Superstitious Mother, Dangerous Future

My mom had this crazy obsession with online remedies. Every single day, she'd shove all kinds of opium-based tonics down my little brother's throat, swearing they'd make him stronger. I tried to talk her out of it, but nothing got through. So one night, while everyone was asleep, I grabbed all the tonics and tossed them in the trash.

The next day, my mom went ballistic. She got the whole family to gang up on me. And when my brother signed up for a long-distance race and couldn't finish, guess who she blamed? Me. She said throwing out the tonics ruined his health. My brother never let it go.

One night, while I was asleep, he came into my room and slit my throat. I bled out in my bed.

But then I woke up, and somehow, I was back in time-- right on the day my mom first started forcing the tonics on him.

This time, I didn't even try to stop her. I just smirked to myself. Go ahead. Eat up. Eat as much as you can.

***

"Come on, honey, just one more bite. The doctor said this tonic's perfect for building you up!"

I blinked, still in a daze, and there was my mom again. The same scene playing out like before. She was holding a piece of that nasty tonic, trying to convince my brother to eat it. He scrunched up his face, complaining about how awful it tasted, but she kept on him.

The memory of suffocating to death made me shudder. I started gasping for air, trying to calm down. My mom shot me a look, pure disgust in her eyes.

"You useless girl! What are you staring at? This is for your brother, not you. Don't even think about it! Now get in the kitchen and make dinner!"

I stood there, frozen. She snapped again.

"What, still standing there? Want me to get your dad to beat you to death?"

She raised her hand to slap me, and I instinctively shielded myself. Her slap landed hard on my arm, burning like fire, but it snapped me out of my daze. Seeing her ready to strike again, I ran to the kitchen. Behind me, my brother spit at me, laughing. "Useless girl!"

Standing by the stove, my mind wandered back to my last life. I remembered when my mom came home with a huge bag of that tonic and forced my brother to eat it every day. I tried to stop her, terrified of what it might do to him, but when she wouldn't listen, I waited until everyone was asleep and threw all the tonics out.

Even after she found out and had the whole family beat me, even after they refused to feed me for days, I still felt like I'd done the right thing.

But then my brother signed up for a 5K at school to impress some girls. He couldn't even finish. He collapsed halfway through, and the whole class laughed at him.

When we got home, my mom said it was my fault. She claimed that because I threw out the tonic, my brother's health was ruined. I thought my brother was smart enough to know better, but I was wrong. He held a grudge. That same night, he snuck into my room and slit my throat while I slept.

Lying there, bleeding out, I saw his greasy, chubby face twisted in anger.

"It's all your fault! You embarrassed me! I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you!"

I tried to explain, tried to speak, but blood just poured out of my mouth. A coldness spread through me, my vision went dark, and then-- nothing.

After I died, my parents didn't even care. They were just upset they couldn't get a bride price for me anymore. They put on a show of crying, told everyone I fell down the stairs, cremated me with no real funeral, and moved on. My brother, the murderer, faced no consequences. They kept on spoiling him like nothing had happened.

Maybe fate took pity on me because here I am-- back at the beginning.

This time, I just smirked. Let them suffer the consequences. I'm done getting in the way.

When Dad got home that night, he overheard Mom saying that the opium-based tonics were supposed to be great for boosting health. Without missing a beat, he tore open a packet and started chewing on it. My little brother, never one to be left out, started whining for some too. Mom, smiling as if she'd just won a prize, gave him some right away and then waved me off to the kitchen to make dinner.

I crouched over the sink, scrubbing the crawfish Dad had brought home, and watched as the three of them skipped dinner altogether, snacking on the tonics like they were candy. Every now and then, Mom would pop a piece into her mouth, savoring it like it was the finest treat. I kept my head down and gave a cold smile. Let them eat. The more they eat, the better.

By the time I finished with the crawfish and walked back to the dining room, they had already finished and gone out to the grocery store. The table was a disaster, with only a few wilted lettuce leaves floating in the soup bowl. I served myself some oatmeal and ate it with what little broth was left.

When they got back, I had already washed the dishes and retreated to my room. However, calling it a "room" felt like a joke. It was really just a cluttered storage space with piles of junk everywhere, and the door was a flimsy sliding one. No wonder, in my past life, my brother had no trouble sneaking in to kill me.

Lying on my bed, I could hear them laughing and chatting in the living room. My brother was working his charm on Dad, asking for the newest video game console, and Mom was already in the kitchen, whipping up some late-night crawfish just for him.

In my past life, I might've cried, wondering why my brother and I-- both born to the same parents-- were treated so differently. Was it because I was a girl? But now, I didn't care anymore. All I wanted was to break free from this toxic family.

The next morning, I woke up early, like I always did, and made breakfast for everyone. Once they were all up, I was finally able to head out for school. As I walked, I started thinking about how I could move out and live on campus. After I got to school, I went straight to the office to talk to my homeroom teacher about it.

"Living on campus is fine," she said after hearing me out, "but you'll need a parent to sign off on it." She printed out a form and handed it to me. "Take this home and get it signed, then bring it back to me."

I bit my lip, hesitating. "Is there any way to do it without getting a signature?"

She frowned slightly and gave me a kind look. "Is there a problem at home? You should really talk it over with your parents. They just want what's best for you."

I had no choice but to take the form and leave.

After school, I came home and found the front door locked. Without my keys, I turned around and went down to the card room. The air was thick with smoke, but I spotted Mom right away.

"Mom, I forgot my keys," I said quietly.

She rolled her eyes. "Seriously? What's wrong with you? Can't even remember a key? Raising you is worse than raising a pig!" She cursed under her breath while digging through her purse for the key.

I stood there silently until a greasy voice broke the tension. The man across from her leaned back in his chair and grinned. "Is this your daughter? She's a real beauty."

Ignoring his disgusting stare, I snatched the keys from my mom and got out of there as fast as I could.

When I got home, I dropped my backpack and headed straight to the kitchen to start prepping dinner. If I didn't have everything ready by the time my mom came back with my brother from his tutoring class, and her precious baby was hungry, I'd be in trouble. Again.

A little while later, I heard knocking at the door. I set down the spatula and went to answer it.

"Are you deaf, girl? I've been knocking forever!" My mom snapped at me, then bent down to help my brother take off his shoes.

He was holding fried skewers in one hand and bubble tea in the other, waving them at me with a smug grin. "Too bad, you don't get any! Ha!"

I ignored him. I was used to his teasing by now. Turning back to the kitchen, I focused on the food. My brother was always eating junk-- fried food, sugary drinks, anything unhealthy. The house was always stocked with cases of soda and juice, and if we ran out, my mom would rush to buy more. So even though he was still in elementary school, my brother weighed over 180 pounds. He couldn't walk a few steps without panting, and all he did after school was lie on the couch playing video games.

Before all this started, I used to tell him to eat better and exercise. But no one listened. My mom said he had a "lucky figure," and they both accused me of being jealous. I got chewed out for even bringing it up.

Dinner that night was strange. My mom actually asked about my schoolwork, which threw me off. I hesitated before saying, "It's fine." Then she started talking about the girl next door, how she'd dropped out after middle school to get a job. Now she was sending thousands of dollars home every month, and she'd just gotten married. Apparently, her husband had spent a fortune on the wedding.

I felt a pit in my stomach as my mom went on. "Not like my daughter, eating and drinking for free every day while I'm the one footing the bill."

After dinner, my mom pulled my dad into their bedroom. They started whispering behind closed doors, but the way she glanced at me before shutting it gave me chills.

Once I finished washing the dishes, I hurried to my room. That's when it hit me-- this had happened before. In my last life, my mom had tried to get me to drop out of school and marry that greasy, middle-aged guy who'd been creeping on me earlier. He was a deadbeat who spent all his time gambling and drinking. His wife had left him for someone else. But then his family got a big payout from a property deal, and he got even lazier. No respectable family wanted their daughter to marry him, but my mom didn't care. She was willing to trade me for the ten thousand dollars he promised.

Recently, my mom had gotten ahold of a bunch of opium-based tonics, and they were piled up in the corner of the living room. The whole house reeked of this sour, rotten smell, and it made me want to gag. My brother had ballooned up even more, and now he could barely move without wheezing. My dad had started coughing constantly too, but my mom kept insisting they just needed more nourishment. She cooked up endless pots of chicken and fish soup, but every batch was tinged yellow and had that awful sour smell from the tonics.

The three of them drank every drop, never leaving any for me. According to them, "a girl like me didn't deserve it." Honestly, I was relieved. I wouldn't have touched that stuff if they'd begged me.

It wasn't long before things got worse. One morning, after making breakfast for everyone, I called them to the table and noticed my brother sitting there, pale as a ghost, breathing heavily. His eyes were bloodshot, and sweat was pouring down his face.

My mom panicked. "Oh no, sweetie, what's wrong? Where does it hurt?"

He just kept saying he didn't feel good but couldn't explain why. My parents freaked out, trying to get him up so they could rush him to the hospital, but they hadn't accounted for his weight. Instead of lifting him, my mom ended up flat on her butt.

I bit my lip to keep from laughing and stepped forward to help, but my mom shot me a nasty look. "Don't just stand there, you useless girl-- help me up!"

After my mom managed to get back on her feet, she tried to lift my brother again, but he refused to go to the hospital. "It's too hot outside," he whined. "I don't want to walk."

My mom, always quick with an idea, smiled and said, "Alright, sweetie, if you don't want to go to the hospital, that's fine. Just write down where you're feeling unwell, and I'll take it to the doctor for you. You can stay home and rest." She immediately went to grab paper and a pen.

When she handed him the paper, my brother waved his chubby hand and pointed at me. "I'm not writing it. Make her do it."

With a scowl, my mom shoved the paper into my hands. I grabbed the pen, waiting for my brother to say something. After a few moments of dramatic sighs and moaning, he finally muttered, "I feel bad everywhere… dizzy."

I suppressed a small smile, wrote down what he said, and handed it to my parents. They rushed out the door with the note, not even considering that I had school that day. "Take care of your brother while we're gone!" they shouted on their way out.

As soon as the door closed, I heard my brother's voice from behind me. "Hey, loser, get me a cold Coke from the fridge!"

I turned around and stared at him. When I didn't move right away, he screamed, "You worthless girl! If you don't listen to me, I'll have Mom beat you to death!"

I gave him a cold look before turning to head back to my room. He flinched, startled by my expression, and stayed quiet for a moment. But as soon as I turned my back, he started yelling again. "You brat! Just wait until Mom and Dad get home-- I'll make sure they punish you! You're so mean. No wonder they want to sell you off to some old man!"

Later, when my parents came back, I was still in my room reading. Suddenly, there was a loud crash as my brother kicked the sliding door, knocking it off its shaky track.

"Loser! Mom and Dad are back! Let's see if you're still brave enough to cross me!" he yelled.

I put down my book and walked out to the living room, where I overheard my parents grumbling. "What kind of quack doctor can't even prescribe some medicine? He said we have to bring our son in for a checkup. Our son's too important to be dragged out for every little thing."

"Exactly! We wrote down that he was feeling unwell. What more does the doctor need? Useless," my mom added.

"Don't worry, honey. I talked to that online tonic seller again. He said our son's fine-- just a little weak from the heat. I'll make sure to give him some good supplements later," my mom said as she picked up a piece of opium-based tonic from the corner and handed it to my dad. "Here, honey, you should have more too. You're the backbone of this family."

Then she turned to me, her face twisting into anger. "You lazy girl, why are you just standing there? Get in the kitchen and start cooking! You trying to starve us?"

"Yeah, Mom, she didn't even get me a Coke earlier," my brother chimed in from the side.

"What?! You little brat! Are you trying to make me lose it? How dare you refuse your brother!" My mom glared at me with fury. "If anything happens to my precious boy because of you, you'll pay for it!"

She immediately went back to coddling my brother, and I watched them for a second, disgusted by their display of affection, before silently turning and heading into the kitchen.

After the food was set on the table, my dad and brother dug into their usual opium-based tonics, while I quietly scooped a bowl of rice and sat to the side, not daring to touch any of the other dishes. My mom kept glancing at my dad as if signaling something.

My dad cleared his throat and said, "Your mom found you a boyfriend. You should go ahead and drop out of school."

"What?! No! I'm not quitting. I'm going to school!" I protested in shock. "Dad, I'm just a month away from taking the SAT. I can't drop out now!"

His brow furrowed, and his face darkened instantly. "I said you're quitting, so you're quitting! Why are you talking back? Your mom's doing this for your own good."

"Exactly!" my mom chimed in. "Do you really think we'd steer you wrong? Mr. Smith may be a bit older, but he's steady and knows how to take care of people. Plus, his family's got money from their old property. You marry him, and you're set for life! What's so bad about that?"

"And don't forget," she added quickly, "your brother's about to start high school. There are so many expenses, and Mr. Smith's daughter sends money back every month to help out her brother after getting married. If she can do it, why can't you?"

Dad's tone softened a little. "What's the point of a girl like you going to school anyway? You'll end up getting married either way. Be good to your brother now, and when he grows up and makes something of himself, he'll take care of you. You'll have a family to lean on."

I glanced at my brother, sitting there with chicken grease all over his face as he devoured a drumstick, and couldn't help but laugh bitterly. "By the time he amounts to anything, pigs will be flying. He's not my son-- why should I sacrifice my life and marry someone just to support him? If someone has to marry for money, why don't you two do it? I'm going to school."

"You've really crossed the line!" My dad slammed his utensils down and glared at me. "I raised you, and this is how you repay me? Defying your own parents!"

"That's right!" my mom added, handing my brother a piece of ribs. "Respect your father's decision. It's tradition. Parents decide these things, not you. Now, sweetie, eat more. I know school's been tough on you lately-- you've lost weight from all the stress."

"You're not going to school tomorrow," my dad said with finality. "I'll go myself and take care of the withdrawal. Mr. Smith already gave us the ten grand he promised. He'll be coming over for dinner tomorrow, so you'd better stay put."