He Forgot My Birthday for Her Anniversary Again novel Chapter 75

Chapter 5

The shock sent Mom spiraling back into depression, leaving her in no state for police questioning. They sent

her home pending further investigation.

Sam burst through the door that afternoon, home from school and racing straight to my room. “Lily! I got

you something cool!”

He pushed the door open and froze. Everything looked just like it had this morning-untouched, empty. I

hadn’t come back.

The realization hit him all at once. He bolted for the living room. “Dad! Mom! Where’s Lily? She’s not back

yet!”

They were both sitting there, looking like they’d aged ten years overnight. “What’s wrong? What happened to

Lily?”

“Lily jumped last night.” Dad’s voice cracked, barely recognizable. “She’s dead.”

Sam let out a weird, strangled laugh. “You’re kidding, right? It was just her birthday yesterday. She just turned

six.”

Dad’s eyes were bloodshot, threaded with red. He dropped his gaze and went silent.

“That’s impossible. We have the camera in the living room-you’re lying! I’m gonna check the footage!”

He grabbed Dad’s phone and pulled up the video feed. Mom’s voice filled the room, sharp and vicious. “You almost killed me giving birth to you! And you think you deserve cake?

“You act like you’ve never seen food before! Can’t even wait five minutes without making a scene!”

“We never should have had you. The three of us were fine without you!”

They stood there listening to themselves from the night before. The color drained from their faces.

The slam of the door echoed through the speakers. On the screen, I stood alone in the empty room, crying. The next second, I was already moving.

I ran for the balcony and climbed over the railing like I’d made up my mind a long time ago.

Sam screamed and hurled the phone across the room.

Chapter 5

Lera

INSTALL

51.37%

Mom’s eyes had been dry for hours, empty of everything. She shot up from the bed, those same hollow eyes

fixed on something.

She made for the balcony with that same desperate energy she’d had after I was born, when she’d tried to kill

herself over and over.

Dad caught her and slammed her down onto the floor. No gentleness this time, no soft words. His voice

came out jagged and raw.

“Lily’s dead! You killed her! We all did!”

“It won’t bring her back if you die too! She wouldn’t want this! Just let her rest-haven’t you done enough?”

The air in the apartment felt poisonous. Mom had been doing better, finally starting to heal, and now she was right back where she’d started.

Dad used to be so patient, even when he was exhausted from work. Sam used to check my bruises and try to

make me laugh when I was hurting.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. I’d left so they could be happy again, just the three of them without me dragging them down. How had everything gotten so much worse?

The doorbell cut through the tension. Police.

Detective Gordon tossed a stack of autopsy photos onto the table. “The victim has bruises all over her body. Want to explain that?”

No one said anything. Mom was still on the floor, curled in on herself. When she finally spoke, her voice was

shredded.

“I hit her. I was just… I was trying to discipline her…”

Her voice broke. She couldn’t finish the lie, couldn’t keep pretending.

She knew the truth-every cruel word, every blow came from a dark and broken place inside her. She hated what giving birth to me had done to her, to her body.

Hated how it had stolen the career she’d worked so hard for, the future she’d dreamed about. Every bad thing that happened after became my fault in her mind.

She felt like a burden to the family and took it out on me, though she knew Dad and Sam loved her.

They’d been walking on eggshells around her for years, but the depression and everything else had made her

hypersensitive.

Chapter 5

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify