May My Death Bring You Peace

My younger sister, Selena Shaw, was born with a weak wolf. The pack healer warns our family that she must not be startled at any cost. Consequently, my own life is forced into a state of stifling silence. To avoid triggering her wolf, I never dare to vent my emotions. Even if I'm injured, I can't cry out in pain. My parents always stroke my head with a look of guilt on their faces. "You're so sensible, Camellia. We need to protect Lena's wolf together. You're very healthy, so you should be more accommodating to her, alright?" One day, while we are out camping with the rest of the pack, I accidentally knock over a stack of firewood, and the noise startles Selena. Her wolf immediately spirals out of control, and she breaks down in hysterical sobs. Furious, Dad shoves me hard and lashes out at me. "Can't you have been more careful? Are you trying to get your own sister killed on purpose?" I stagger back and crash heavily into the rack behind me, where various hunting tools are hung up. A silver hunting knife stabs me right in the back of my chest, behind my heart. However, the rest of my family is busy tending to Selena, who is crying and lashing out hysterically. Nobody turns to look at me at all. I sink to the floor and feel my consciousness dying out. I wonder if my giving up my chance at survival for Selena is accommodating enough for them. Chapter 1 I stumbled and collapsed onto the dirt inside the tent. A tearing pain shot through the center of my back where the silver hunting knife had stabbed me deeply in the back just behind my heart. Blood spurted out at once, soaking the dry hay under me. Silver inhibited our wolf's natural healing process, so my wound just burned with a searing and relentless pain, showing no signs of closing up or healing. "Can't you just be more careful? You made that noise on purpose just to torment Lena, didn't you, Camellia Shaw?" Dad roared at me. I didn't even have time to explain myself before Selena Shaw's deafening cries rang out from the side. She curled up in a tight ball on the ground, her shoulders shaking as tears streamed down her face. She screamed through her tears, "It was Cami! It was her! She did it on purpose! She knew that I couldn't be startled and still did it to scare me!" Mom crouched down next to her and petted her gently on the back, comforting her gently and patiently. "It's okay, Lena. It's okay. I'm here. I won't let your horrible sister hurt you again." I tried to get back up, but my head was spinning, and my back hurt so much that I could only gasp in pain. I called out in a hoarse voice, "Mom… Dad… I think I'm hurt…" However, Selena's cries were louder than mine, and Mom and Dad had their full attention on her. They didn't even bother looking in my direction. My vision slowly turned dark. And then, memories of the past began flooding my head. I recalled the day when my wolf first awakened in my body. My wolf was very strong, and I was delighted about it. I rushed home to tell Mom and Dad about my awakening, wanting to share the good news with them. However, the moment I stepped through the door, Mom sensed my delight at once and hurried up to me, frowning hard. "Hide that now. Don't let your power out. It will only upset Lena." The joy on my face froze instantly. I stood there, frozen in place, asking in a quiet yet slightly pouty voice, "But Mom, my wolf finally awakened. And I just wanted to share the good news with you." Mom reached out to pet my head and gave me a guilty look. Yet, her tone was firm as she said, "I know that you're strong and healthy. So, you should be more considerate and accommodating to Selena. Understand?" There was no way for me to rebut when Mom said it that way. I could only bottle up the bitterness and grievance welling in my heart before quietly returning to my room. Now, I still felt the blood gushing from the wound in my back, and my strength was also draining very quickly. I gritted my teeth and raised my voice as much as possible to yell for help. "Mom, I'm really hurt!" Mom finally turned to look at me with a huge frown on her face. She sounded impatient as she said, "Behave yourself! Can't you see that Lena is terribly hurt? Yours is just a tiny injury. You can just put up with it!" Selena began wailing even harder and louder than before. She lashed out and threw a full tantrum on the ground, screaming, "I don't want to see her! Get out of this place! Make her stay away from me!" Dad immediately went up to her and comforted her, the harshness he'd shown me just moments ago vanishing instantly. He patted Selena gently and said, "It's fine now, Lena. Dad's here. It's all Cami's fault. I won't let her get near you ever again." The arm I'd reached out for help fell limply to my side. A glaring pool of blood began to spread across the dirt. Chapter 2 As my consciousness drifted into a haze, a memory from not too long ago surfaced in my mind. It had happened at werewolf school, where a few she-wolves cornered me in the storage room. They doused me with icy-cold mountain spring water, leaving me shivering uncontrollably. Then, they grabbed some paint from the shed and smeared it haphazardly across my face, leaving unsightly, garish splotches of color everywhere. "You dumb bitch! What a useless waste of oxygen!" they jeered in my face, their voices dripping with mockery. "Since your sister's wolf is weak, I bet yours is no better either!" "Why the hell do you always look so gloomy? Your face makes me want to puke every time I see it!" Their jeering laughter echoed within the cramped space in the storage room. I tried my best to dodge and run away from them, but I just couldn't escape. When I finally made it home, my face was still smeared with paint. Mom caught sight of me like this and got anxious at once. She urged, "Go and wash that off your face right now! Don't you dare scare Lena like this!" She saw my drenched clothing, but she didn't even ask me why or whether I had been hurt or bullied. I hid in my own room and cried silently into the sheets. A short while later, Mom came into my room and asked me what happened. I hurriedly dried my eyes and told her that it was nothing. I knew very well that if I told Mom about being bullied at school, and some emotions spilled out, they would startle Selena and send her into a frenzy once again. The pack healer had repeatedly warned us that Selena's wolf was not to be triggered, and it hung over our entire family like a shackle. My thoughts drifted back to the present. My vision was still dark and blurry, but I thought I heard Dad calling the pack healer on his phone. "Yes, Lena's wolf is acting up and losing control again. Please hurry over as quickly as possible!" The chaotic sound of footsteps hurried past me, but not a single person stopped to glance at me lying on the ground. "Camellia! Go get the wolf-stabilizing herbs now!" Mom yelled at me without even turning to look. I wanted to reply, but my lips felt as heavy as lead. I couldn't make a sound anymore. When they realized that they didn't hear my reply, Dad flew into another rage and yelled impatiently, "There you go again, putting on an act and sulking like this! Fine! Let's just see how long you can keep that act up!" My thoughts drifted to another memory from the past. I used to excel at hunting and tracking down prey. They were hunting skills that every pup was required to master. However, the gamey stench of wild beasts that clung to me after a hunt distressed Selena. She needed an environment that was completely calm and odorless, so I stopped going for training and packed away my hunting tools, knives, and gauntlets into a satchel. My instructor, Mindy Richards, was dismayed when I stopped showing up for training. "You've got a natural talent for hunting. Why aren't you coming for training anymore?" I hung my head, unable to meet her disappointed gaze. "The scent from after hunting makes my sister distressed. She needs to be stabilized all the time." And so, just like that, I voluntarily walked away from the one thing that I loved the most. Footsteps sounded outside the camp. The pack healer had arrived with his team. "Over here! Lena's in very critical condition now! She's barely holding on!" Dad shouted urgently. Deep down, I harbored a faint, lingering hope that someone might glance toward me lying in the corner, realize that I was bleeding out, and also needed help. However, the healer and his team made a beeline for Selena instead. Everyone's attention was on her. Nobody noticed me on the brink of death in the corner. I thought I heard a line drifting into my ears. "We can't afford to delay treatment if the wound was caused by a silver weapon." As those words faded, I slipped into an endless darkness. Chapter 3 I floated in mid-air, looking down at my own corpse on the ground. It was strange. I had expected death to be an agonizing and heart-wrenching pain, but all I felt now was just a sense of weightless ease. My body lay slumped in the corner of the tent. The wound where the silver knife plunged into my body remained open and unhealed, even though the blood had already congealed. The tent was in a state of chaotic bustle. Dad held Selena in his arms as they walked out with the pack healer. Mom brought the wolf-stabilizing herbs with her as she hurried to catch up to them. Everyone was busy making sure Selena made it to the healing center in time, but none of them even bothered to spare me a glance in the corner. "Hurry! The healing center is waiting for us!" Dad said, his voice thick with anxiety. Mom suddenly paused halfway, stopping in her tracks as she glanced at the tent subconsciously. "Where's Cami?" "Forget about her! Lena's condition is much worse and more urgent!" Dad chided, picking Selena up and hurrying forward. Mom hesitated for another moment before gritting her teeth and leaving with them. I floated over to the tent opening and watched everyone leave in a hurry. Mom had accidentally left her phone behind, and the screen lit up just then. I saw the photo she used as her screensaver. It was a family photo of the four of us. Selena was right in the middle of the photo, surrounded by Mom and Dad on her left and right. They looked like a very close-knit family. Meanwhile, I was squished in the corner, all curled up so I didn't take up too much space. I looked like I didn't belong there. The phone had lit up with a text message notification from Mindy. "Mrs. Shaw? Why didn't Camellia show up for the hunting training today? Is she not feeling well?" I had initially planned to go and learn hunting and tracking techniques again later, but unfortunately for me, I wasn't able to do that anymore. I couldn't stop my soul from following Mom and Dad to the healing center with Selena. At the center, Selena ate the medicinal herbs and finally calmed down. The healer checked her thoroughly and slowly said, "She just got a mental shock, causing her wolf to be unstable. She'll recover after some rest." "Oh, thank god," Mom exclaimed, slumping onto a wooden bench nearby, covering her face as she sobbed softly. Dad reached out and steadied her shoulders. "It's alright now. Lena will slowly recover with time." I stood right in front of them, wanting to scream, "Mom, Dad, look at me! I'm dead! Your eldest daughter is already dead!" However, none of them could hear me. The nursing staff stepped forward and asked, "Should we arrange a private recovery chamber for her?" "Of course!" Dad said at once. "Give her the best possible care." The staff nodded and jotted it down. He then casually asked, "When we rushed to the tents earlier, there seemed to be another injured she-wolf there. Was she not brought along?" Mom and Dad exchanged glances. They looked puzzled. "You mean her older sister, Camellia?" Mom asked, waving her hand dismissively. "She just bumped into something. She's probably resting there on her own at the moment." The staff nodded in acknowledgement and excused himself before going out. I closed my eyes bitterly. Until now, they still didn't know that I was already dead. Selena let out a pained whimper, and Mom immediately rushed over to her, leaning over anxiously. "Where does it hurt, Lena? Tell me." Selena answered weakly, "Cami is trying to hurt me on purpose." "Don't worry. I will protect you," Mom said gently, reaching out to stroke her gently on the head. "Cami just accidentally made a sound earlier. It was just an accident." "It's not like that!" Selena screamed, suddenly getting agitated. "She did it on purpose! She hates me! She always says I'm a burden to the pack! She wants me dead!" Her emotions surged violently, and her wolf began to thrash restlessly once more. The healer and several other nursing staff rushed over at once, and the small room dissolved into a flurry of frantic activity. I floated to a corner of the room, watching it all with a detached gaze. Growing up, whenever Selena said something like that, Mom and Dad would immediately look at me reproachfully as if I had truly committed some unforgivable sin. "Cami! Lena said that you stole her protection amulet from her. Is that true? "Lena said that you deliberately made noise while she was resting. Did you? "Lena said that you mixed something into her drink! How dare you!" Even now that I was dead, Mom and Dad still believed every single word that Selena said about me. Just then, Dad's phone rang. He went out of the room to answer the call. However, just a few seconds later, his face turned as pale as a ghost. "Hello? Yes, it's me—What? Impossible!" His voice began trembling. "Are you sure that's my eldest daughter?" A patrolling warrior said calmly and objectively from the other end of the line, "After some positive identification, the deceased is indeed your daughter, Camellia Shaw. She suffered a fatal penetrating wound to her back from a silver hunting knife. She's also been dead for some time." Chapter 4 I floated mid-air, my soul trembling slightly. Finally, someone had discovered that I was dead. Dad walked back into the healing center in disbelief. His phone slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. "What happened?" Mom asked, standing up in a hurry when she saw Dad's pale face. She had a bad feeling about this. Dad gulped hard. He only found his voice after a very long time. His lips trembled as he said, "The patrol unit… T-They said… They said that they found a body at the campsite." Mom frowned. "A body? Whose body?" "Cami's," Dad replied in a hoarse voice. His legs turned to jelly, and he nearly collapsed to the ground. "They said that she was penetrated by a silver knife, and she's been dead for some time." "Impossible!" Mom blurted at the top of her lungs. She suddenly felt all the energy slipping out of her as she collapsed back onto the wooden bench. "This is literally impossible!" Dad picked up his phone from the floor and repeatedly tried calling me in the tent, but he never got a response in return. "We have to go back!" he said in a dry and hollow voice. "The patrol warrior must have misidentified her. It can't possibly be her!" In their panic, they completely forgot about Selena, who was now recuperating in the ward. They stumbled out of the healing center and hurried back toward the campsite. A cordon had been set up around the tent where the incident had happened. Many members of the pack stood at a distance, whispering and speculating among themselves. "Get out of the way! That's our tent!" Dad exclaimed, pushing his way through the crowd of onlookers. A warrior stepped forward to stop him from entering. "Please stop. This is a crime scene. Are you the deceased's parents?" Mom grabbed the warrior's arm and screamed, "Where is my daughter? Where is she? What have you done to her?" The warrior's expression was grave as he replied in a grim voice, "Please accept my deepest condolences. The patrol team called out for a long time but got no answer from within. It was only when they lifted the tent flap that they discovered the body inside." There was a white sheet covering my body, revealing only my face that was cold and drained of all color. Mom let out a heart-wrenching cry and threw herself beside my body on the ground. Her trembling hand brushed against my cheek. She felt the chill on my face and recoiled sharply like she'd been electrocuted. Then, she began murmuring under her breath repeatedly. "How could this be… How could this be… This can't be happening…" Dad was completely frozen on the spot. He stared intently at the pool of dark blood on the floor that had already congealed, then at the sharp silver hunting knife once hanging on the rack. The intense fight from earlier flooded his mind, and he spoke in a hoarse voice. "It was me… I pushed her…" The warrior's face turned grim at once. "What did you say? You were the one who pushed her?" "It was an accident!" Mom immediately blurted out, shielding Dad behind her. "It was simply too chaotic just now, and it was nothing but an accident! He just forgot to control his strength in the heat of the moment!" The healer in charge of examining the scene stepped forward and reported in a low voice, "Based on the wound and the extent of blood loss, the time of death is estimated to be about two hours ago." "Two hours ago?" Mom gasped in shock. Her voice trembled. "We were busy sending Lena to the healing center…" Dad swayed on his feet, barely managing to steady himself by gripping onto a wooden pole. The cruel truth struck them both hard. While they were busy looking after Selena, they had left me to die alone in the tent. The warrior spoke solemnly. "The evidence at the scene suggests that this is likely a case of negligent homicide. Kindly cooperate with our investigation, Mr. and Mrs. Shaw." His words seemed to snap Mom's already taut nerves. She jerked her head up, her composure completely shattered as she screamed, "An investigation? You want to investigate us? Who cared about her when she was constantly bullied at school, huh? "Who noticed her bottled-up grievances day after day, huh?" I was hovering nearby when I was struck dumb with shock. So, Mom knew all about it after all. Dad looked like he was completely broken. He rushed into my smaller tent and later emerged again, clutching the small diary I always kept by my side. He shakily flipped open the pages with trembling fingers, reading the words aloud in a low voice. "Lena threw a tantrum again today. Mom said my hunting results were too good and it upset her. Maybe next time I should just hold back on purpose." His tears fell onto the page. He flipped to the next page, his voice getting increasingly choked up. "Lena ruined my hunting gauntlets, but I didn't dare tell Mom or Dad. "I got cornered and bullied in the storage room again. I didn't dare to fight back in case the commotion disturbed Lena's wolf. "Dad yelled at me again. Sometimes, I wonder if I might have received more love if only I were born with a weaker wolf?" He flipped to the last page and felt a lump in his throat. "It's so exhausting to live. Would Mom and Dad regret it if I finally died one day?" Dad fell onto his knees with a loud thump, and the diary slipped from his hands to the floor. Mom quickly picked it up. After sweeping her gaze over just a few lines, she covered her face with her hands and broke down in sobs. "What… What have we done?" Dad exclaimed, crying in desolation with his head in his hands. The warrior just watched them for a bit before exchanging looks with another warrior. Then, he approached Dad and said, "Mr. Shaw, you are suspected of causing a death through negligence. Please come with us for further investigation."