They Took Everything by Vote, So I Disappeared Chapter 09

They Took Everything by Vote, So I Disappeared Chapter 09

I pulled on my heavy windproof coat and followed the security officer toward the facility gate.

Beyond the gate stood a tall wire fence, with yellow security tape stretched outside it.

The wind howled, whipping loose snow off the ground.

From about thirty feet away, I saw them.

Dad was bundled in a thick down jacket, shivering from the cold.

Mom’s face was bright red from the wind, while Bryce hunched his shoulders and kept stomping

his feet to stay warm.

When they saw me coming, all three of them froze.

I was wearing an olive-green uniform.

My hair was cut short.

The wind and sand had roughened my skin.

I was no longer the quiet, obedient Erin in worn-out clothes.

“Erin!”

“Erin!”

Mom recovered first.

She rushed up to the fence, tears and snot streaking her face.

“I finally found you!”

“You stupid girl! Why would you run off to a miserable place like this?”

She broke down sobbing.

But I felt nothing.

“What are you doing here?”

I stood inside the security line, my voice cold.

Dad cleared his throat.

“How can you be so heartless?”

“You’ve been gone for more than half a year without so much as a word!”

“If you’ve got something to say, say it.”

I looked at him.

Bryce stepped closer, crying.

“Erin, I know I was wrong before.”

“But we’re still family.”

“I’m really out of options now.”

“I owe $300,000.”

“You’ve got a good job here. You must be making decent money.”

“Lend me enough to tide the business over.”

“Once I’m back on my feet, I’ll pay you back with interest.”

He spoke with complete entitlement, as if I were still the little sister who had no choice but to hand

over her tutoring money.

I looked at them and suddenly found the whole thing ridiculous.

“Three hundred thousand?”

“I don’t have it.”

“How dare you speak to your family that rudely?!”

Dad’s face flushed red.

“You’ve got a good federal job now, and you don’t even care whether your own brother lives or | dies?”

“Don’t think I won’t go straight to your supervisor!”

“I’ll ask them how they ended up with such an ungrateful government employee!”

I watched him rant helplessly.

“Go ahead.”

I pointed to the security officer beside me.

“This is a classified federal facility.”

“If you keep shouting and causing trouble here, you can be detained under facility regulations.”

Dad’s expression changed.

When Mom saw that taking a hard line wasn’t working, she immediately softened her tone

“Erin, your dad and I played favorites before.”

“We know we hurt you.”

“Please, for my sake, help your brother this once.”

“From now on, you get the deciding vote on everything.”

“Anything.”

A vote.

Again.

I looked at the face that had once meant so much to me.

Now, all I felt was sadness.

“No.”

I took a step back.

“I cast my vote a long time ago.”

“The day you voted away my chance at Westbridge University and forced me into the local state

college.”

“The day you sold Grandma’s bracelet.”

“That was when Erin died.”

“The person standing here now is a research fellow at Site 93 Research Facility.”

I turned away without looking at them again.

“Officer, I don’t know these people.”

“If they refuse to leave, handle it according to protocol.”

“Got it!”

Behind me, through the wind and snow, I heard Mom’s broken cries and Bryce’s furious curses.