–Jane–
I closed my eyes and finally slipped into sleep—only to feel myself slowly dragging back awake.
Suddenly, I was back in that cold house again. Back to clawing for money while living with relatives who barely tolerated me. It was fine at first… but little by little, I began to feel useless. A single short mistake and I was treated like I was worthless. I was never a clean freak or obsessively organized; sometimes I'd get caught up working, and a chore would slip my mind.
The scolding was awful. The shame was awful. That feeling of being a burden, living like some useless freeloader—believing everyone saw me as just another unwanted relative with no future.
I was back under the rain again, trembling from the sting as the bamboo cane hit me over and over while they hurled words like poison. In those moments I kept wishing they would just kill me already—like they killed my cats.
All my belongings were thrown into the rain-soaked mud. I had nowhere to go.
