The son I'd raised for years told me to drop dead. Then, a speeding car really did send me flying. Three months later, my son found me, sobbing hysterically as he clutched my half-rotted body. But he didn’t have a mom anymore. 1 "The victim was beyond saving the moment the speeding car hit. It's a traffic accident." I floated in the air, watching the cops and the medical examiner gather around my corpse. The street was decked out for New Year's Eve, festive red lanterns hanging from the lampposts. It was supposed to be a night for families to be together. Because of me, these officers had to work overtime. I whispered an apology, though they couldn't hear me. The ME carefully cradled my head. "This is the victim's head. The other half of the body is over there..." Seeing the state I was in, even a veteran cop had to quietly turn away and retch. My body was smashed to pieces. Even I found it disgusting. After more than three hours of work, the police managed to collect my body fragments into a body bag. I followed the patrol car to the hospital morgue. "No ID on the body. The security cameras on Gold Street were down, so we can't trace her movements. We'll have to wait for her family to report her missing." "Such a shame, dying on New Year's Eve." "Her family might still be waiting for her to celebrate. How heartbreaking must that be?" Hearing the officers, my vision dimmed, and I lowered my head, feeling dejected. The cops placed the body bag in the morgue and then walked right through me. I was the only "person" left in the morgue. No, I guess I'm not really a person anymore. The police said they were waiting for my family to file a report, but I didn't know if my son would even notice I was gone. I sighed. If only I hadn't gone out to buy meat. My son and daughter-in-law suddenly showed up from out of town on New Year's Eve, and the fridge was empty. Living alone, I usually ate simple, vegetarian meals. When my son finally came back, I didn’t think twice before heading out to get some meat. Up north, you have to have dumplings for the New Year. But no butcher shops were open on the holiday. I searched for over an hour. As I crossed the street, a speeding Audi hit me… I stared at my own corpse. When would my son find out I was dead? 2 I floated back home. It was an unremarkable old apartment building, seven stories high. My legs weren’t what they used to be, so I lived on the first floor. My son, Kevin, was on the couch, making a call. I saw the number he dialed – it was my old flip phone. But I was dead. How could a dead person answer the phone? "The number you have dialed is currently unavailable..." "Damn old woman! Not picking up again!" Kevin slammed the phone down on the coffee table, his face, which resembled mine in some ways, contorted with anger. His wife, Tiffany, shrugged nonchalantly. "Why bother with her? The real reason we came today is to find the deed to the house." Kevin stared darkly at the phone, then after a moment, grunted, "You're right." Kevin and Tiffany started rummaging through my apartment, quickly turning the neat and tidy place into a chaotic mess. Tiffany, sweating, cursed under her breath, "Damn old woman! Where the hell did she hide the deed?" Kevin, panting, looked at the photo of us hanging on the wall. Suddenly, he punched it hard! His fist landed right on my face in the picture. "Damn old woman! Just hurry up and die!" Even though I was already dead, hearing my son say that still shattered my heart. Ever since he was little, I did everything I could to give him whatever he wanted. Now, I really was dead. His wish would soon come true. I gazed at Kevin's sullen profile, my nose stinging, and rubbed my burning eyes. 3 Kevin hated my guts. He thought I was responsible for his father's death. When I was twenty, I met a handsome man who knew how to charm girls. Naturally, I fell head over heels. His family was poor, so the next year, he moved in with my family – essentially marrying into it. Soon, we had our little bundle of joy, Kevin. Gradually, I realized the man never loved me. He loved my family's financial stability, our money. From a young age, he poisoned Kevin's mind against me, teaching him to dislike and hate me, driving a wedge between us. I thought about divorce countless times, but looking at Kevin, I always chose to endure it. When my parents passed away, the man didn't shed a single tear. My parents left me an apartment building, but when the lawyer read the will, the man was nowhere to be found. I searched frantically, finally finding him in a hotel bed. With a beautiful young woman beside him... The woman they caught me with seemed to have no sense of shame, smiling provocatively at me. "What do you have besides rich parents? Now that they're dead, this is karma!" I trembled with rage. For the first time, I firmly uttered the word "divorce." The man visibly panicked! He died chasing after me, hit by falling steel bars from a construction site. Rescuers couldn't save him. From that day on, Kevin started hating me. He blamed everything on me, shouting, "Why did you have to divorce Dad? Dad was the backbone of this family! If you hadn't divorced him, he wouldn't have died!" I faced my hate-filled son, feeling helpless and lost, opening my mouth but unable to find the words. I couldn't just tell him that the father he'd worshipped since childhood was a cheat and a leech... I tried carefully to protect his young heart. But he was convinced that all the family money came from his father's hard work. He saw me as a greedy, high-and-mighty parasite. Selfish and cruel. Kevin had always been a good student, but after his father died, he studied even harder. "Sooner or later, I'll get into a top university out of state, and then I'll get far away from you!" he spat at me viciously. I didn't know whether to feel proud or heartbroken. Every night, Kevin would study until two or three in the morning. He desperately wanted to succeed, to prove to me that I was wrong! What he didn't know was that every night, after he fell asleep, I would quietly tuck him back in after he kicked off his blanket. Kevin envied his classmates' brand-name clothes and shoes, staring intently at the TV commercials. I secretly measured his height and size, then bought him the clothes he wanted. He wouldn't accept gifts from me, so I asked his aunt – my cousin – to give them to him. I secretly nurtured him with gentle motherly love, wanting him to thrive. Kevin was ambitious; his grades shot up like a rocket. Every time he did well on a test, he'd brag to me: "Just wait! I'll prove I can do fine without you! I'll get into a great university! After graduation, I'll get a job and make millions a year!" I smiled silently. I never particularly hoped for Kevin to achieve great fame and fortune. Every year when I went hiking or visited temples, I only prayed for his lifelong happiness and safety. 4 Kevin and Tiffany, tired from searching for the deed, sat down on the couch to rest. The New Year's Eve TV special was on, featuring a comedy sketch about motherly love. Tiffany wasn't paying attention to the show at all, asking irritably, "Where could the old woman have hidden the deed?" Rumors had been circulating that my building was slated for demolition and redevelopment. I hadn't expected Kevin and Tiffany's New Year visit to be solely about the deed. I felt a pang of sadness. If only he had asked, I would have given it to him without a second thought. Kevin now worked for a large corporation, earning a yearly salary. Tiffany was an elementary school teacher. They met in college, fell in love, and finally got married this past spring. I remember on Kevin's wedding day, we had a massive fight. He hadn't invited me to the wedding; I found out from his aunt. Unable to contain my complicated feelings, I went to the venue alone. The moment Kevin saw me, veins bulged on his forehead. He roughly grabbed my arm and dragged me towards the exit! "I explicitly didn't invite you! Get out! Get the hell out!" "Someone like you doesn't deserve to be my mother! And you definitely don't deserve to be at my wedding!" In the struggle, I fell hard! I landed on the ground, unable to move, tears welling up as I looked at Kevin, reaching out a trembling hand. "Mom just wanted to see you..." Kevin kicked my shoulder and spat! He turned and left without looking back, instructing the venue security not to let me in under any circumstances. I lay there at the entrance, my whole body feeling like it had fallen apart, completely unable to get up. Passersby stared at me strangely. I was drenched in cold sweat. When the wind blew, a bone-chilling coldness washed over me. Some kind soul took me to the hospital. The diagnosis: a fractured left femur and a fractured right shoulder... Because of my age, my recovery took much longer than usual. I stayed in the hospital for half a month. Kevin came to see me, holding a bouquet of flowers. I was so thrilled I didn't know what to do. But then, he violently threw the flowers in my face! "Damn old woman! Now everyone at the company says I beat you up and broke your bones! I had to switch to another company, and my salary is half of what it was!" "Are you satisfied now? Wasn't killing Dad enough for you? You won't be happy until you've ruined me too, right?" I stared blankly at my furious son, not understanding what he was talking about. "I didn't..." "Shut up!" He grabbed my collar forcefully, choking me until I could barely breathe. "From now on, I never want to see your old face again!" Kevin stormed out, leaving red petals scattered all over the bed, looking like blood spilled from my body. 5 It was almost midnight. Sporadic fireworks started popping outside. The doorbell rang— Kevin opened the door, his gloomy face instantly replaced with a beaming smile. "Aunt Judy, you're here?" The woman, dressed in expensive designer clothes, had long, curly hair. Though wrinkles creased the corners of her eyes, you could still see she was attractive in her youth. My chest felt like it had been struck by a hammer! The pain was overwhelming! How could it be her! Judy Roth was my husband's first love; they grew up in the same small town. After we married, they continued their entanglement. After I found out, Judy repeatedly provoked and humiliated me... Tiffany brought out two luxury brand shopping bags and handed them over respectfully. "This is a little something to show our respect." Judy's still-charming eyes crinkled into a smile as she chided them gently, "You newlyweds are just starting out. You need to learn to save money, don't spend it on things like this." She accepted the luxury goods while adopting the posture of an elder. Judy was naturally skilled at reading people, knowing exactly what to say to whom. When she was young, she clung to my husband. Now that she was older, who knows when she started getting close to my son! I glared at Judy, filled with resentment. Judy slipped on slippers and walked into the room, giving Kevin and Tiffany each a symbolic red envelope. "Wishing you two a harmonious and beautiful new year." I saw the envelopes contained maybe two hundred dollars in total – utterly pathetic. Yet Kevin, accepting the envelope, beamed with a happiness and respect I had never seen him show me. "Thanks, Aunt Judy!" It was almost midnight, the start of a new year. Tiffany had prepared several dishes, placing them on the table one by one, filling the air with delicious aromas. I watched Kevin, Tiffany, and Judy interact warmly, looking like a real family of three. Judy glanced at the time and stood up. "It's getting late, I should go." Kevin urged her to stay. "Don't go, Aunt Judy. Stay and celebrate the New Year with us." Judy shook her head. "This is your mother's house, after all. It wouldn't be good if she walked in on us." "What's not good about it!" Kevin retorted. "Let her see! Aunt Judy, please sit down. We've spent the last few New Years together, this year should be no exception." Spending New Year together... Ever since Kevin went to college, he never came home for New Year's, not even a phone call. Every year, every day... I guarded this house alone, lonely, watching the lively scenes outside. So, Kevin had met Judy during his first year of college. After he started dating Tiffany, the three of them often spent New Year's together. Judy hesitated for a moment, then pretended to reluctantly sit back down. Ha. We're both women. Who doesn't understand the other? Judy said she wanted to leave quickly, but her eyes greedily scanned my house, touching this and that. Judy asked, "I hear this building is in a good school district? The buyout for demolition is three times that of a regular residential building." Kevin nodded. Judy sighed. "Your dad had a good eye, picking this building to buy back then." I wanted to laugh scornfully. This building was left to me by my parents from the start. What did it have to do with anyone else? Judy pressed her hand to her heart, her eyes welling up. "It's all my fault. If I had been firmer back then, your mom wouldn't have forcibly broken your dad and me up, and your dad wouldn't have died." Kevin comforted her gently. "Aunt Judy, don't be sad. It's all that vicious woman's fault! You never married, staying devoted to my dad's memory. I should learn from you." Judy dabbed her tears with a handkerchief. Kevin seemed moved and spoke solemnly, "Aunt Judy, if you don't mind, from now on, I'll be your son. I'll take care of you in your old age!" "But your mother..." "I would never take care of that cruel-hearted woman! She only gave birth to me; she never raised me!" "Well..." The clock struck midnight. I watched, helpless, as Kevin knelt on both knees and bowed three times to Judy Roth. "Mom! From now on, I'm your son!" Judy stepped forward and hugged Kevin, murmuring, "Good son..."
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