Part 1Family Reunion, Death Wish

At the welcome-home dinner, my adoptive brother, Adam, whispered in my ear.

“The Sterling family only needs one son. You’re just some trash they dragged in from the sticks.”

I thought he had a point.

So I turned and walked straight into the roaring traffic of the intersection.

My family went insane, screaming and pleading as they dragged me back to the curb. My sister, Scarlett, her face a mask of fury, warned me never to upset Adam again.

I nodded obediently. Later that night, I turned on the gas and left a note.

【It's my fault I made my brother unhappy. I'm going to take the whole family to heaven with me, then all our troubles will be over.】

The way they looked at me after that, you’d think they’d seen a ghost.

Then, at another party, Adam and his cronies shoved me into the swimming pool.

But I didn’t struggle. I simply let my body sink toward the bottom.

Panicked, Adam had to dive in and haul me out himself.

“You idiot! What if you’d actually drowned? Mom and Dad would kill me! Couldn’t you have at least tried to fight it?”

What he didn’t know was that I had fought back before. The reward for my struggles was a series of brutal deaths.

This was my tenth time being reborn.

This time, my only goal was to die.

* * *

Chlorine burned my stomach, a searing pain from the inside out.

Scarlett pulled me from the water. I collapsed at the edge of the pool, coughing up a lungful of water, barely clinging to life.

The color drained from Adam’s face, leaving it as white as a sheet. His friends were panicking too, tripping over themselves to make excuses.

“We were just joking around with you!”

“Yeah, who knew he’d just jump in like that!”

“And who drowns without even struggling? Is he trying to shake us down for money or something?”

Scarlett wrapped her own cashmere cardigan around my shivering shoulders as I climbed out of the pool. My teeth chattered violently from the cold.

Still, I managed to force a smile as I looked at Adam.

“You told me to get in, brother. So I did.”

“I listen to you.”

A chill ran down Adam’s spine. He stumbled back a few steps, staring at me as if I were some kind of monster.

“What the hell are you talking about?” he shrieked. “When did I tell you to get in?”

He was on the verge of tears, turning to our parents who had just rushed over.

“Dad, Mom, don’t listen to him! He’s crazy!”

“Caleb is just trying to frame me!”

Our parents’ faces were grim as they took in my soaking-wet form.

One of the boys, dressed in expensive designer streetwear, found his courage. “He jumped in himself. We tried to save him, but he wouldn’t even come up!”

I peeked out from behind Scarlett, my expression one of pure innocence.

“I wasn’t refusing to come up.”

“It’s just… whatever my brother tells me to do, I have to do it perfectly. Otherwise, he gets upset.”

“And when he’s upset,” I continued, my eyes sweeping over their horrified faces, “Scarlett and Mom and Dad get upset, too.”

I looked at them, my voice earnest and steady.

“So, what do I need to do to make you all happy?”

A dead silence fell over the patio. Everyone was looking at me like I was a maniac.

Scarlett’s body went rigid. Her fingers dug into my arm, her manicured nails like claws in my flesh.

“Caleb, shut your mouth!”

My father’s voice was sharp as he spoke to the butler. “Take the young master back to his room. Call the doctor and have him checked out.”

Then he turned to Adam, his eyes harder than I’d ever seen them.

“Adam. You come with me.”

Adam had always been the golden child, coddled and spoiled. Our parents rarely even raised their voices to him.

The harsh tone shocked him. The tears finally came, and he started sobbing, gasping for breath.

“Dad, it really wasn’t me…”

Looking at the storm clouds gathering on my family’s faces, a wave of exhaustion washed over me.

What more do you want from me?

When Adam’s puppy ran away, they strapped a collar around my neck, made me eat dog food and sleep in its kennel, turning me into his new pet.

When he wanted to go camping with friends, he zipped me into a sealed sleeping bag and kicked me down a hillside. My head and body slammed into jagged rocks, the pain so intense it turned to numb suffocation. As he looked down at my twisted, broken body, he’d simply curled his lip in disgust.

“Guess the quality of this sleeping bag is crap. I’m leaving a one-star review. Good thing my little brother tested it out for me.”

This time, I didn't even fight his torment.

So why, Mom, Dad, Scarlett… why are you still not happy?