The Girl Who Never Came Home

When my parents came to take me home, I accidentally switched souls with Ava, a girl from the mountains. The moment my mother saw the certificate proving that Ava had ranked first in the entire county, her eyes filled with tears. "Looks like sending you to the mountains to suffer for half a year was the right decision. "Back then, getting you to study was like pulling teeth. Now you finally understand that everything we did was for your own good." I burst into tears and rushed forward, throwing my arms around my mother's legs. "Mom, I'm the real Sophie!" She kicked me hard, sending me sprawling into the mud. "Where did this wild child come from? You're just as disobedient as the old Sophie!" My parents took away the "me" carrying Ava's soul, leaving the real me behind in the mountains. For the next five years, I endured endless hard labor, slept in a pigsty, and suffered relentless abuse before I finally found a chance to escape. But when I returned home, my mother looked at me with disgust and drove me away. "My daughter just made it through the national competition. How could she possibly be someone like you? If you dare spout that nonsense again, I'll have you locked up in a mental hospital!" I cried until my entire body shook, but I refused to give up. That night, I climbed over the wall and slipped back into the house. That's when I heard my father ask my mother, "We didn't know about the soul swap back then. But now that she's found her way back... are we really not going to acknowledge her?" My mother let out a cold laugh. "What would be the point of taking her back? Should we let her ruin the Sophie we have now? She's hopeless. Even being thrown into the mountains couldn't change her. Someone like her deserves to die." A sharp pain ripped through my stomach. I coughed up a mouthful of blood. "Mom... This body has stomach cancer. Just as you wished... I'm going to die." Chapter 1 I slipped and crashed hard off the wall. My father's voice came from inside the house. "What was that?" I clamped a hand over my mouth, fighting to stay silent as tears streamed through my fingers. My mother didn't sound concerned at all. "Probably just a stray cat." Blood poured from my shin. I lay on the freezing concrete, staring up at the narrow strip of sky overhead. Only one thought filled my mind. "I can't accept this... I haven't even had a single chance to truly live, and now I'm going to die. No. I have to survive. No matter what I've become, I still want to live," I muttered. I spent the entire night lying in that alley. The next morning, limping on my injured leg, I searched for work nearby. After dozens of places turned me away, a convenience store finally agreed to hire me. … A week later, the owner paid me my wages. At last, I could afford to have my badly bandaged leg treated properly at a clinic. I could also buy stronger painkillers, so the stabbing agony from my stomach cancer wouldn't be quite so unbearable when it flared up. Just when I thought life was finally starting to get a little better, I ran into them while I was working. "Sophie, tomorrow's the finals. Grab two boxes of chocolate. You'll need the energy before the competition." My entire body froze. It was my mother's voice. I peeked through the gap between the shelves. My mother had her arm wrapped affectionately around Ava's, her face soft and full of warmth. My father followed behind them with a smile. Ava was wearing the school uniform that should have been mine. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail, and she looked radiant. I immediately pulled my cap lower over my face, hunched my shoulders, and hurried back behind the register with my head down. As I scanned their items, my hands shook so badly that it took three tries before the barcode finally registered. My mother frowned, but she still didn't recognize me. After I checked them out, I watched the three of them walk away together as bitterness welled up inside my chest. Then a box of chocolate slipped out of one of their bags. Without thinking, I picked it up and limped after them as fast as I could. "Wait! You dropped this..." They stopped and turned around. The moment they saw me, their expressions changed. "It's you?" My father immediately stepped back, shielding my mother and Ava behind him. "You followed us all the way from the mountains. What exactly are you trying to do?" My heart trembled. I stood there helplessly, clutching the box of chocolate. "N-No... I was just..." My mother's face turned cold, her eyes filling with disgust. "You lunatic! Why won't you leave us alone? Our Sophie has absolutely nothing to do with you. If you keep harassing us, we won't go easy on you!" Leaning against my mother's shoulder, Ava shot me a smug, taunting smile. My heart felt as though it were being sliced apart. "Mom... I wasn't—" My mother's face instantly flushed crimson. "Who gave you permission to call me 'Mom'? Shut your mouth!" As more and more people gathered around, my mother glanced at me before suddenly charging over. She shoved me to the ground and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Everyone, come look! This convenience store employee is stealing!" Chapter 2 I flinched and immediately shook my head. "No! I didn't steal anything!" My mother let out a cold laugh, as though she'd been waiting for me to say exactly that. "Then why don't you check what's in your pocket?" I slowly reached into my pocket. My fingers closed around a packet of imported cookies. For a split second, I froze. I stared at my mother in disbelief. The corner of her lips lifted into a faint smile. Only then did I realize what had happened. She had slipped the cookies into my pocket when she'd shoved me to the ground. A sharp cramp seized my stomach. I doubled over as cold sweat instantly broke out across my body. My mother merely snorted at the sight before turning to my father. "Call the police. If she steals today, tomorrow she'll be causing trouble outside the exam venue. She's jealous. She wants to ruin Sophie's future!" The moment I heard the word "police," my mind went blank. This was the only job I'd managed to find. I needed it to buy my pain medication. I couldn't afford to lose it. My knees gave out, and I collapsed to the ground in front of my mother. "Please... I'm begging you. I really didn't steal anything. This is the only job I have... I'm sick... I just want to earn enough money to buy my medicine..." Instead of softening, my mother's expression turned even colder. "Stop pretending to be pathetic just to make people feel sorry for you!" Tears streamed uncontrollably down my face. Clutching the hem of her pants, I spoke through a voice so unsteady I could barely get the words out. "Mom... I'm not lying... I have stomach cancer..." Before I could finish, my mother jerked away as though I'd touched her with something filthy. "I told you to shut up! Stop putting on this act! You need to learn your lesson today!" ... About 15 minutes later, the police arrived. The convenience store owner rushed over after receiving the call, sweat beading across his forehead. "Officer, there has to be some misunderstanding. She's always been honest..." The police officer turned to me with a businesslike expression. "Your ID." My entire body stiffened. I didn't have one. To be more precise, I had nothing. When I escaped from those mountains, all I had worn was a tattered piece of cloth. Even my shoes had been woven from banana leaves. The police officer frowned. "You don't have any identification?" The owner's face turned even paler. "I felt sorry for her. Her leg was injured, so I let her work here for a few days first." The police officer glanced at him. "Do you realize this constitutes illegal employment?" The owner fell silent. Meanwhile, a satisfied smile spread across my mother's face. In the end, because the imported cookies weren't worth much, the police issued me a public warning instead of pursuing the matter further. They also warned the owner that he could no longer employ me. I watched him nod again and again. The last glimmer of light in my eyes slowly faded. "All right. Sign the incident report here." A pen was held out to me. I hesitated before taking it. No matter how hard I tried, though, my fingers refused to hold it properly. Suddenly, I remembered the day my parents first left me in those mountains. They had handed the farming family a sum of money and told them not to spoil me. After taking the money, they truly treated me like livestock. During the day, I carried firewood, hauled buckets of manure, fed pigs, and worked in the fields. At night, I hid beside the pigsty and studied by the light of a single candle. I believed that if I earned good enough grades, my mother and father would come take me home. I studied with everything I had. In the end, I ranked first in the entire county. But the day before my parents were supposed to arrive, the farmer's wife brought me a bowl of soup. Smiling, she said, "You're going back to the city tomorrow to enjoy the good life. Think of this as a farewell meal." The moment I finished the soup, I blacked out. When I woke up, I had become the farmer's daughter, Ava. She took my award certificate. She took my parents. Before I could even finish a single sentence, my mother and father kicked me back into the mud. Over the next five years, the farmer's family abandoned even the pretense of kindness. They cursed me for occupying Ava's body while being nowhere near as capable as she was. They said that once Ava became successful in the city, she'd return and give them the comfortable life they deserved. As for me, I was nothing more than a useless city girl who deserved to spend the rest of my life paying off her debts. For five years, I endured endless torment. I never read another page. I never wrote another word. My hands had grown so accustomed to gripping sickles and pig feed buckets that they had long since forgotten how to hold a pen. Even now, after summoning every ounce of strength I had, all I managed to write was a single crooked horizontal stroke. Then my mother's voice rang out beside me, dripping with disgust. "You can't even write anymore? How dare someone as useless as you claim to be my daughter?" Chapter 3 My father's expression darkened completely. The disappointment in his eyes as he looked at me was unmistakable. In the end, they walked away hand in hand with Ava, leaving behind only one sentence, "Don't ever let us see you again." The crowd gradually dispersed until I was the only one left. No ID, no job, no money, and no home. The only way I could survive was by digging through trash cans for food: half-eaten bread, spoiled boxed meals, even dog food that no one wanted. I crouched where the streetlights couldn't reach, stuffing each bite into my mouth. My stomach felt as though a dull blade were slowly grinding through it until it drew blood. Whenever the pain became unbearable, I'd curl into a ball with my arms wrapped around my knees. I could almost hear my mother's voice repeating the words she'd always told me, "If you don't study hard, you'll end up picking through garbage for a living." I lowered my head and stared at the filthy pieces of bread resting in my palm. A bitter smile spread across my face. "I'm so useless." I really did end up picking through trash, but I'd worked hard. I'd even ranked first in the county. Was I really that worthless? Supporting myself against the wall, I forced myself to my feet and wandered aimlessly for what felt like forever. Before I knew it, I'd somehow found myself standing outside my house again. I stared at the familiar window. My chest ached until it went numb. So many questions were bottled up inside me. I wanted to storm inside and demand answers. Bracing myself against the wall, I gritted my teeth and climbed over it once more, but every light in the house was off. The yard was empty. The living room was empty. Only the dining table remained, where an elegant cherry cake sat waiting. A chocolate plaque rested on top: [Congratulations to Sophie in Advance on Scoring No. 1 in the Finals] I stared at those words until my eyes burned red. When I was little, my mother once promised that if I came first in my class, she'd buy me a cherry cake. When I finally did, they changed their minds. They said I had to rank first in the entire grade instead. Later, after they sent me to the mountains, I finished first in the whole county. Still, I never got my cherry cake. Looking at the cake now, resentment surged through me. I grabbed a huge piece and stuffed it into my mouth. Cream smeared across my face. The rich sweetness immediately triggered another violent spasm in my stomach. But I didn't stop. For all those years, I hadn't truly lived a single day. I hadn't eaten a single full meal. Even if I was going to die, at least I'd die with a full stomach. The pain in my stomach grew more unbearable with every passing second. I started coughing violently. Then I noticed the large refrigerator nearby. Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than a sip of ice-cold water. I struggled over and pulled the refrigerator door open. Inside, every shelf was filled with apple juice, the one drink I was allergic to. Just my luck. I couldn't even have a drink of water before I died. The pain exploded through my stomach. Everything went black, and I pitched headfirst into the refrigerator. ... The agony finally disappeared. My body felt impossibly light. Without realizing it, I drifted toward my parents. They were eating dinner together in a brightly lit restaurant. The table was covered with seafood and desserts I'd only ever seen on TV. My mother placed peeled shrimp onto Ava's plate, her voice as gentle as water. "Don't be nervous about tomorrow's finals. Mom believes in you." My father smiled as he poured her a glass of juice. Ava happily popped one shrimp after another into her mouth. I floated over and sat across from them. Watching the warm family scene before me, a sharp pain pierced my heart. Suddenly, my mother pressed a hand against her chest. Her face turned pale. My father immediately grew anxious. "What's wrong?" My mother frowned and shook her head. "It's nothing. My heart just suddenly feels unsettled." She paused. For some reason, the image of my thin, gaunt face flashed through her mind. "Forget it... After the final is over, I'll bring her back." My whole body trembled. Joy spread uncontrollably across my face. "Really? Mom... you're letting me come home?" But she couldn't hear me. She simply continued speaking to herself. "Once she's home, we'll make sure she learns her lesson. We have to make her understand how important studying is." I froze. Then I let out a quiet, bitter laugh. "Mom... that day will never come." ... After dinner, they returned home. The moment the living room lights came on, everyone stopped in shock. The house was in complete disarray. A chair had been knocked over. The cherry cake on the table had been eaten into a complete mess. Cream was smeared everywhere. Ava screamed first, "My document folder!" She rushed over and picked up the folder I'd accidentally knocked onto the floor. My mother's face instantly darkened. "It was her! I knew she wouldn't let this go! It wasn't enough for her to follow us all the way home. She actually broke into the house to vandalize it!" My father was furious as well. "She never learns!" Ava's eyes suddenly reddened. She tugged gently at their sleeves. "Dad... Mom... forget it. I think she's just angry, so she deliberately ruined my things. If she really doesn't want me to compete tomorrow... I won't go." My mother immediately pulled her into a tight embrace. "Silly girl. You've worked so hard to make it from those mountains to where you are today. I've seen every step of your journey. No one is allowed to ruin your future! "This can't be overlooked anymore. She needs to be locked up so she can reflect on what she's done!" My mother picked up her phone and called the police once again. "Hello, there's a dangerous intruder in my house! Please come quickly!" The police arrived soon afterward. After reviewing the security footage from the hallway, they confirmed that I had climbed over the wall and entered the yard. But strangely, the cameras never captured me leaving. My mother immediately hid behind one of the officers, her voice trembling. "You see? She's insane! She's still holding a grudge and hiding somewhere, waiting to attack us! You absolutely can't let her off this time!" The police officers' expressions turned serious. They began searching every room in the house. But after checking every corner, they still couldn't find me. Finally, one police officer walked into the kitchen. His eyes landed on the refrigerator door. Frowning, he reached out and pulled it open. The next second, his entire body froze. Then his voice rose in alarm, "Everyone, get over here! Now!"