After I Blew Out My Sister’s Candle, My Parents Stopped Loving Me Chapter 07

After I Blew Out My Sister’s Candle, My Parents Stopped Loving Me Chapter 07

The ambulance came, and then it left again not long after.

The doctor only shook his head and said they had found me too late. There were no signs of life left at all.

By the time my grandparents rushed back after getting the call, a white sheet had already been pulled over

my body.

Grandma Eleanor ran through the door, and the moment she saw the shape beneath the sheet, she froze.

“Where’s Ellie?” she asked. Then her voice faltered. “The child under that sheet… that can’t be Ellie, can it?”

No one answered her.

The silence was a physical weight. She approached the gurney with trembling steps.

She reached out, pulled her hand back, then reached out again, her fingers hovering in mid-air before she

finally found the strength to peel back the fabric.

The second she saw my pale face, she let out a scream and stumbled backward, collapsing to the floor.

Grandpa Charles caught her, tears already streaming down his face. “How did this happen… how did this

happen…”

His voice broke as he muttered, “She was fine when we left…”

He held Grandma Eleanor while they drowned in their shared grief.

I floated nearby, wanting so badly to wipe away their tears, but there was nothing I could do.

Grandma. Grandpa. I didn’t me you.

You had only been so worried about Chloe.

But the more I told myself that, the more it hurt.

So this was what it felt like to be loved.

So this was what it felt like when that love disappeared.

I turned to look at Chloe, whose face was white as paper.

I’m sorry, Chloe. It was my fault.

I always took Mom and Dad’s attention away from you and made you feel pushed aside.

I wouldn’t do that anymore.

Then I remembered that I didn’t have an anymore.

Grandma Eleanor suddenly turned on Chloe, tears pouring down her face as she shouted, “Chloe! This is

because of you!”

“It was supposed to be a happy birthday. Why did you have to make such a scene?”

“If you hadn’t run away, Ellie never would’ve… never would’ve…”

She couldn’t finish. She disintegrated into fresh sobs.

Chloe’s mouth trembled, and I rushed toward her instinctively, wanting to shield her.

No, Grandma. You can’t blame Chloe for this.

She didn’t know I had blown out the candles by accident because I sneezed.

And for all these years, I really had been the center of the universe, and she had been left out in the cold.

But no one could see me. No one could hear me.

All I could do was stand there helplessly.

At last, my father spoke, his voice hoarse and raw. “At the end of the day, this was my fault.”

“If I hadn’t locked Ellie in the attic, none of this would’ve happened.”

Grandma Eleanor whirled on him at once, pointing a shaking finger in his face. “Of course this is your fault! I

told you again and again that Ellie was allergic to dust!”

“I said every corner of this house had to be kept spotless!”

“And I brought up that attic over and over. What did you promise me? You promised Ellie would never be

allowed up there!”

“And now look what happen. …”

“What kind of curse has fallen on this family?”

Her voice climbed into a hysterical register.

My father didn’t dare say another word, afraid of pushing her any further.

I

Then Grandma Eleanor noticed the drawings scattered on the floor. She bent down, picked one up, and burst

into tears again.

“Ellie was such a sweet child…”

“There wasn’t a bad thought in her heart, and we still called her manipulative…”

“We betrayed her.”

Grandpa Charles looked at the white sheet covering me and slowly closed his eyes.

“We’ll prepare the funeral tomorrow,” he said quietly. “We have to let the child go.”