The Marriage That Never Existed novel Chapter 31

Chapter5

“I told you I won’t come back. Stop calling me.”

The voice was so familiar that my tears burst out at once.

“Mom.”

“Mom, it’s me, Ruby, it’s me…

I called for her over and over. She didn’t answer, and I panicked, rushing my words before she could hang up.

“Ruby should’ve stayed put and waited for you. I shouldn’t have disobeyed. I shouldn’t have chased the butterfly.”

The pain in my belly worsened. Even the breath leaving my lips felt hot, so hot it seared my

with pounding ache.

head

“Mom, my stomach hurts. My whole body hurts. My brothers miss you too. When are you coming back?” My voice trembled, pleading.

On the other end, I heard a faint, stifled sob.

“I’m not coming back.”

“Your father will take care of you. Don’t pretend to be sick just to fool me, all right? Lying children… no one likes them.”

Her voice was so familiar, and yet she hadn’t hung up right away. That tiny mercy made me sit up straight, desperate to defend myself.

“I’m not lying. But my brothers don’t like me. Daddy says I’m a thief. Mom, I’ve learned to behave. I won’t chase butterflies anymore. I’ll listen to you. Please, please take me with you.”

Her tone snapped sharp, cold.

“I said I’m not coming back. Tell Richard to stop wasting his time.”

“I don’t understand, Mom. I’m so hungry. My brothers won’t let me out. I’ll be like the hamster at school, buried in the dirt.‘

Her voice turned piercing, furious.

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“I told you, I don’t want you. Call your father. And listen, this has nothing to do with butterflies. I didn’t leave because you disobeyed. I left because I didn’t want you. Any of you. Do you

understand?”

Mom… didn’t want me?

It wasn’t that I wasn’t good enough. She simply didn’t want me.

My hand went slack. I didn’t even notice when the screen dimmed, the little light vanishing from my sight.

It wasn’t my fault.

I had been good.

And still, she wouldn’t come back.

They had all lied to me.

Lied to keep me waiting. Lied to keep me quiet.

The basement echoed with my sobs, until my voice cracked and my strength ran out. My throat burned. Eventually, I collapsed and drifted into a restless sleep.

Inside my head, everything was chaos, messier than when Mom smashed her whole bedroom in

anger.

Flashes of Andrew, Blake, and Carter, taunting, laughing, clapping as I cried.

Then Mom, standing just behind me, watching me chase the butterfly as she walked away in the opposite direction.

Then Father’s hand striking me down, his eyes hard with disgust.

And always, always Mom’s voice, blaring in my ears like a speaker turned too loud.

“It isn’t because you were naughty. It’s because we didn’t want you. Do you understand?”

I woke screaming, heart hammering.

I opened my eyes. I was still in the basement.

The dark was so deep I couldn’t see my own hand.

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I was too weak to stand. Hunger kept me crawling, my fingers scraping across bare concrete,

finding nothing.

Maybe it was true, maybe everyone really did hate me.

Hated children were like the ugly black hamster, bullied by the others until it curled in the corner.

Until its body stiffened, and the teacher dug a little hole in the dirt to bury it.

Inside

my chest, something thudded wildly, as if it wanted to leap out of me.

The dim basement light flickered, slipping away from my eyes.

This time…

Finally, I didn’t hurt anymore.