"What's one plus one?" My older brother suddenly asked me from the back seat as we sped down the highway. I hesitated. "It's..." Before I could finish, my mother exploded in rage, turning around and slapping me hard across the face. "I have a master's degree from an Ivy League! Your father has a PhD!" "Your brother is a math prodigy! And you hesitate to answer what one plus one is?! You are completely useless!" My cheek burned like fire, but the terror in my heart hurt worse. I cried and shook my head. "Mommy, please don't be mad. I'm not useless! My brother told me..." But my mother refused to listen. The car slammed to a halt on the shoulder, and she shoved me out the door. "You're a defective mutant! You don't deserve to sit in the same car as us! Get out and walk back!" I ran after the car, crying and begging, but my parents drove away with my brother. Suddenly, a massive truck roared toward me. I felt my body become incredibly light. I floated all the way to my parents' car and told them: "Mommy, Daddy, I'm not useless. My teacher called me a little artist. She said everyone is good at different things!" 1 "A child's stride is usually between 1 and 1.5 feet." "I did the math. It's exactly 3,000 steps from here to the next rest stop." "This is your punishment. I'm doing this to push your limits, so a slow child like you can finally fit into this family." After my mother said that, she turned around and got back into the car without a second thought. I chased after her, panicking. "Mommy, please don't leave me!" The window rolled down just enough for her to toss out a small, boxy camera. "This is a body cam. It's recording. Don't you dare try to cheat and stop counting." "Stay safe and only walk on the emergency shoulder." With her final instructions delivered, the window rolled up, sealing me outside. I watched helplessly as the car sped away. The taillights grew dimmer and dimmer until they completely vanished into the dark night. "Mommy, it's so cold." The weather lady on the radio said it was 14 degrees Fahrenheit today. But Mommy forgot to give me my coat. I dejectedly held up the little camera, looking into the lens. "Mommy, I'm not useless." "I'm the best drawer in my whole class. My teacher said everyone is good at different things." But the camera didn't talk back. I sniffled, trying my hardest not to cry, and started counting. "1... 2... 3..." But it was so freezing. Every breath I breathed out looked like ice. I counted slower and slower, and my steps got smaller and smaller. By the time I reached 1,000, my legs felt like two heavy boulders. I tripped over something in the dark and fell hard to the ground. A sharp, piercing pain shot through my knee. My whole body hurt. I cried into the camera lens, apologizing: "Mommy, I'm sorry. Lily hurts so much. I just need to rest for ten numbers." In our house, we played number games all the time. If you won, you got a prize. If you lost, you got a punishment. My brother always won the prizes. I always lost. So Mommy would punish me for ten numbers. Ten smacks on the hand, or ten smacks on the bottom. I used to think ten numbers took forever. But right now, they went by so, so fast. When the ten numbers were up, I struggled to stand back up. I dragged my legs, moving inch by inch. The blood from my knee soaked through my pants, and every step was agonizing. I gritted my teeth. I just had to take 1,970 more steps, and then I could go to Grandma's house. Grandma and Grandpa were waiting for us to eat our New Year's dinner. But my body was getting colder and colder. Huge white flowers started blooming in my vision. I cried to the camera: "Mommy, I don't think I can walk anymore." Mommy didn't answer. Suddenly, blinding, piercing lights approached from behind me. Without realizing it, I had stumbled into the middle of the highway. When I woke up, I realized my body had become incredibly light. 2 Since I was so light, I caught up to my parents' car really fast. They were taking a break at the rest stop. The table was covered in delicious food. Mommy was gently trying to get my brother to drink some hot water. "It's freezing outside, Leo. You have to drink something warm." My brother took a reluctant sip. I swallowed hard. I really, really wanted a sip of hot water too. "Mommy, I want some too." I begged timidly, but Mommy didn't react at all. She fed my brother water and peeled fruit for him. It was like she couldn't even see me. I choked back my sadness. Suddenly, my dad checked his watch and frowned. "We've been at this rest stop for an hour. Why isn't Lily here yet? Do you think something happened?" My heart leapt. Daddy finally remembered me! "Daddy, I saw a really big truck, and I was too tired to run, and the truck..." I tried to shout it as loud as I could. But Mommy just sounded annoyed. "Arthur, it's only a mile and a half. It's not that far." "If it were Leo, he would have run here ages ago." "She’s been lazy and manipulative since she was born. This is exactly the kind of physical discipline she needs!" My brother nodded in agreement. He wasn't just a math genius; he was super athletic too. "She's already dumb. If she doesn't exercise, she's gonna be a sickly burden to us later," he sneered. My brother made fun of me all the time. That math question in the car was just a trap to laugh at me. Usually, I just grinned at him like an idiot and didn't get mad. He was my big brother, after all. But this time, I was actually angry. I yelled at him, "No I'm not! You're a big meanie!" If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have been kicked out of the car in the dark. My dad hesitated. He looked out the window at the thick fog, but then his brow relaxed. "A mile and a half takes an adult about 20 to 35 minutes to walk. Factoring in the environmental conditions, it makes sense that a kid would take a bit longer." Hearing my dad say that made my chest feel tight. I was always getting sick. I got winded just walking a few blocks on a normal day, let alone taking 3,000 steps in freezing temperatures without a coat. But they seemed to forget all of that. They decided to keep waiting. They waited for another whole hour. Even my brother got impatient. He threw a tantrum, demanding that my dad start driving. Just then, a couple walked into the rest stop. Their conversation interrupted my brother's whining. "We specifically left at 4 AM to avoid traffic, and we still got stuck." "That accident back there was horrific. They said the person's brains were completely crushed. And it was just a little kid..." Hearing that, my dad flinched violently. My mom looked slightly panicked. She quickly pulled out her phone. Seeing the little dot on the GPS map still moving, she let out a massive sigh of relief. Then, her panic morphed into fury. "That camera I bought her doesn't just record, it has a built-in GPS." "Look! She's moving way too fast to be walking. She definitely put on a pathetic act and hitched a ride with a stranger! She is so disobedient!" "We're not waiting for her anymore. We're leaving right now. If she's so smart, she can have whoever she scammed drive her all the way to her grandparents' house!" Hearing this, I panicked. "Mommy, no!" "I didn't! That's an ambulance! I didn't hitch a ride!" But Mommy couldn't hear me. She zipped my brother's coat up tight and dragged my dad back to their car. I cried as I floated after them. The sound of ambulance sirens seemed to be getting closer and closer, but my dad floored the gas pedal and took the exit ramp off the highway. The car quickly arrived at my grandparents' house. I happily tried to jump into my grandparents' arms, but I phased right through them. 3 I loved New Year's more than anything. I always got to see Grandma and Grandpa. But right now, I was so, so sad. My tears wouldn't stop falling. Grandma rushed to the back seat and helped my brother out. Then she peered back into the car. "Where's Lily? Why isn't Lily in the car?" "Grandma, I'm right here!" I sobbed, tugging at her sleeve. My mom answered irritably, "She hitched a ride with someone else." "Anyway, it's freezing out here. Leo was in the car forever, he's cold and starving. Shouldn't you be worrying about your grandson?" My mom's words instantly shut Grandma up. She glanced at my dad. Seeing him nod in agreement, she sighed and stopped asking questions. "Okay, okay. I made sweet rice balls! Let me go boil them for you." Bowls of steaming hot sweet rice balls were brought to the table. The delicious smell filled the room. My dad, my mom, and my brother ate happily. I held my stomach, wanting to cry but having no tears left. Walking for an hour in the cold had made me so tired and hungry. And Grandma's handmade rice balls were my absolute favorite. "Lily loves sweet rice balls the most. I saved a special batch just for her. I'll boil them as soon as she gets here." Grandma smiled, standing up and looking out the window again and again. I sniffled. I couldn't hold it in anymore and burst into tears. After everyone finished eating and Grandma cleared the table, she still didn't see me. She couldn't help but ask my parents again. "Why isn't Lily here yet? Who did she catch a ride with? Why didn't you guys just drive together?" The living room went dead silent. My dad hesitated. "She should be here soon. Real soon." His hesitant answer only made my grandparents more confused. "If she caught a ride with someone, just call them and ask! She's been gone so long, how can you two not be worried at all?" My dad pushed his glasses up his nose, looking at my mom. My mom opened her phone, clearly annoyed. My grandparents stretched their necks to look, and I floated over to look too. She frowned. Seeing that the little camera's GPS tracker was very close to the house, she said: "Relax. She'll be here in five minutes." My grandparents wanted to see the screen, but my mom immediately locked her phone. "Since we're all here, I need to have a serious talk with you two." "Lily is starting first grade soon. You can't keep spoiling her. It's going to ruin her future." My mom's tone was incredibly strict. I hid behind Grandma, terrified. Mommy only loved smart kids. She was always so soft and gentle with my brother. But I was too dumb. Mommy was always mad at me. Once, I got a 59 on a math test, and she slapped me so hard my face stung for hours. "Are you even my biological child?! How can you be so stupid?!" "You messed up basic addition and subtraction?! What is inside that head of yours?!" To make me better at math, she created crazy study schedules for me. I had to study advanced math, stuff my brother learned. If I didn't understand it, she hit my palms with a ruler. Grandma couldn't stand seeing me hurt and always tried to defend me. She tried again now. She whispered, "Eleanor, I don't think you should push a child this hard. Lily is still so young..." Before she could finish, my mom aggressively cut her off. "Mom, do you have any idea that Lily hesitates when asked what one plus one is?!" "When Leo was her age, he was already doing third-grade algebra!" Grandma went pale and fell silent. In the corner, my brother snickered quietly. I rushed forward frantically to explain. "Mommy, I didn't hesitate because I didn't know! It was Leo!" "Leo told me that one plus one doesn't equal two!" Even though I didn't understand why, when he asked me the question again in the car, I hesitated because I was confused. But my mom couldn't hear my explanation. "Look at this. Isn't this Lily's coat?" 4 My dad and grandpa had gone to get the luggage from the trunk. They found my coat. Grandpa held it up, looking completely confused. "I thought you said Lily caught a ride with someone? Why is her winter coat in your car?" My dad frowned, looking utterly bewildered. "Eleanor, when you made Lily get out of the car, you didn't give her her coat?!" My mom panicked, her eyes darting around the room evasively. "I... I forgot." "And Lily is old enough to know better! She didn't even grab her own coat." Hearing my mom blame me, I curled up into a ball, feeling incredibly wronged. Mommy forced me out of the car. She didn't give me a chance to grab anything. The biting, agonizing cold seemed to hit me all over again. Even though the heater was blasting in the living room, my ghostly body couldn't stop shivering. "What?!" "You kicked Lily out of the car on the highway?!" Grandpa's voice skyrocketed as he demanded answers. Grandma clutched her chest. "Are you insane?! It's 14 degrees outside! You left a six-year-old child alone on the highway?! How could you do such a monstrous thing?!" "If... if something happened to her..." My mom aggressively cut Grandma off. "Nothing happened to her! I told her to walk on the emergency shoulder. She's perfectly safe!" To reassure Grandma, she pulled out her phone again. "Look, Lily's GPS tracker is still moving. She's fine." But my grandparents didn't believe her. They demanded to drive out to the highway to find me. I cried and shook my head, sobbing in heartbreak. "Grandpa, Grandma, Mommy, Daddy... Lily is already here. Please don't fight..." Suddenly, my brother ran into the room. He looked like he had discovered a hidden treasure. "Mommy, look what I found in her bag!" I looked at the piece of paper in his hands, terrified, and tried to snatch it away. But my mom grabbed it first. She looked at it like it was the ultimate proof of her righteousness. She pointed the paper at my grandparents and yelled: "What is this?! You two are such great grandparents! Spoiling her and letting her rot!" "Thank god I raised Leo myself. Look at how brilliant he is! Ranked number one, perfect scores in math, every private middle school is fighting to recruit him!" "And Lily? She's completely useless! A failure that you two spoiled into garbage!" Her words stabbed into my heart, one by one. The paper was a drawing I made of our family. My brother and I were holding hands, and our parents were holding ours. We all had massive smiles on our faces. I titled it: A Happy Family. "What kind of future is drawing going to give her?! I want both my kids to get into Ivy League schools! That's the only way they'll succeed in life!" With that, she grabbed my drawing and moved to rip it in half. I threw myself at her, begging. "No! Mommy, please don't!" "I'll be good! I'll study really hard! I promise I'll never draw again!" A second later, my mom ruthlessly tore the drawing into tiny, jagged pieces. Her face was twisted in anger as she screamed at my grandparents: "Do you have any idea how brutally competitive society is right now?! A college degree means nothing anymore! If you keep babying her, how is she going to survive when she grows up?!" My grandparents' faces drained of color. They looked to my dad for help. My dad pushed his glasses up his nose. "I agree. Lily needs to focus on her studies, not waste her limited energy on useless hobbies." My dad's words completely broke me. Tears streaming down my face, I slowly floated higher into the air. Mommy, Daddy, I'm sorry I'm not a good kid. Please don't be mad. Leo will make you proud... The doorbell suddenly rang. My mom walked over to answer it, muttering: "It's definitely Lily. I told her to walk 3,000 steps, I bet she didn't even walk one!" But standing outside were two police officers. They were holding a crushed, bloodstained little camera and a photograph of a car wreck. "Excuse me, what is your relationship to the child holding this camera in this photograph?"
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