was piling snacks in my brother's room, murmuring as she worked. "Owen, you said you wanted me to buy you snacks for your whole life. So why did you leave me?"

As I watched Mom cry, my heart twisted painfully. Owen was Mom's entire world. To conceive him, she'd taken countless injections to prevent miscarriage. The day he was born, Mom proudly showed him off to everyone in town, bragging that she finally had a son.

Dad was devastated by Owen's death too. His eyes were bloodshot as he smoked. But he was the head of the household, so no matter how grief-stricken he felt, he still remembered to comfort Mom.

"Honey, don't be like this. Our son is gone, but those of us who remain still need to keep living."

With that, he stood up and went to the kitchen to cook Mom some soup.

But Mom didn't eat. She just cried and said, "Right now, aside from that heartless Ivy, who could possibly have an appetite?"

She stared at the bowl of soup, then suddenly seemed to remember something and said viciously, "Don't you think Ivy did this on purpose? The more I think about it, the more something feels off.

"She fainted, she didn't die. So why couldn't she hear Owen calling for help?

"No, I need to go out there and interrogate her."

Dad gripped her firmly. "I'm not particularly fond of Ivy either, but she's still a child. She couldn't be that malicious, could she?"

"Don't underestimate her. That girl is sneaky. She definitely killed Owen. I never should have brought her here from the countryside.

"No—I never should have given birth to her at all."

Hearing such venomous curses, my soul suddenly ached sharply.

Was this really what they thought of me? That I was such a terrible child?

When they brought me back from Grandma's house, they clearly promised Grandma they'd treat me well.

Owen's body couldn't just stay there. Mom and Dad needed to send him to the funeral home.

Dad sighed helplessly. "We should bring Ivy too. They're siblings, after all. She should be there to see Owen off."

"She doesn't deserve to see my son off. Tell her to get lost. She has no right to show up at Owen's funeral!" Mom snapped.

Dad ignored Mom's fury and called for me several times.

I desperately wanted to answer him, but I couldn't make a sound. My body was transparent.

When no one responded, Mom grew even angrier and swept everything off the table onto the floor. "That wretched girl has no heart! What did I do to deserve a daughter like this?

"All she does is braid that stupid hair and fuss over herself. She's only eight years old and already so vain. I don't know who she takes after.

"First, she kills her own brother. And now, when it's time to say goodbye to him one last time, she's hiding somewhere. When I get back, I'll kill her myself."

At the funeral, Mom and Dad sobbed their hearts out. Mom especially looked like she might collapse from crying.

"Owen, I worked so hard just to save up money to buy you a house someday. Now that you're gone, I have nothing left to look forward to."

Even though Owen was dead, I was still here. They still had me. I was their daughter too.

Dad held Mom tenderly, his eyes brimming with heartache. I wanted to reach out and wipe away Mom's tears, but I was dead now.

When they returned home, neither of them mentioned me. It wasn't until the next day that Dad finally said something about calling me for dinner.

Before he could even finish, Mom's emotions flared up again. "Why bother calling her? She's old enough to feed herself.

"If she's not eating, she must be sneaking food somewhere else. And if she does starve, she'd deserve it.

"She killed my Owen. What's she still living for? She should have died instead of my Owen."

She didn't have to worry. I was already dead. I could keep Owen company now.

I never understood why Mom hated me so much. Once, when Owen was asleep, I went to the bathroom, and she pointed a finger at me and screamed.

"You little brat, you did that on purpose! You just wanted to disturb my son's sleep."

After that, I didn't even dare drink much water. I only used the bathroom once a day.

Owen was mischievous and liked riding on my back like I was a horse. He was so heavy I could barely hold him up, but I still gritted my teeth and carried him around in circles again and again.

Even the ice cream this time, Dad only gave it to me when Mom wasn't home. Owen could eat ice cream whenever he wanted.

I just wanted so badly to know what ice cream tasted like. That was the only reason I didn't give it to him.

Back when I lived with Grandma, I was a happy little girl. Grandma didn't have much money, but she always gave me the best of what little she had.

Mom only came back during the holidays. When I showed her my report card, looking for praise, she wouldn't even glance at it.

"What's the point of a girl studying hard? You'll just end up some man's wife anyway."

I cried and ran to Grandma, who gently pulled me into her arms to comfort me. "Don't listen to your mother's nonsense. Education matters. My Ivy is so smart. You're going to do great things someday."

I thought I'd live happily with Grandma forever, but then she accidentally broke her leg while working. She couldn't take care of me anymore, so she begged Mom and Dad to take me in for a while.

But Mom refused.

"That little brat makes me sick just looking at her. I can't even eat. I'm not taking her. Not even for a day."

In the end, Grandma threatened to kill herself, and that was the only reason they brought me back from the countryside.

But everything I did annoyed Mom. Even wearing short sleeves and shorts would get me yelled at.

"Dressing like that at your age. Who are you trying to impress? Why are you showing off your legs? You think you're something special?"

To avoid making Mom angry, I wore long sleeves and pants no matter how hot it was. But when the heat made me sweat, Mom would cover her nose in disgust.

"You reek. Figures, coming from the countryside. You're as filthy as your grandmother."

I didn't dare argue back. I could only cry silently while telling myself it wasn't true. Grandma was the cleanest person I knew.

I ate quietly, drank in small sips, and stayed in my room as much as possible so that Mom wouldn't have to see me. But Mom still got angry that day.

When Dad casually complimented my braids, saying they looked nice, Mom cut my hair off at the roots.

I wanted to cry so badly. I was a little girl, and Grandma always said little girls were supposed to have braids. My long hair was Grandma's favorite.

But I didn't even dare cry. Crying would only get me yelled at more. I could only cry secretly under my blanket at night.

Even that ice cream was something Dad only gave me because he felt sorry for me, sneaking it to me when Mom wasn't home. Owen wasn't happy about it. He reached out to grab it from me.

"Mom says you're just the family servant. You're not allowed to have ice cream. Give it to me. Everything in this house belongs to me."

But I'd only ever had popsicles before. I'd never tasted fancy ice cream like this. I really wanted to know what it tasted like.

For the first time, I didn't listen to Owen.

That made him furious. Without thinking, he hit me hard on the head. I never imagined that after I passed out, Owen would run into the freezer and freeze to death.

Mom already hated me, and now she thought I'd killed Owen. So I understood when she hit me and yelled at me.

But they shouldn't have punished me like this. I was so cold. Now, I'd frozen to death just like Owen.

Grandma was still waiting for me to come home. Her greatest wish was for me to get into college and escape from that rural valley.

That was why she worked herself to the bone for other people, just to save up enough for my tuition. If it weren't for me, Grandma wouldn't have broken her leg.

Thinking about this, even though I was just a soul now, my heart suddenly ached.