The Only Victim

When my body is engulfed in flames, my firefighter father is watching a new movie with my sister. My mother is baking them a cake. I hear laughter in the living room, and I can smell the caramel popcorn in the kitchen. Today is my family's weekly family day—it's a day for my sister and parents to be with each other. The doorbell rings, and the perpetrator gives me a chance to ask for help. My limbs are bound, and stones fill my mouth. I stand at the door and desperately wait for my parents to open it. They don't get up. Instead, they sit on either side of my sister and hug her. "We promised you we'll only be with you on our family days. No one can disturb us." "What if it's Danica?" Ravenna Sutton, my sister, asks. "Her? She hasn't answered her phone in days—who knows where she's off being wild? I'll think of her as dead if she still doesn't return tomorrow!" Ravenna giggles. Mom feeds her some popcorn, and Dad discusses the movie's plot with her. The perpetrator drags me back upstairs and laughs mockingly in my ear. "Looks like I did something unnecessary. They genuinely don't care about you." Smoke permeates every corner upstairs, and the flames start to lick at my body. Mom and Dad protect Ravenna as they run downstairs. They have no idea their birth daughter is screaming in pain amid the blazing fire. Chapter 1 When Mom and Dad ran downstairs with my younger sister, Ravenna Sutton, a crowd of neighbors and onlookers had already gathered outside. Everyone was discussing how the empty apartment upstairs had suddenly caught fire. Dad seemed to hear a scream. His instincts as a veteran firefighter made him want to rush upstairs immediately, but Ravenna grabbed his arm. "I didn't hear anyone scream. Don't go, Dad. It's too dangerous." Mom nodded in agreement. "She's right. The flames are already spilling out from the window—it's too dangerous." Finally, the fire truck arrived. Dad geared up and ran upstairs to put out the fire. In the middle of the charred room sat a burned corpse. That was me. My eyes were shut, my head hung low, and my entire body was totally burned and curled up from the fire. But because my hands and feet had been bound to the chair with iron chains, I remained in a sitting position. Soon, Mom came upstairs as well. She was the best doctor in the city. With just one look, she could tell—I had no signs of life. I had been burned alive. Her eyes instantly turned red as she murmured, "That inhumane criminal… Being burned alive must be unimaginably painful." It was. The murderer had pierced my body with a blade. It had been excruciating. The fire spreading across my skin had been agonizing. Hearing my parents protect Ravenna and flee had hurt even more. I gazed at Mom longingly. There was a rare trace of pity in her expression. This was the first time she had ever looked at me so gently. Even though I knew she was only pitying this corpse, not me. The police soon took my body away for an autopsy, and the apartment was sealed off. Although the fire didn't spread downward, it had blackened the exterior walls, and the fact that a murder had occurred affected the property value of the building. Mom and Dad immediately called my older brother, Leo Sutton, back home so he could act as their legal representative and sue the landlord upstairs. Leo was a partner in a law firm. He was also the only one in this family who never treated me like an outsider. The forensic team examined my body overnight. By the next day, the police arrived with photographs, asking questions to determine my identity. Inside my tightly shut mouth, they found a silver pendant with an engraved date. It was a pure silver necklace given to me by an old priest I met on a trip to a farm, something I had always worn close to my heart. The date engraved on it was the most important date to me—October 3, 2015. When the murderer dragged me away from my own doorstep, I knew I wouldn't make it out alive. So, while they weren't looking, I hid the necklace in my mouth. That way, Mom and Dad wouldn't lose me completely. They'd be anxious if they couldn't find me, right? That date wasn't actually my birthday. I shared the same birthday with Ravenna. But she once cried and said, "I shouldn't have shared a birthday with Danica. I stole her birthday. I should go back to the orphanage." Seeing her cry, my parents immediately hugged her tightly and scolded me. "You're the older sister—don't fight over these things with Ravenna. "Even though you're our biological child, Raven is the one we've raised for over ten years. From now on, just treat the day you came home as your birthday." I never understood why I was being blamed when I hadn't done anything—why I couldn't even keep something that was originally mine. But I was happy. At least, I had a birthday of my own. So, that date on the pendant—they had to recognize it. They had to know it was me! I watched them anxiously. They stared at the photo, murmuring the date to themselves, as if trying to remember. After a long while, they shook their heads. "I have no memory of this date." Then the police expressionlessly slid the photo back into their file and stood up to leave. I should have never expected anything. Mom and Dad would never remember anything about me; even though I was their own flesh and blood. Chapter 2 By the time I found my way home, Ravenna had already been living there for 18 years. On the first day, Mom and Dad wouldn't even let me through the door. Mom said I was dirty and probably carrying a virus. Dad said I was a scammer. However, the DNA results forced them to admit that I was their biological daughter. An investigation revealed that Ravenna and I had been born in the same hospital and mistakenly switched at birth. But her mother had died in childbirth, and no records of her father could be found. Leo tried to comfort me, saying Mom and Dad were just overly suspicious because of their professions, but they still loved me. But I knew I had always been an outsider in this family. Soon, the police released their findings on the case. The victim was a young woman, around 20 years old. Her body bore signs of abuse and her face had been smashed in with a blunt object, leaving it unrecognizable. She had suffered 40 stab wounds. All ten of her fingernails had been forcibly removed. There was soot in her mouth and nose and her eyes were shut tight. Traces of an accelerant were found on her body—she had been burned alive after being doused in it. Dad lit a cigarette. He only smoked when he was in a terrible mood. "This murderer is ruthless. It won't be easy to catch them. But the landlord upstairs insists on waiting for the killer to be caught so they can get compensation from them." Even in death, I was just another annoyance to my parents. At that moment, Leo reminded them, "She was 20 years old, the same age as Raven and Dani. We should tell them to be careful." Dad cut him off impatiently. "Raven's obedient. Danica is a wild child from the countryside. She's completely uncontrollable. I haven't seen her in a week." Leo knew how our parents had always treated me, so he chose not to argue. Noticing that Mom was clutching her stomach with a pained expression, he quickly changed the subject. "Your stomach hurts again? You haven't had an episode in years—why is it acting up now?" Mom waved him off. "It's nothing. Probably just stomach pain from skipping breakfast. It happens when I get too busy at the hospital. A few years ago, Danica used to make me breakfast or sandwiches every morning…" She trailed off mid-sentence, stunned. The wild child they always talked about had always cared about their health since coming home. Leo immediately followed up, "Danica is a good kid. Every time you worked overtime, she'd ask me if you had eaten. If you hadn't, she'd cook and bring you food right away." Mom and Dad clearly had no idea. They had always assumed Leo was the one ordering takeout for them. That was because they made me leave the food at the security booth instead of letting me inside. But instead of acknowledging it, they brushed it off. "She only did that for show," Dad scoffed. "Two days ago, it was Raven's birthday, and she didn't even come home. She was just throwing a tantrum and refusing to come back. "The last time Raven saw her, it was at some shady bar. She was probably out fooling around. Honestly, I'd rather she were dead than out there embarrassing us with whatever she's doing." Even after hearing that all those late-night meals they ate were made by me, they still refused to acknowledge anything good about me. In their eyes, treating Raven poorly was the greatest crime of all. But Mom, Dad—I wasn't out partying at a bar. I was working there to earn money to buy Raven's birthday gift. If Raven hadn't gone drinking that night, she never would've noticed me washing glasses behind the counter. And the wild child you speak of… It was not that I didn't want to come home. It was just that I could never do that again. Because I had already died—on the same day you and Raven were celebrating her birthday. I was right in front of you. And you didn't even recognize me. Chapter 3 Mom and Dad were deeply concerned about the progress of the investigation—after all, catching the murderer was directly tied to how soon they'd receive compensation. So, Leo contacted a police officer he knew and got a copy of the case report. They flipped through the photos—crime scene images, pictures of the corpse. My charred body was exposed right in front of them. As a firefighter, Dad immediately identified that the fire had started from the body itself, and he knew that the accelerant used could reach temperatures of up to 750℉ in an instant. Mom pointed at the photo, detailing all the suffering I had endured before death. I knew—Mom had always wanted to be a forensic doctor. But when she became pregnant with me, she felt that coming home to hold me after handling corpses in the hospital wasn't right, so she gave up that dream. I once overheard her holding Ravenna and saying, "Being a forensic doctor is a great profession. If you ever want to become one in the future, I'll be the first to support you." I watched as Ravenna smiled and nodded at Mom, then turned away and brushed off her shoulder in disgust. That was the first time I ever laid a hand on my sister. I twisted her arm. Mom had given up her dream for me. I wouldn't allow Ravenna to treat her that way. In the end, I was punished. I was made to kneel in the snow for three hours. If Leo hadn't come home and taken me inside, Mom and Dad would have left me out there all night. Now, looking at their pained and regretful expressions as they examined my corpse, I let out a bitter smile. They seemed devastated over a lifeless body in a photograph, but if they knew it was me, would they still feel this way? After all, they had always said it would be better if I died somewhere far away, rather than embarrassing them. Mom turned the page and saw the scar on my foot—an indentation from when I had stepped into a hunting trap back on the farm in the countryside. I remembered on the day I came home, Mom wouldn't let me inside with my dirty clothes. I had to strip down at the door and wait for her to disinfect me. Only after putting on new clothes was I allowed to enter the house. That was the first time she saw my scar. She was a doctor who had seen countless gruesome injuries. Yet when she saw mine, the only thing she said was, "Disgusting. From now on, no skirts in this house. Always wear socks—I don't want Raven to see it and get scared." From then on, I never wore a skirt again. Maybe—just maybe—Mom would recognize me from that scar? But she simply flipped the page and said indifferently, "An old wound." Just then, a phone rang. It was Ravenna's voice—her pre-recorded ringtone for Mom's phone. There were still many pages left in the report, but Mom immediately tossed it aside and picked up the call. Her voice was impossibly gentle. At that moment, the murder case, the compensation—everything was forgotten. The charred, nameless corpse upstairs could never compare to her precious daughter. "Hello? Raven, sweetheart, what's the matter?" "Tomorrow is Family Day at your school?" "Of course, we will be there! Leo is busy, though—he won't make it." Ravenna's voice rang sweetly from the speaker. "I know! That's why you're the best! Will Danica come? My classmates don't believe I have an older sister—they say she's never visited me. "But it's okay if she doesn't want to. I know she doesn't like me. I stole your love from her." Mom and Dad had always been indifferent to me, at most just annoyed by my presence. But Ravenna—she was cruel. From the very first day I returned home, she had watched me like a wary predator. She bullied me whenever no one else was around. Yet in front of Mom and Dad, she would cry like a helpless little girl, pretending to long for my affection. And as always, Mom and Dad wouldn't bother figuring out what actually happened. It was always my fault. Sure enough, the moment they heard Raven's slightly aggrieved voice, they immediately defended her. "That's right—how dare she ignore your calls? I'll find her right now! If she doesn't come, I'll cut ties with her. From now on, you'll be our only daughter." Ravenna finally laughed in satisfaction. Before hanging up, she even remembered to remind them to tell me to be careful—playing the role of the concerned, affectionate sister until the very end. After the call ended, Mom and Dad exchanged pleased smiles. "She really is the daughter we raised—kind and considerate. So what if she's not our biological child? She's even more thoughtful than our real daughter. I should never have let Danica in when she came back." Maybe because I grew up on a farm in the countryside, I had to learn many things about their world from scratch. But to Mom, that just made me seem crude and unsophisticated. Having a daughter like me was an embarrassment. That was why they never let me change my last name. Whenever someone asked, they always said they only had one daughter. I wondered whenever they got worried about Ravenna's safety, did they ever think that I was a girl as well? That I, too, could be in danger. I wondered what they would do if they ever found out that their beloved, obedient daughter, Ravenna, played a part in my murder. Chapter 4 That weekend, Ravenna came back with photos from the Family Day at school. It was a truly enviable family portrait. Aside from the annual Christmas photo that Leo insisted on taking, Mom and Dad never took pictures with me alone. Every year at my school's Family Day, they would refuse to attend, always using work as an excuse. They were afraid of people finding out that someone as crude as me was their daughter. I used to think it was because they didn't like my grades, so I worked hard and got straight A's. Later, I realized—it wasn't about my grades. They just didn't like me. Outside, the blackened exterior of the building was being repaired. As Dad watched the workers repainting the walls, he suddenly asked, "Honey, I called Danica again today, but she still won't pick up. She hasn't even responded to Leo's messages as well. Do you think something really happened to her? Should we report it to the police?" Mom cut him off impatiently. "Don't bring up Danica when Raven is home. You know how sensitive she is—it'll upset her. "Danica is just hiding. She's trying to make us worry and go looking for her. Don't fall for it. Once she runs out of money, she'll come back on her own. Stop sending her living expenses, dear." "What? I thought you were the one sending her money?" Dad looked at Mom in confusion. "No. She never asked since last year, so I stopped giving her any. I thought you were giving it to her." "I didn't either. So, Danica hasn't been getting living expenses for a year? Then how has she been getting by and still managed to buy my medicine?" A serious expression crossed Dad's face as if something had just clicked in his mind. "She became an adult last year. Maybe she found a part-time job? If she were still living in the countryside, she'd probably have started working already. There's no need to worry about her." How had I been surviving this past year? Besides attending school, I worked at a café in the afternoon, washed glasses at a bar at night, and delivered milk in the early morning. That was the only way I could afford to live—and to buy Dad's medicine. Actually, every time Mom and Dad sent me living expenses, Ravenna would get seniors to corner me in the bathroom and take the money from me. At first, I went home crying and told my parents. Dad would say, "Why would they rob you and not anyone else?" And then, Mom would say, "Are you trying to scam us out of more money?" Ravenna then would put on her usual innocent act and say, "Mom, Dad, don't scold Danica. I saw her go into a bar with someone—maybe she got drunk and someone stole her money. Just take some from mine and give it to her. I don't need much anyway." After that, Mom and Dad never sent me money again. And I never asked. The sound of the front door opening broke the silence—Leo was home. He was carrying a large cake. A mango-flavored one—my favorite. Ravenna saw it and ran over excitedly. "Leo, you're back! I missed you so much! Thank you for getting me a cake! Even though I like strawberries better, anything from you is my favorite!" Mom also walked over happily, but when she saw the cake, her tone turned slightly irritated. "You're her brother—how could you not know Raven's favorite flavor? Why did you buy the wrong one?" Still taking off his shoes, Leo lifted the cake high above his head, keeping it out of Ravenna's reach. "This cake isn't for Raven. It's for Dani. Today is her birthday—October 3rd." A brief silence filled the room. Ravenna pouted and buried herself in Mom's arms. "But, Danica isn't even coming home. Maybe she doesn't want to celebrate with us." Mom was just about to agree and criticize me for not coming home when Dad suddenly spoke, "October 3rd… Honey, that date sounds so familiar." He walked over to the storage room and took out the case report, flipping to a photo of a pendant necklace. "Look—is this it?" Mom stared at the numbers engraved on the pendant, a trace of surprise in her eyes. She seemed to recall that that was my birthday. Leo immediately set the cake down and said, "October 3rd, 2015—that was the day Dani came home. Did you forget? Did you mention this when the police questioned you?" Mom and Dad remained silent. Growing anxious, Leo dialed the police. The moment he mentioned the date on the pendant, the officer on the other end of the line responded, "Perfect timing—we just found the engraver." Chapter 5 The police told them to wait for further notice before Leo ended the call. Mom and Dad avoided eye contact—after all, they hadn't even finished reading the police report. In their hearts, nothing was more important than Ravenna. If they had just turned a couple more pages, they would have seen that a shattered glass lunch box was found at the crime scene. It was the same lunchbox I used every time I brought Mom food when she worked late. The night I was kidnapped, I was about to leave the house to bring her dinner. "Why are you glaring at me? You're becoming more and more like that Danica. Remember this—Raven is the sister you grew up with. Danica was raised on a farm in the countryside—she's rough and vulgar. What kind of decent child could she be? "Do you know how many people have birthdays on October 3rd? That doesn't mean it's her. A silver necklace? I don't believe she could afford that—she probably stole the money. If she turned into a thief, she might as well be dead." Mom was furious and unusually agitated. The date that I wanted to cherish so badly turned out to be a sin worthy of death to Mom. "The police haven't found the killer yet, and there's no DNA match for the body in the missing persons database. Maybe the victim's family hasn't even reported them missing. Mom, we need to find Dani, or at least report it to the police." Mom immediately took out her phone and dialed my number—twice. No answer. "See? I called, and she didn't pick up. Danica is so disobedient." "Honey, don't be upset. We just need to take care of Raven. Look at that victim's family—their child has been missing for so long, and they haven't even reported it. They're such irresponsible parents." "People like that don't deserve to be parents. They don't care about their child at all!" Mom spoke with righteous indignation. They condemned those so-called negligent parents, yet it never even crossed their minds that they, too, didn't care about their own daughter's disappearance. I thought of my foster mother and what she told me before she passed away. "Sometimes, blood is not necessarily thicker than water." I didn't believe it. I thought no parent could truly not love their own child. That was why I came back. But I should have understood from the very beginning that I wasn't welcome. I stood at the doorstep, wearing a dress made from my foster father's old shirt and socks with holes in them. Meanwhile, Ravenna, dressed in a designer gown, was nestled in Mom and Dad's arms when they opened the door. The moment I called them Mom and Dad, they covered Raven's eyes—afraid that just looking at me would dirty her eyes. But I was the one who had been stolen from my parents. Still, their love had never belonged to me. Chapter 6 Leo flipped through the police report and immediately spotted the familiar lunch box. He held up the photo in front of Mom and Dad. "This lunch box—Dani used it every time she brought you midnight snacks when you worked late. Don't you recognize it?" Dad studied it for a long time before mumbling, "It's just a lunch box. Who pays attention to that?" Maybe Leo, like me, couldn't understand why our parents were so reluctant to connect the body to me. Maybe it was just indifference. They didn't care that I had disappeared. They didn't care about my safety. They only cared about whether I'd cause them trouble. Leo paced the room twice before finally deciding to go to the police station himself to report my disappearance. Just as he turned around, he saw Ravenna had already opened the cake box, using a spoon to smear the delicate frosting into a complete mess. She didn't even like mango—she was mildly allergic to it. She was doing this on purpose. But when Leo confronted her, Ravenna immediately put on a pitiful look. "Leo, I just wanted a bite of cake." "Dani isn't back yet. This is her birthday cake. You like strawberry cake—I'll buy you one tomorrow." Leo stepped forward to take the cake away. "But she isn't coming back anymore." Ravenna immediately argued. Leo's hand froze for a second. "How do you know Dani isn't coming back? What do you know?" "I don't know! I just mean, maybe she prefers celebrating with her delinquent friends. She doesn't like me—she doesn't want to see me. And now even you're being mean to me. Mom, maybe I should just leave..." Ravenna quickly shifted the topic, bursting into tears and throwing herself into Mom's arms. Not wanting to listen to her nonsense anymore, Leo grabbed his coat and walked out, heading straight for the police station. At the station, he officially reported my disappearance and provided his own biological information for future DNA comparisons. Just as he stepped out, he ran into the officer in charge of my case. Before he could exchange pleasantries, the officer spoke with a serious expression. "Good timing. We retrieved the surveillance footage from the engraving shop. You should bring your parents to take a look." Back home, Mom and Dad were busy comforting their precious daughter. And of course, the way they comforted her was by cursing me—just to make Ravenna feel better. It took two calls before Dad finally picked up, sounding reluctant. Leo spoke urgently. "Dad, Mom—the surveillance footage from the engraving shop is back. Get over to the police station now." Chapter 7 Mom and Dad arrived at the police station quickly. "I'm telling you, if that necklace turns out to be something Danica stole, I'll break her legs and throw her out of the house!" Mom still refused to believe that the body could be mine. At the station, the police first showed the necklace to the engraving shop owner. With just one look, the owner immediately recognized his own work. "I remember this necklace. A young girl came in—quiet, well-mannered, with a ponytail. She came twice. The first time, she just asked about the price. A month later, she returned with the money. "I warned her that the engraving on the pendant would be permanent, but she was very firm. She said this date was the most important day of her life." When the surveillance footage played, Mom and Dad fell completely silent. Mom stared at the screen and swallowed. "That girl looks a bit like Danica." The audio from the footage was clear, and the girl's voice carried a slight accent. "This is the most important day of my life. I found my family again. This is my day of rebirth. I want to remember it forever." I had a strong accent—one of the many reasons Mom looked down on me. She had tried to correct it countless times before eventually telling me to speak as little as possible in public. "Danica? I think that was the name she gave when filling out the order form," the engraver recalled. Dad's face darkened. He took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "Are you in on this with Danica? Are you trying to play us? She just wants to see us panic and worry about her. This is a police station—you'd better not be pulling any tricks!" The engraver quickly shook his head at the officers, but Dad was growing more convinced that this was some elaborate setup. The room descended into chaos. Fortunately, the officer in charge of the missing persons case walked in just then. "Enough. The DNA test results are in."