Born As Kidney Donor For My Sister

That night, Mom didn’t sleep with my sister as usual. Instead, she lay down on my bed, hoping to feel the last trace of my presence.

In the past, I would have buried myself in Mom’s embrace, longing for her warm hug. But now, I no longer desired it. I felt my soul slowly dissipating, and perhaps soon I would have a truly loving mother and a genuinely warm embrace.

The next morning, after Mom got up, she stared blankly at the air for a while, then dressed and prepared to go out.

Allie grabbed Mom’s hand, worriedly saying, “Mom, where are you going? I’ll go with you.”

Mom shook off Sister’s hand and shouted, “Go away! If it weren’t for you, my Fairy wouldn’t have suffered so much! Why didn’t you die sooner? Why did you have to live so long and make my Fairy suffer?”

Sister, shocked by Mom’s sudden outburst, stood frozen. Mom had never spoken to her so harshly before.

She clutched her chest, gasping for breath, and Dad, hearing the shouting, rushed over to calm her down, angrily saying to Mom, “Shane, we’re all heartbroken over Fairy’s death, but do you really have to lash out at Allie? Are you trying to drive her to death too before you’re satisfied?”

At these words, Mom’s mouth opened slightly, but she didn’t say a word and turned to leave.

I drifted beside Mom as she went to my school.

On the bulletin board, my photo still hung there. I was one of the top ten students in the city, excelling academically, but my photo showed no trace of a smile–solemn, as if I were about to cry at any moment.

Mom touched my face through the glass of the bulletin board and asked, “Fairy, you were so great. Why didn’t you smile?”

Why didn’t I? Perhaps it was because, when I brought home my first top prize, I was so happy, only to be punished by Mom with a night of time–out in the living room and no food, accused of showing off and rubbing it in when my sister couldn’t go to school. After that, I never mentioned any school achievements or was happy about good grades, because at home, if my sister was unhappy, I wasn’t allowed to be happy either.

Later, Mom walked to the street and saw the fried chicken shop. She hurriedly bought up all the remaining chicken legs. The shopkeeper smiled and said, “The kids at home must love fried chicken.”

Mom nodded repeatedly and said, “Our Fairy loves it, so we’re buying it all for her.”

The shopkeeper praised Mom as a good mother, and she murmured, “I should have bought this for Fairy when she wanted it. I truly should die, I truly should die.” With that, she slowly moved forward.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

As she passed by a bakery, the owner called out to her cheerfully, “Mrs. Romero, the cake you ordered the other day is ready. Would you like to pick it up now?”

“What cake?” Mom asked, puzzled.

“You mentioned celebrating your daughter’s discharge from the hospital with a cake. Have you forgotten?” the owner kindly reminded her.