Chapter 2

The next morning, after breakfast, Mom picked up a velvet cloth and began wiping Lily's photo frame.

The yard, a wreck after the storm, she swept with a cold glance.

"So many leaves blown off. Let's go clean up for Lily, she loved things spotless."

Dad chewed his breakfast, mumbling vaguely.

"Okay."

I floated after them to the cemetery outside the city.

This was the first time I was "allowed" to see Lily, and only as a ghost.

Before, Mom would always yell at me. "You grim reaper, you don't deserve to be near Lily!"

In the photo, Lily smiled sweetly, looking well-behaved and lovely.

Mom always said that when Lily was my age, she was so well-behaved she never caused a moment of worry.

I gently pressed against the cold photograph.

"Lily, Chloe is dead too. Now... I can be with you forever."

Mom's face pressed against the cold tombstone steps. She seemed to use all her strength, crying out loud.

"Lily, my precious daughter, Mom misses you so much!"

"It's all Mom's fault for not protecting you, letting that evil spirit harm you!"

"If only that troublemaker had died instead!"

Dad stood beside her, silently looking at Lily's photo, his eyes slightly red.

He rarely showed emotion, but I knew he missed Lily too.

I floated to Mom's side, watching her shoulders tremble violently. My heart ached as if a large hand was squeezing it tight.

I reached out my transparent hand, wanting to wipe away her tears, but I couldn't touch her.

Mom, please don't cry. Chloe knows she made a mistake. I'll never fly a kite again.

Look, I'm very good now. I'll never... make you angry again.

Back home, Mom sat on the couch, hugging Lily's photo frame, her beautiful eyes red and swollen.

Dad poured her a cup of hot water. He looked at my still-empty room, his brows slightly furrowed.

"The rain was so heavy last night. I wonder where she's hiding."

Mom excitedly interrupted him, clutching the photo frame even tighter.

"Why worry about her? She's just hiding on purpose to make us worry!"

"She's always known how to play the victim since she was little. She's not even worth a single strand of Lily's hair!"

Dad opened his mouth but finally stayed silent.

Maybe he was just a little worried about me.

When Lily first passed away, Mom would have an emotional breakdown whenever she saw me, demanding that I pay for Lily's life.

Back then, Dad would still shield me, gently and rationally telling Mom.

"Chloe is just a child, she didn't know this would happen."

As Mom's depression worsened and her outbursts became more frequent, Dad gradually stopped defending me or speaking up for me.

Sometimes he would even join Mom in blaming me.

But I knew it wasn't Mom and Dad's fault, because I also felt it was all my fault.

Another day passed. Mom was wiping Lily's photo frame when she suddenly scoffed.

"Chloe is really determined to go against us."

Dad agreed without hesitation.

"Yeah, she's getting more and more disobedient. She'll come back after missing a couple of meals."

They were convinced that I was being willful and throwing a tantrum.

But how I wished I could tell them. I wasn't willful, and I wasn't throwing a tantrum.

I just couldn't come back.

My body was still on that cold hillside, with that hard rock, slowly decaying, turning into trash.