Chapter 4

Mom froze.

She'd been all set to grab me by the ear and scream in my face.

The last thing she expected was for the tracker to lead her to some stranger.

She rushed forward, demanding, "Who are you? Why do you have my daughter's phone?"

The man clearly hadn't expected the phone's owner to actually show up, and in his fright he handed it straight back to Mom.

"I found this phone in the python enclosure this morning. I swear I didn't steal it."

The moment he said it, the possibility everyone had shoved aside surfaced again.

Mom pushed Dad to call the staffer once more, wanting to know whether the python had actually been recovered.

He dialed several times with no answer.

Just as they started to fear something really had gone wrong, the call finally connected.

Mom snatched the phone. "What's going on? It took you forever to pick up!"

"Did you find that python or not?"

There were a few seconds of silence on the other end. "We found it. The snake's completely normal, nothing wrong with it."

Which meant the python hadn't eaten me.

That settled my parents' nerves for good. It never occurred to them that the staffer they'd bribed would lie to dodge the blame.

That was when my sister spoke up again.

"Honestly, Rosalind. No matter how angry she was, she shouldn't have just thrown her phone away."

"Making us worry for nothing like this."

At Nadia's words, Mom started shaking with fury.

"That little brat. The older she gets, the more capable she thinks she is."

"Not only does she sneak off in the middle of the night, she ditches her phone and pulls this running-away-from-home stunt!"

"If she's so tough, she can stay gone forever. No money on her, let's see how long she survives out there alone!"

Nadia quickly rubbed her back, soothing her in a soft voice.

"All right, Mom. Rosalind just acted on impulse. Give her some time and she'll understand all the trouble we've gone to for her."

"And look at the bright side. Rosalind throwing this tantrum actually proves the treatment we've been doing all along is working."

"She's turning into a normal person. We should be happy about that."

Mom tapped Nadia's nose lightly. "You're always finding nice things to say about your sister."

"Too bad she doesn't have the sense to appreciate everything you do for her."

I drifted off to the side, and listening to them talk left me cold all over.

Ever since Nadia, for the sake of this so-called treatment, gave up a finance major with a far better future to study psychology in college.

To my parents she had become the good child who sacrificed her own future for her sister.

Even when she went against every legitimate psychological treatment plan.

In their eyes, as long as it worked on my condition, it was for my own good.

Any resistance or complaint from me was written off as being difficult.

More than once I'd wondered whether I was really their child.

How could any parents be cruel enough to accept treatment methods this monstrous?

Just as they were about to head home, they noticed a commotion breaking out at the zoo entrance not far off.

An ambulance, a fire truck, and a patrol car had all shown up at once.

Curiosity pulled the three of them over to the zoo to watch.

Nadia grabbed a passerby right away and asked what had happened inside.

"Somebody found a python that got loose. Scared everyone who was there."

"Lucky thing the python had eaten its fill and was too lazy to move. They're probably in there catching it right now."