Nina Is Not a Thief

Two years ago, my older sister Jaslyn and I were trapped in a housefire. The firefighters told Mom she had to make a choice. They could only save one of us. Mom chose me because I was closer to the door. Later, when she learned that the fire had been caused by us breaking into the neighbor's house to steal stuff, she grabbed me by the hair and yelled at me. "Your sister Jaslyn was a model student. There's no way she would steal anything. "You're the thief! If it weren't for you, she wouldn't have died!" From then on, I wasn't allowed to eat good food or wear nice clothes. Every day, I had to kneel before Jaslyn's portrait and atone for my sins. One day, the class fund went missing at school. Mom was convinced I had stolen it and dragged me away to confess. Terrified, I ran off, only to be hit by a car. As I lay dying, I called Mom and begged her to come save me. She snorted. "Such a liar! You stole Jaslyn's life from her back then. It's your turn to die now!" Later, Jaslyn, who had supposedly been dead for two years, returned and revealed the truth about what had happened back then. Mom broke down. She took Jaslyn from house to house, explaining the truth to every one of my classmates. "Nina is not a thief." Chapter 1 I, Nina Conner, was sent flying ten feet after being hit by a car. Every bone in my body felt shattered, and the pain was unbearable. It was a dark and rainy night. The streetlights cast only a dim glow. The driver thought he had hit a stray dog. He rolled down the window, cursed his bad luck, and drove off. My body grew colder and colder, but I didn't want to die. I retrieved my phone and called my mother, Mary Conner. The moment she answered, she spoke first. "You stole the class fund and refused to admit it. Now you even have the nerve to run away from home!" I endured the pain and replied, "Mom, I was hit by a car. Please, come save me." There was silence on the other end for several seconds. She then laughed. "Such a liar. I bet you stole the class fund and ran away because you were too scared to come home. You stole the life Jaslyn should have had. You should have died a long time ago." The moment she finished speaking, all I could hear was the beeping of the disconnected call. The torrential rain came pouring down, pounding against my body again and again. At that instant, I seemed to lose all my strength. I couldn't even be bothered to call an ambulance. Two years ago, Jaslyn Conner and I were trapped in a fire. The flames were too intense, and the firefighters said they could only save one of us. Mom chose me because I was closer to the door. She told me, "Nina, Jaslyn gave you this life." A few days later, the investigation into the cause of the fire was completed. The gold jewelry that should have been in the neighbor's bedroom was found in their living room. There were also signs that the door lock had been forced open. Everyone concluded that my sister and I had broken into the neighbor's house to steal, only to run into an electrical fire caused by old wiring. That was what resulted in the tragedy. That same day, Mom grabbed me by the hair and made me kneel before Jaslyn's portrait. She beat my back mercilessly with a stick. "Jaslyn was academically gifted. She's been obedient from the time she was little. How could she possibly steal anything? "You're the thief! You're the one who got Jaslyn killed! Why didn't you die instead?" I tried to explain, but Mom had already decided that I was the culprit. She wasn't wrong about one thing. When there were only two choices, if I hadn't been there, perhaps Jaslyn would have been the one who survived. She had been burned alive. I bet it was painful. Thinking about it, I stopped talking and simply let Mom vent her anger. From that day on, I was never given enough to eat or warm enough clothes to wear. Mom always said, "Jaslyn was starving before she died. You should go hungry too. "Jaslyn is probably freezing six feet under. Why should you wear such warm clothes? "You stole her life, so you'd better atone for your sins." That atonement lasted two whole years. Finally, while I lay in a pool of blood today, my punishment had come to an end. Mom would never hit me again. I bet she was satisfied now. As I closed my eyes, I felt a sense of relief unlike anything I had ever experienced. Only one final thought remained. 'If only Jaslyn had been the one they saved back then.' Perhaps God thought my sins had not yet been paid for and refused to let me off the hook. My soul drifted out of my body. Under the moonlight, I saw myself lying on the ground. My body was nearly crushed into a bloody mess. My limbs were twisted at unnatural angles, and my face was swollen beyond recognition. No wonder the driver had mistaken me for a stray dog. Chapter 2 I sighed, but before I even had time to feel sad, a powerful force dragged me to Mom's side. She was talking to my homeroom teacher on the phone. "I'm sorry to trouble you. Nina definitely stole the class fund. I'll make her write a three-thousand-word confession tomorrow and apologize in front of the entire school." My teacher explained, "Mrs. Conner, please don't jump to conclusions. The security department is still checking the surveillance footage. We haven't figured out what really happened yet. Please don't accuse your daughter before we know the truth." Mom sneered. "I know my daughter better than anyone. She's been sneaking around since she was little. She even stole twenty dollars from me not long ago. This time, I'm going to teach her a proper lesson and make sure she remembers it!" Hearing that, I couldn't help but tremble all over. I never thought I could still feel fear even after dying. I recalled the incident Mom was talking about. Twenty dollars had gone missing from the house. Mom decided I had stolen it, slapped me across the face, and forced me to confess. I cried and screamed that I hadn't stolen anything. In the end, my throat became so hoarse that I couldn't make a sound, and my body was covered in bloody welts from the stick. Even so, she still refused to let me go. She stripped off all my clothes and dragged me out onto the street. "If you won't admit it, I'll let everyone see what a thief looks like." People gathered around. They were laughing and watching the spectacle while pointing at me and whispering. All I could do was crouch down and bury my face between my knees. In the end, a woman from the homeowners association couldn't bear to watch anymore and covered me with a coat. She said to Mom, "Did you forget that you paid twenty dollars for the homeowners association fees a few days ago?" Only then did Mom realize what had happened. She tossed my clothes at me coldly without saying a word of apology. Instead, she complained, "If you didn't steal it, why didn't you explain yourself properly?" 'I've tried explaining on countless occasions. You've always refused to believe me, Mom. 'In your mind, I've always been a thief. Nothing I've said could ever change that.' Before I knew it, a tear slid down my cheek. It landed on Mom's forehead. She froze for a few seconds before looking around suspiciously, wondering if there was a leak somewhere in the house. Feeling disgusted, she wiped the droplet away. She continued complaining to my homeroom teacher. "You may not know this, but she was the one who stole the gold jewelry from our neighbor back then. That's what got my eldest daughter killed. She really is a thief." Jaslyn and I were twins, and we used to attend the same class. Our homeroom teacher knew something about what had happened to our family. She was silent for a moment. "Mrs. Conner, the dead are gone, but life has to go on. Your other daughter is your flesh and blood too." She paused before continuing. "Nina is a good kid. I believe she wouldn't steal anything. As for the class fund, we'll notify you once we've investigated and found out the truth." With that, she hung up before Mom could say another word. I never expected that my homeroom teacher, who wasn't related to me at all, believed me. I was happy. Yet for some reason, that happiness came with a touch of bitterness. After hanging up, perhaps thinking of her eldest daughter, Mom picked up Jaslyn's portrait and held it in her arms. She carefully wiped away the dust with a towel. For the first time in two years, I saw a gentle expression on her face. She chatted with the portrait about all sorts of things. She even hummed a little tune. But could Jaslyn really hear her? I didn't know. All I knew was that it was already past midnight. I still hadn't come home, yet Mom wasn't worried in the slightest. Perhaps she really believed that I had stolen the class fund and was too ashamed to return. Just as I thought this, a sudden wave of pain shot through my lower leg. It felt as though something had pierced my flesh. The pain was excruciating. The next second, I was pulled back to my corpse. A stray dog had discovered my body. It was getting ready to feast. It had bitten a chunk out of my lower leg. Apparently unsatisfied, it moved toward my chest, sniffed around, and pawed my clothes open. Chapter 3 My old, worn-out padded coat was ripped to shreds. Yellow cotton stuffing drifted out. I'd been wearing it for two years. It had been stitched and patched over and over again. As I grew taller, the sleeves became shorter and shorter. Cold wind slipped through the cuffs, and the coat didn't keep me warm at all. A few days ago, I had cautiously asked Mom if she could buy me a new coat. She slapped me hard across the face. "How selfish can you get? All you care about is how you feel. Why don't you think about whether Jaslyn is cold down there? "Aren't you a thief? Aren't you capable? If you want new clothes, go steal money and buy them yourself!" When I came back to my senses, the stray dog had already torn all the clothes from my body. It sank its teeth into my stomach. Terrified, I tried to kick it away, but my foot passed straight through its body. I tried pulling it away with my hands, but the same thing happened. "Go away! Go away!" In the end, I could only helplessly watch as it tore my corpse apart. I recalled what Mom had shouted at me after learning that Jaslyn had burned to death. "Nina! Why wasn't it you who died instead?" Now her curse had come true. My corpse had been torn to pieces. I truly had died. Fortunately, someone in the distance noticed what was happening. He ran over and drove the stray dog away with a stick. I let out a sigh of relief. Finally, someone had found my body. Surely he would call the police. Before long, Mom would probably come and identify my body. But he didn't do as I hoped. Instead, he crouched down and carefully examined my body. A lecherous grin appeared on his face as he dragged me toward the woods. Only then did I realize that he was a homeless man—a man with no morals and no line he wouldn't cross. I knew what he intended to do. Panic seized me. "Don't drag me away! Don't drag me away!" But I was only a drifting soul. No one could hear me. I was frantic. In the blink of an eye, I was dragged back to Mom's side again. I moved closer to her. "Mom, please save me. Please, hurry up and save me." But she couldn't see me either. She smiled and went into the bedroom. When she came back, she was holding an expensive down jacket. It was pink and had cartoon designs on it. It was perfect for a young girl, especially someone my age. My frantic heart stopped for a second. Then it plunged into an abyss of ice. I watched as Mom placed the jacket in a metal basin and set it on fire in front of Jaslyn's portrait. "Sweetheart, are you cold down there? "It only recently occurred to me that you would have grown taller. Your old clothes must be too short now. I was so careless that I never thought of it." The flames rose higher and higher. They bathed everything around them in a fiery red glow, but I couldn't feel the slightest bit of warmth. The following afternoon, Mom went to the supermarket and bought a huge basket of fruit. She picked out two apples first. After all, apples were cheap this time of year. But a few seconds later, she put the apples aside and replaced them with mangoes. I was allergic to mangoes, but Jaslyn loved them. 'Mom, you really think about Jaslyn every second of every day.' Mom took the fruit to my classmates' homes. The moment someone opened the door, she apologized. "I'm so sorry that my daughter stole the class fund. Please accept these fruits as compensation." The person stared at her in confusion. Mom continued, "She really is a thief. She stole our neighbor's gold jewelry when she was younger and got her sister killed." She went from house to house. Everyone was left completely baffled. Only I understood what Mom was trying to do. She wanted everyone to join her in condemning me. Perhaps only then could she feel at ease blaming me for Jaslyn's death was entirely my fault. But now I was dead too. Even my corpse had been desecrated beyond recognition. Those rumors no longer mattered to me. Chapter 4 The last house Mom visited belonged to the classmate who sat next to me. When we arrived at her door, I couldn't help resisting. But as a drifting soul, I had no choice but to follow Mom inside with the fruit. After Jaslyn died, this girl was the first person to bully me. She led the others in mocking me for being a thief. Every day, she treated me like a source of entertainment, scribbling all over my books, stuffing trash into my desk, and even dragging me into the bathroom to beat and kick me. I became terrified of her beatings and turned to Mom for help. But Mom only said, "Jaslyn was burned alive. You can't even handle being bullied a little?" After that, the girl only got worse. One day, she grabbed me by the hair and forced hot sauce into my mouth. My entire body reeled as the spice scorched its way from my mouth down to my stomach. I pushed her away and started coughing violently. The situation escalated, and our homeroom teacher called both of our parents to school. The girl immediately accused me. "Nina is a thief. She stole my things, so I was just punishing her." I asked her what I had supposedly stolen. She stammered, "A mango! I brought a mango to school yesterday, but it was gone after we were done with PE. Nina must have stolen it." I was allergic to mangoes. Mom knew that. Her flimsy lie could have been exposed with just one sentence. I looked at Mom eagerly, waiting for her to defend me. But she only shot me a cold glance before slapping me across the face. "I was wondering where that mango came from yesterday. So you stole it! How did I end up raising a thief like you?" I was stunned. 'Mom, you clearly know about my allergy. Why are you helping the person who's bullying me?' My stomach churned violently. The pain felt like thousands of needles stabbing into me. So this was what being burned felt like. But compared to the agony of having my heart torn apart, it was nothing. Perhaps I would have been better off dying in that fire back then.n. At least it would have been a quick. When we returned home, a neighbor mentioned that a body had recently been discovered in the suburbs and that the police were currently searching for the victim's family. She looked frightened. "I heard the body was horrifying. She was crushed by a car, torn apart by a dog, and then dragged away by a homeless man. Tsk, tsk. I wonder whose child could be so unlucky." Mom nodded in agreement. "That really is tragic." 'Mom, do you actually feel sorry?' But the next second, the neighbor asked about me. "Hey, where's Nina? I haven't seen her all day. Did anything happen to her?" Mom chuckled. "I wish she were dead. After what she did to Jaslyn, how does she even have the nerve to keep living? "If that body really is hers, she can consider all that suffering atonement for what she did to Jaslyn." When Mom talked about me, it was as if she were talking about some piece of worthless trash. The neighbor suggested that Mom go to the police station and take a look. Mom didn't care in the slightest. "She's clever. How could she possibly have been hit by a car? She obviously stole the class fund and is too afraid to come home. "Hmph! Just wait until she comes back. I'll teach her a lesson!" I smiled weakly. 'Mom, I'm afraid I can't give you what you want this time. I'm never coming home again.' Suddenly, a sedan stopped in front of Mom. The door opened, and a girl who bore a striking resemblance to me stepped out. Mom didn't get a good look at her at first. Thinking it was me, she ran over and was ready to slap her. But when she got closer, her hand began to tremble, and tears rolled down her cheeks. "Jaslyn, is that you? "Jaslyn, my daughter, you finally came home to see me. "I'm not dreaming, am I?" I watched as Jaslyn, who had supposedly been dead for two years, stepped out of the car. She happily threw her arms around Mom.