My mother, Winona Barlowe, who was the medical director at the hospital, decided to let my intern sister, Mia Barlowe, practice her skills by performing a brain tumor surgery on me.

I begged my mother to assign another doctor since it was my only chance at survival.

She slapped me across the face and cried out, "How did I ever give birth to a selfish girl like you? Mia just started her internship. Can’t you give her the chance to practice?"

When I died from the botched surgery, she turned gray overnight.

I was dead. My sister, Mia Barlowe, who was just an intern at the hospital, killed me. After my death, my soul returned to my mother's side.

My mother, Winona Barlowe, was in the middle of consoling Mia, "Don't worry, Mia. Your sister, Willow Barlowe, is a tough girl. She’s going to be fine. Come on, let me take you home to get some rest."

Her eyes were filled with heartache as she looked at Mia. I have never seen her regard me with such tender affection.

For years, she had always regarded me with nothing but sheer irritation. Whenever she spoke to me, her voice would be laced with annoyance.

I always played it off by pretending that it did not bother me, but that was not true. I only reacted that way because I did not want to come across as weak.

Now that I was dead, I could no longer withhold all the bitterness within me.

As soon as I got home, Mom's phone rang.

When the doctor informed her of my death, she declared stoutly, "That’s impossible! Don’t you have enough competent doctors in your hospital to rescue her? She’s not even that sick in the first place anyway! She’s just upset I had her sister operate on her and got you to call me to scare me, didn’t she? I know what she’s up to!"

After hanging up curtly, she was still convinced that I was just drumming up a scene. She turned back to Mia with an apologetic look on her face. "Mia, I’m sorry for scaring you. I’ll punish Willow when she comes back!"

As soon as she said this, her phone rang again.

Her tone instantly switched from gentle coaxing to impatience as soon as she picked up. "Like I said, you can tell Willow she can go off and die if she wants to. Just stop calling and bothering me!"

There was a prolonged silence on the other end of the phone before a response came, "Mrs. Barlowe, this is the police. Your daughter, Mia Barlowe, is suspected of being involved in clinical malpractice, and we’ve been trying to get in touch with her. We appreciate your cooperation in the investigation."

Mom could no longer hold back her rage. "First the doctors, now the police! I don’t care who you are. Stop throwing these accusations or else!"

The officer responded curtly, "Mrs. Barlowe, I believe there has been a misunderstanding. We’re just doing our jobs."

Mom turned to the terrified Mia, who was sitting beside her, and cried out irritably, "Alright! Tell Willow to quit being so unreasonable! She’s scaring Mia!"

With that, she hung up again.

Ever since I was hospitalized, Mom had been constantly upset with me. She was convinced that I was overreacting to a minor illness and that I was only getting hospitalized to get her attention.

Mia whimpered aggrievedly with tears in her eyes, "Mom, I’m scared! What if something happens to Willow?"

Mom snapped with a sharp gleam in her eyes, "She’s only doing this to get my attention! Besides, you had the most experienced doctor in the hospital take over halfway through the operation, so everything should be fine. I can’t believe she’s making a fuss over something like this. She’s pushing her luck!"

The sight of Mom's apathetic attitude sent a wave of chill across me, even whilst my corpse was still warm. When I recalled the way I had been begging for Mom’s affection like a beggar, I felt like a fool.

A little while ago, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the hospital where Mom worked as the Medical Director.

Tragically, Mom outright refused to accept the diagnosis and even claimed I was faking it.

The attending doctor, Dr. Thomas Videu, noted that my condition was critical. He told me there was a chance I could survive if I could get in touch with the famous Dr. Luke Batiste, who was the best brain tumor specialist in the country, to operate on me.

Dr. Batiste happened to be Mom’s friend and classmate in the past.

I tried a few times to go to Mom for help with the documents as evidence of my condition.

To my despair, Mom refused to even glance at them. She tossed them on the floor and snapped at me, "I’m too busy to deal with your nonsense!"

My condition worsened over time until I eventually went blind because of a nerve condition. I had become bedridden by that point and was tortured by grueling pain every day.

Dr. Videu could no longer bear it and went to Mom. "Mrs. Barlowe, Willow is not going to make it at this rate, so please help her."

Without even bothering to look up at him, Mom accused him, "What did she offer you for you to play along with this farce? All she’s trying to do is trick me into giving her attention. A brain tumor? I sure hope she gets one so she can leave me alone!

"If you keep playing along with her, I'll fire you, too. Now get out!"

Dr. Videu tried to get a word in, but upon noticing that Mom would not have it, he shook his head and retreated helplessly.

Although we couldn’t employ Dr. Batiste’s help, we could not afford to let my condition worsen anymore. Left without a choice, Dr. Videu arranged for the best neurosurgeon in the hospital to attend to me.

Before the surgery, I asked Dr. Videu to let me have one last video call with Mom. Even though I was blind at that point, I longed to hear her voice and give it one last shot to convince her to believe me.

All I got in return was her jests. "Another gimmick? Are you pretending to be blind this time? Do you really think I'll buy that? That’s enough. Your condition is nothing a minor surgery cannot address. Enough of these gimmicks!"

Before I could get a word out, she went to attend to other patients.

To my surprise, she showed up the same evening with a serving of nutritious dinner she cooked herself. This was the first time she had bothered to visit me since I was diagnosed with a brain tumor.

I barely managed to express my joy when she stamped it out by announcing, "By the way, I appointed Mia to operate on you instead."

I was completely blindsided. As if not helping me get in touch with Dr. Batiste wasn’t bad enough, she even appointed Mia, an intern, to operate on me. That was as good as a death sentence.

I begged her to reverse her decision, "Mom, please! Please don't let Mia operate on me. This is my last chance at survival! Do you truly need me to get on my knees and beg?"

She slapped me across the face instead and yelled at me, "How did I ever give birth to a selfish girl like you? Mia just started her internship. Can’t you give her the chance to practice?"

I cried and pleaded, "No... Mom... please... I don’t want to die. I'll do anything if you let me live…"

She was unfazed by my pleas and put away the food she had brought me. "If you don’t want the carrot, then the stick it is! I don’t get why you’re being so dramatic over a minor condition. This is my final decision, and there will be no negotiating!"

With that, she packed up everything and left my ward without sparing a glance at me, leaving me all alone to despair in the darkness.

On the day of my surgery, she hovered anxiously outside the operating theatre. She was not waiting for me but for Mia, who was conducting her very first surgery that day.

Mia had always been a timid girl. Her hands were already trembling when she first stuck the scalpel into my skull.

Dr. Videu advised her to stop, but she insisted on proceeding because she wanted to prove herself.

Shortly after the operation began, she made a mistake that caused my heart rate to plunge.

Dr. Videu immediately seized the scalpel from her and took over.

Meanwhile, frightened, she ran out of the operating theatre to look for Mom.

Mom did not bother to check on me despite my state of emergency. Instead, she was focused on consoling Mia. She even took time off from work to stay at home and be with Mia.

After my death, the doctors and police called her persistently, but she hung up on them every time.

A few days later, Mia told her she was too stressed out and traumatized to ever hold a scalpel again. She expressed that she wanted to go on a vacation.

Mom immediately bought them tickets to Markeif.

While I was alive, there had been a handful of times when I asked her to go on a family vacation together. All I wanted was to spend a few days with her.

Each time, I was met with a ruthless rejection. "Don’t you realize how busy I am every day? I don’t have time to go on a vacation with you."

Later, I realized she only refused because she was worried about Mia, who was in the middle of her internship. She preferred to be accessible to Mia. For years, she devoted all her time and energy to Mia, to the point where she refused to spare me time even when I managed to win academic awards.

As far as she was concerned, I was a thorn in her side who occupied her time and attention.

While she always claimed to be busy with work, she could take a month off to go on vacation with Mia.

As soon as the plane landed, Mia stretched and expressed, "I feel so much better now that I'm in a new place, but… do you think Willow will be upset if she finds out about this? She's been saying she wants to go on vacation too, hasn’t she?"

Mom seemed irritated at the mere mention of my name. "Why would you bring her up at a time like this? She doesn’t have the right to get upset anyway! If it weren't for her, you wouldn't be traumatized from operating. I’m going to chop her hands off if you never perform surgery again after this!"

Mia lowered her head and seemed wrecked with guilt. She said morosely, "I’m sorry, Mom. It’s all because I’m stupid and nowhere near as talented as Willow. She's been a reputable surgeon ever since she was young."

Mom gently patted Mia on the head and looked heartbroken. "Oh, my silly child, she's nowhere near as gifted as you. She only managed to get a head start on you, and the only reason people admire her is because they know she is my daughter."

I pouted. Before Mom became Medical Director at the hospital, she was one of the best cardiac surgeons in the country. I had always looked up to her as my role model and dreamt of becoming as accomplished as she was.

When I took up medicine, Mom never tried to help me. To make things worse, she belittled me by telling me I was not suited for the field. Whenever I won any academic awards, she would openly question my merit to humiliate me.

On the other hand, Mia had always been very lazy. She only took up medicine so she could succeed Mom in her position at the hospital. She made a point of taking up a different field than I did and chose neurosurgery. That way, she did not have to worry about being looked down on for not being as competent as I was.

Throughout Mia's studies, Mom hired countless experts from across the country to coach her.

However, Mom spoiled her rotten since she was a child, and she could not handle any kind of hardship. At the same time, she was desperate to prove herself.

That was how I became their perfect victim.

Mom had her reasons for being so biased toward Mia. When she was a child, Mom had spanked her as punishment for stealing a jar of candy.

When she took us out to the park to play the next day, Mia, who still held a grudge, shoved her past the traffic light.

A child may not have the strength to send her falling, but Mom was caught off-guard and stumbled for balance before tripping on the roadside. As a result, her hand was crushed by a speeding car.

Mom turned around to look at us just in time to see me with my hand outstretched, but I was only trying to save her from falling.

From then on, she refused to believe that I was anything other than an evil child. She decided I was the one who ruined her future as a surgeon.

Meanwhile, Mia, the one who pushed her, had bawled her eyes out. Mom felt sorry for her because she believed Mia was crying out of worry for her safety.