Part 3The Wax Figure Corpse

Unfortunately, the phone didn't ring, and the screen didn't light up.

Dad tried calling twice and then gave up, only cursing that I didn't even come back for my brother's birthday, not caring about my safety or whether I was alive or dead.

They wouldn't wait for me to come back for dinner, let alone wait for me to cut the cake together.

They ate the tender braised pork knuckles and delicious cola chicken wings. My brother even had a bowl of longevity noodles and two red eggs.

I sat next to my brother, pretending I was part of this family, my hand passing through the chopsticks, pretending to pick up a piece of braised pork to eat.

I closed my eyes, imagining how delicious it must be. It should taste similar to restaurant food. I had never eaten Mom's cooking, and I wasn't allowed at the table.

Mom would only put the gnawed bones and leftover food in a copper basin, like feeding a dog, and leave it for me to eat.

Indeed, all these years they had treated me like a dog.

To them, giving birth to me and raising me was the greatest kindness, and I should be grateful and not ask for more.

I wondered if they discovered I was dead, would they make me a birthday feast too, order a cake for me?

Before they finished eating, my brother started clamoring for cake.

Mom and Dad put a birthday crown on my brother, lit the birthday candles, and sang the birthday song.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you..."

"Happy 20th birthday, Ryan. Make a wish quickly, be sure to wish that you'll become smart, exchange your sister's life for your intelligence."

I stood by, smiling bitterly.

My brother and I were twins, and every year on our birthday, Mom and Dad would mention me, but not to wish me well.

Instead, they would have my brother make a birthday wish every year to exchange my life for his intelligence.

In the past, I was always hurt by such words, but this time I sincerely hoped my brother's wish would come true.

I was already dead, it shouldn't be for nothing, right?

"Mom, this time brother's wish will come true."

But my brother shook his head, "Don't want sister to die, want sister to have happy birthday."

In this family, only my brother remembered that today was my birthday too.

Mom and Dad remembered too, but they didn't care, which hurt me even more.

Mom angrily said with a stern face: "You can't. You can only wish to exchange your sister's life for your intelligence."

My brother didn't understand what "life" meant, but he was very stubborn. This year, he just wouldn't make that wish.

It's strange, when I was alive, my naive brother happily made this wish every year.

Now that I'm dead, my brother refuses to make this wish.

My brother insisted on not making the wish, and Mom got so angry she hit the back of his hand. My brother cried pitifully and suddenly lay on the ground, rolling around.

My six-foot-tall, handsome brother was lying on the ground, throwing a tantrum and crying like a three-year-old.

It really didn't look good, and it wasn't right. It was painful to watch.

I crouched next to my brother, comforting him like I used to.

"Brother, make the wish quickly. Sister is already dead, this time the wish will surely come true."

My kind and innocent brother should get better, should become smart.

I don't know if my brother heard what I said, he just kept throwing a tantrum.

"I don't want to be smart, I just want sister, I want sister."

Mom was so distressed she wiped away tears, then started cursing me again with all sorts of nasty words.

Dad looked at my brother rolling on the ground, very annoyed.

"It's just a wish. We've been making this wish for twenty years, and we haven't seen Lily die or Ryan become smart."

"If wishes really came true, I would have killed Lily long ago."

Dad angrily grabbed a handful of cake and smeared it on the neck of the corpse wax figure, the action really looked like killing someone.

It's not surprising.

If they could choose, they would have preferred that I was the one who came out late, that I was the one who suffered oxygen deprivation and became mentally challenged.

If I had been born later that year, if I had been the one with brain damage, would they have treated me the way they treated my brother, never giving up, spending all their money to give me rehabilitation training?

Look at them, they know today is my birthday too, but they don't bless me at all. Instead, they wish they could kill me.

Seeing Dad's action, my brother stopped crying, got up and grabbed some cake to smear on the wax figure's mouth.

"It's sister's birthday, eat cake, sister, eat cake quickly."

My brother was happy, and so were Mom and Dad. They all grabbed cake and smeared it on the wax figure.

They were very happy, they were celebrating wildly.

Perhaps they felt relieved that I was dead, and were celebrating.

I didn't care. I just pretended they were celebrating my birthday.

This was the first time Dad, Mom, and my brother celebrated my birthday together.

I happily sang the birthday song to myself: "Happy 20th birthday, Lily Rain."

"My wish is..."

I seemed to have no wishes. I guess a dead person's wish would probably be to have a better life in the next reincarnation.

But I don't want to be human anymore.

So I'll wish that in my next life, I won't be human. I'll be a cat or a dog, even a pig or a duck, anything but human.

Being human is too tiring.

After making my wish, I closed my eyes to blow out the candles.

The candles went out, and the room suddenly went dark.

When candles go out, wishes are supposed to come true.

Ding dong.

The sudden sharp doorbell sound startled my parents again. Dad pushed Mom out, telling her to answer the door.

I followed behind Mom to open the door.

Mom only opened half the door, saw it was a strange man, and asked warily, "Who are you looking for?"

Seeing who it was, I fearfully stepped in front of Mom.

Because this was the killer who murdered me!