Chapter 2

Eve took over my body. I became a helpless ghost, forced to watch her try to kill us over and over again.

When I was eight, she took advantage of our parents being at the care facility looking after my sick grandmother. She climbed onto the balcony, ready to jump.

Luckily, David came home early and caught her just in time.

But David broke his leg in the struggle. It took him three months before he could walk again.

Last winter, Eve found a piece of broken glass while Helen wasn't looking and slashed our wrist.

Helen scrambled to get me to the ER. She stayed by my hospital bed for three days and three nights without closing her eyes.

But Eve wouldn't stop.

Not long after we got discharged, she filled the bathtub to the brim and pushed my head underwater.

In the end, it was Lily who pulled my shoulder so hard she dislocated her own joint, barely dragging me out of the tub.

Eve used my body to court death again and again. Helen and David dragged me back from the edge every single time.

Every time I woke up, my family would break down in tears.

"Maya, I'm begging you, please stop doing this."

"Are you trying to kill us all before you're satisfied?"

"Maya, are you okay? We were so scared."

To keep them from hurting, I used to swallow handfuls of pills just to fight Eve for control.

But this time...

Whatever.

Eve looked at the eyebrow razor on the vanity, slipping it gently into her pocket.

Instinctively, my consciousness screamed and struggled inside our mind.

But then, Helen's words echoed in my head: "If you're really in that much pain, then just go die already!"

I stopped fighting.

Outside the door, David's confused voice drifted in.

"Helen, where is Maya? Isn't she coming to eat cake with Lily?"

Helen's voice cracked, filled with long-suppressed resentment.

"She's in there, faking another episode."

"I tolerate her drama every other day, but today is Lily's birthday. She just has to ruin it."

"In all these years, Lily has never had a proper birthday party."

David sighed, his voice dripping with pure exhaustion.

"Let her cool down by herself. She needs to grow up."

"Let's just celebrate with Lily. She just wants to eat some cake. We can't let her down again."

Eve laughed mockingly inside my head.

See? David and Helen don't love you. Why are you still holding on?

They are miserable because of you. It's all your fault.

I wanted to scream back at her.

I wanted to say that they did love me! They gave up everything for me!

But then I thought of the scar on David's shoulder, the dark circles under Helen's eyes, and Lily's desperate, people-pleasing smiles.

Maybe Eve was right. I was the source of all their misery.

To pay for my therapy, David worked multiple jobs. His back was so ruined he could barely stand, and on rainy days, the pain kept him bedridden.

Helen had to run between the care facility for grandmother and home to watch me, sleeping barely three hours a night.

Lily, at just five years old, did everything she could to please me, giving up her childhood just to keep the peace.

If I died, maybe everyone would finally be happy.

I stopped fighting.

I watched as Eve turned on the faucet, stepping into the overflowing bathtub.

Without a second of hesitation, she took the razor and sliced deep into our wrist.

The water slowly bloomed into a deep, crimson red. My soul felt lighter, starting to float.

This was good. It was finally over.

David wouldn't have to spend his nights applying pain patches anymore.

Helen wouldn't have to run herself into the ground trying to cure me.

And Lily could finally have a normal, happy childhood.

My family was finally free of their psycho daughter.

Right before my consciousness fully faded, the control shifted back to me.

Looking toward the bathroom door, I whispered my very last words.

David, Helen, Lily... I'm so sorry.

If there is a next life, I promise I won't burden you again.