Five years of stomach cancer. I couldn't hold on anymore. I called my mother, begging her to save me. "This pathetic trick again? You disgust me." "If you're going to die, do it already. At least then we can have your kidney for your sister." She hung up. The call lasted barely thirty seconds. I didn't beg again. I faced death alone. Until I ended up on her autopsy table. My mother, who despised me with every fiber of her being, went entirely gray overnight. The nurse told me my hospital account was empty. "You're still so young. Call your family. They won't just leave you like this." The nurse looked at me with pity. For five years, not a single family member had come to visit me. I nodded and pulled out my phone. It was a cheap, outdated flip phone with a speaker that was too loud. It rang until the very last second before someone finally picked up. My throat tightened. "Mom... it's Hazel." I allowed myself a foolish sliver of hope. She must care, even just a little. Why else would she take my number off her block list? "Don't call me that! I am not your mother!" Her sharp, angry voice boomed through the speaker. "Spit it out. What do you want? I'm warning you, today is Chloe’s birthday. Don't you dare ruin it with your drama." Only then did I remember today was also my birthday. But it didn't matter anymore. "I’m sick. Can you... can you lend me some money?" "Money, money, money! I gave you fifteen thousand dollars last time! And now you're back begging again!" "Last time" was five years ago. Besides, Chloe had "borrowed" ten thousand of it and never paid me back. I choked back a sob. "Mom, I’m dying. Please. Save me." There was a pause on the other end, followed by a cruel, mocking laugh. "This pathetic trick again? You disgust me." "If you're going to die, do it already. At least then we can have your kidney for your sister." The line went dead. The entire call lasted less than thirty seconds. I looked up at the nurse. "I'm sorry. I let you down." The nurse covered her mouth, tears streaming down her face. I knew the cancer cells had already metastasized. There was no saving me anyway. The nurse had only urged me to call because she thought hearing a loved one’s voice might comfort me. She had no idea that I didn't have a family who cared. Enduring the agonizing pain, I dragged myself back to my tiny rented room. I changed into a clean set of clothes and walked to the park my mother always drove past on her way to work. It was a beautiful park, quiet and empty at night. I decided to die there. Maybe that way, as the lead medical examiner, my mother would finally look at me. Truly look at me.
Holding onto the hope of finally being noticed, my death wasn't as painful as I feared. The rat poison only made my stomach twist with a sharp, fleeting spasm before the darkness took over. At dawn, someone found my body. Detective Marcus flipped through my ID and sighed. "What a waste. She was only twenty-five." "No signs of foul play. Poor kid, whatever she was going through, she took that rat poison without hesitation." "How long until Dr. Sarah gets here? We need the medical examiner to officially call it." My spirit drifted, following his gaze. Soon, a figure I hadn't seen in five years appeared. "Victim is Hazel Simmons, twenty-five. Apparent suicide. The poison bottle is still in her hand." My mother frowned at the name. "Hazel Simmons?" Her assistant, Luke, nodded. Her frown deepened. "Suicide at twenty-five? Young people today have zero respect for life." Luke sighed. "Don't say that, Dr. Sarah. We don't know what she was going through. Sometimes, ending it is the only escape from unbearable pain." My mother’s voice remained cold and clinical. "It’s just weak mental strength. Letting hormones dictate their brain." With that, they approached my body. Suddenly, I felt a spark of anticipation. Would she recognize me? If she did, what would she look like? Shocked? Remorseful? Or would she just look at me with the same deep disgust she had when she heard my name? Unfortunately, before she could pull back the white sheet, her phone rang. Her face paled instantly. "What?! She had another relapse?!" "Is Chloe okay? What did the doctors say?" As she spoke, she threw a pleading look at Marcus. Marcus pursed his lips but eventually nodded, letting her go. Bitterness flooded my ghostly chest. My workaholic mother, who never put anything before her job, was actually begging her colleague to let her leave for a family emergency. But "family" never included me. Even in death, she didn't look at me. At least I died near the police precinct. Otherwise, I doubted anyone would have even bothered to bury me. My soul followed my mother. She drove like a maniac, cursing at every slow driver in front of her. Yet, she still stopped by a florist to carefully select a bouquet of fresh lilies. "Chloe, my poor baby..." My mother’s eyes welled with tears as she stroked Chloe’s hair in the hospital room. "It's all Hazel’s fault. If she weren't so selfish about the kidney donation, you wouldn't have to suffer like this." Aunt Clara, who was standing by the window, looked displeased. "Sarah, Hazel is your daughter too." I was raised by Clara. She was the only one who had ever given me warmth. And because I knew what love felt like, I knew exactly how much my mother hated me. "Don't talk like that. If Hazel heard you, she’d be heartbroken." "Sigh... I wonder how she’s doing abroad. I hope she’s not being mistreated." To keep Clara from worrying, I had told her six months ago that I was moving abroad to live with a friend. Tears spilled from my spectral eyes. I apologized to her in my heart over and over again. I'm sorry, Aunt Clara. I'm so sorry. I can't be with you anymore. My mother’s face twisted in disgust. "Clara, I’ve told you a thousand times. Chloe is my only daughter!" Clara said solemnly, "Sarah, that was a mistake you made when you were young and foolish. Hazel is innocent." "You’ve treated her like an enemy for years. But did you ever think? A child doesn't get to choose her parents." Chloe was the child of my mother and her true love—a firefighter who died in the line of duty. Chloe was my mother's obsession, her living memory of him. I, on the other hand, was the mistake. The product of a reckless, drunken night with a high school deadbeat. My very existence was a constant reminder of her youthful stupidity. The guy ran off and reportedly died in a street fight years ago. I shouldn't have existed. But my mother’s uterine lining was too thin. If she had aborted me, she could never have had children again. So, swallowing her disgust, she gave birth to me. Clara always told me not to hate my mother. She said everyone makes mistakes, and I was just dealt a bad hand in life. Everyone makes mistakes. And I spent my entire life paying for theirs.
"Clara, let’s not talk about this. Can you call Hazel for me? Please, beg her to donate the kidney. For Chloe’s sake." Chloe’s face was pale, and she still hadn't woken up. My mother’s heart was breaking; she wished she could take Chloe's place on that hospital bed. Sarah was a good mother. Just never to me. Clara sighed, pulling out her phone to call my number. It had indeed been a long time since we last spoke. "Hello? Is this Hazel’s family?" Clara said yes, but an officer's voice answered. "I am so sorry to inform you... Hazel has passed away." "We need you to come down to the precinct. There are some details we need to clear up." My mother snatched the phone from Clara’s hand, instantly snapping: "Tell Hazel that if she keeps playing these pathetic games, she can forget about ever coming home!" "Selfish, manipulative brat! Don't you dare call yourself my daughter!" She slammed the phone down before the officer could respond. My mother was shaking with rage. "You see that? She’ll invent any lie, even her own death, just to get out of donating her kidney!" "She’s just as selfish as her useless father. I should have thrown her in a dumpster the moment she was born!" Floating in the air, I shook my head violently, tears pouring down my face. No, Mom. No. I didn't lie. Four years ago, when she demanded my kidney, I told her I had cancer. I told her I couldn't donate. But she had screamed at me: "Why do you think I raised you for eighteen years?!" "If your organs weren't a match for Chloe, I would have dumped you at an orphanage the day you were born!" "You're just like that animal who fathered you. You want everything, but you'll give nothing!" Chloe had been sickly since birth. To be safe, my mother had me thoroughly tested when I was a child. I remember being so happy, thinking my mother finally cared about my health. I couldn't sleep a wink from excitement. Only when I grew up did I realize those tests were to see if my organs matched Chloe’s. I was only four years old. My mother marched back into the precinct. "Officer Davis, I want to file a report." Her face was dark. "My daughter, Hazel, is missing. She’s twenty-five. She’s not answering her phone or texts. She’s completely off the grid." She refused to believe the police couldn't track me down. This time, she would force me to give up that kidney, whether I wanted to or not. "Hazel?" Davis blinked. "Do you have a photo?" How could my mother have a photo of me on her phone? Her gallery had thousands of photos, every single one of Chloe. Eventually, Clara found an old photo of us from a few years ago on her own phone. Seeing me smiling so happily in the picture only fueled my mother’s disgust. I always had a straight face around her, but I knew how to smile for Clara. I only ever called her for money, and now that Chloe needed me, I went missing. Just like my biological father, who fled the moment he found out she was pregnant, moving overnight so she couldn't find him. The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. "Wait..." Davis’s eyes widened in utter disbelief. "Dr. Sarah... she was your daughter?!" The girl with late-stage cancer who just committed suicide in the park... was your daughter?! My mother’s brow furrowed, a sudden, chilling dread washing over her. "You know her? How do you know Hazel?" Her eyes darkened, and she grabbed Davis’s arm in a vice grip. "Speak! How do you know her? Where is she?!" Had I really run to the police station? Had I brought my pathetic begging for money to her workplace? Her gaze turned lethal. If I were standing there, she would have torn me to pieces. "Dr. Sarah!" Marcus and Luke rushed over, their faces grim. "Dr. Sarah... we just confirmed. The female body found in the park this morning... is your daughter, Hazel."
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