The Daughter They Tried to Break

My mother always said she was a modern woman. She said women these days didn’t need to get married! She said, “If you don’t have money, why would you have kids?” But I was the only one who knew she was the most selfish person in the world. Because ever since I was little, people had mocked me by saying: “Riley, you’ll never finish all those snacks. Your mom found you so many dads!” My mother came home dressed to the nines with her seventy-second boyfriend, and my aunt’s face turned green with fury. She cursed my uncle for being a useless loser and complained that her son did nothing but play video games and was impossible to like. No one dared provoke her further—until she saw the massage cushion I had saved up to buy for Grandma. She immediately launched into another tirade. “Riley sure knows how to spend money. I guess having so many dads means someone’s always willing to spoil her.” My uncle sighed. “Why are you saying things like that to a kid?” My aunt stiffened her neck and snapped, “So I can’t say a few words to her? My son is the only real grandson in this family!” “No wonder you’ll never make any money. What kind of married daughter comes back to her parents’ house every day? You’re nothing but bad luck!” I awkwardly picked at my fingers and looked toward my mother for help. She was busy laughing and chatting with her new boyfriend. She didn’t even glance at me. She said the same things every year. I was practically numb to them by now. For the longest time, I thought my aunt acted this way because of me. I had taken up all of Grandma and Grandpa’s time since I was little, leaving my aunt to deliver food while raising her son alone. I thought her difficult life had made her bitter. So whenever something happened, I tried to make myself as small and humble as possible. Whether I was at fault or not, apologizing first seemed like the safest thing to do. Just like always, I hurried to apologize. But my aunt wasn’t satisfied. She grabbed my arm and dragged me over to my mother. “Riley, go ask your new daddy when he’s taking you away.” My mother clearly didn’t care about the sarcasm. She simply announced that she definitely wasn’t taking me anywhere—and that her boyfriend had already moved into her house. My aunt exploded. “You shameless parasite! You sleep around with men and make the whole family get mocked behind our backs!” My mother refused to back down. “That’s still better than being a bitter old hag like you. Look at yourself. You’ve become a worn-out housewife who does nothing but revolve around her husband and kid.” My aunt smashed her bowl onto the floor. My mother grabbed her boyfriend and left as if she had every right in the world. With nowhere else to vent her anger, my aunt turned on me. “You little bitch. You’ve got a mother who gave birth to you but no one who actually raised you. You’re nothing but a burden!” Tears streamed down my face, but I didn’t dare lift my head. I could only bow and apologize over and over, begging her not to be angry. After my aunt had finally exhausted herself, she muttered under her breath and went back to her room. Only then did Grandma dare come over and comfort me. I forced a smile and told her I was fine. Then I went back to cleaning up the mess scattered across the house.The next morning, my uncle, aunt, and grandparents went to my aunt’s house as usual. I arrived at my mother’s place early, carrying a bag of fruit. It was the only day of the year I ever went to her house. She was still wearing pajamas, lounging lazily on the couch while watching TV. Her boyfriend had probably gone out. I stared at her and finally couldn’t hold it in anymore. “Mom, could you and your boyfriend at least get married? People say horrible things behind your back.” She looked at me as if I were stupid. “Who gets married these days? You shouldn’t care so much about what other people think.” The calm, hypocritical look on her face made me sick. Of course she didn’t care. She had moved out long ago. I was different. She had dumped me at Grandma and Grandpa’s house, leaving me to endure the whispers and ridicule alone. I didn’t even know who my biological father was. My mother had gotten pregnant by one of her boyfriends by accident. She wanted a child without the father, so she never told him and secretly gave birth to me alone. After I was born, she decided I was too troublesome and restricted her freedom. So she abandoned me at my grandparents’ house without giving them a single cent. Grandma and Grandpa had to work to support me. That meant they couldn’t help my aunt raise her son, so my aunt often took her resentment out on me. I still wasn’t ready to give up. “But Mom, my aunt says what you’re doing is wrong. She says it’s embarrassing.” My mother slapped me across the face. “What does that old housewife know? All she does is nag. If I’d been thinking clearly back then, I wouldn’t have had a child at all. I’m not going to need you to take care of me when I’m old.” The slap left me dazed. “You never took care of me in the first place,” I shot back. “Having me didn’t stop you from running around with men.” She froze for a moment. Then she kicked me hard in the chest. A sharp, metallic taste filled my mouth. Just as the tension between us reached its breaking point, her boyfriend came home. The moment my mother saw him, she acted as if she had found an ally. “You ungrateful little animal.” That day, while other children were still enjoying the holiday, my mother and her boyfriend beat me brutally. A solid wooden dining chair smashed into my back. Pain exploded through me, and I felt as if my bones had broken. I cried and begged her to stop. “Mom, please don’t hit me! I’m your daughter!” But they acted as if they couldn’t hear me. They kicked me again and again until they had finally vented their anger. Then they ordered me to take the fruit I had bought and get out. This wasn’t the first time I had been beaten. I hadn’t had any friends since elementary school. My cousin had always resented me for taking away his grandparents’ attention, so he spread stories about my mother everywhere at school. He told everyone I was an unwanted bastard. Children couldn’t tell right from wrong. They only knew that I must be a bad person. So they isolated me and insulted me. During the freezing winter, they held my head under the water in the school bathroom. Whenever I stood up in class, they deliberately poured red ink all over my chair. They even went to the teachers and accused me of things I had never done. No one wanted to play with me. I didn’t dare tell Grandma. I didn’t dare tell my teachers. I was terrified of getting close to anyone. I was afraid that if people discovered what my family was really like, they would despise me. Nothing changed even after I went to college. That was why I could never agree with my mother’s casual statement that I shouldn’t care what people thought. People’s words could be terrifying. Rumors could destroy someone. I had only been carrying the rumors she created.After leaving my mother’s house, my entire body felt broken. I collapsed against the wall in the stairwell, dizzy and nauseous. “Miss, are you okay?” Through the haze, I heard someone speaking. Then everything went black. When I woke up again, I was lying in a hospital bed. A janitor had found me unconscious in the stairwell and rushed me to the hospital. I only had a mild concussion and a few scrapes. Nothing was seriously wrong. The doctor said I had probably passed out because of the emotional shock. The janitor took a lunch container from his bag. “My wife made you some dumplings after I called her. Eat them while they’re still warm.” I nodded gratefully and picked up a dumpling. It was the first bite of food I’d had all day. Tears wouldn’t stop falling. They were the best dumplings I had ever tasted. The man sighed when he saw me crying. “Don’t cry, sweetheart. If someone hurt you, you need to tell somebody. I can call the police for you.” A complete stranger was treating me with more kindness than my own family ever had. I wanted to tell him everything. But what would that change? She was my mother. At most, she might get a lecture. Everyone would say that she had given me my life and that I had no right to hold a grudge. Not wanting to cause the janitor trouble, I refused his offer. He could only shake his head helplessly. After he left, I ignored the doctor’s objections, discharged myself, and returned to my grandparents’ house. My uncle’s family had already come back. The moment my aunt saw me, she spat on the floor. “The little bitch is back. Why is your face swollen again? You do nothing but cause trouble.” My cousin looked at me with equal contempt. “Other people’s sisters know to buy their brothers New Year’s gifts. Why are you so cheap? You couldn’t even buy me a game console?” I was used to their cruelty. They didn’t care about me at all, yet I was always the one wagging my tail and begging them to show me even the tiniest bit of warmth. Grandma looked at me with pity. But she was old and depended on my uncle to support her in her later years. In the end, she didn’t dare defend me. My aunt walked over to my uncle and gave him a look. He hesitated before speaking. “Riley, you’re almost done with college. My wife’s nephew is about your age. You two could try dating.” “But, Uncle…” The moment my aunt saw me hesitate, she flew into a rage. “But what? Are you saying my nephew isn’t good enough for you? Who knows if you’ll grow up to be just like your mother, sleeping around with men? You should be grateful if anyone is willing to marry you!” I had met my aunt’s nephew before. He had Down syndrome. I could understand that they didn’t like me. I could even understand that they saw me as a burden. But I couldn’t accept them humiliating me like this. “Uncle, Aunt Melissa, I’m an adult. I can decide my own future. I worked hard to get into college. I didn’t do it so I could be married off to someone who can’t take care of himself.” My aunt was enraged. She picked up the glass in her hand and threw it at me. Scalding water splashed across my face. “You think you’re so grown-up now? If you don’t get married, how am I supposed to collect the money? How will your cousin afford a house and a wedding? Have we wasted all these years raising you?” So that was the truth. This marriage was nothing more than a way to sell me for money.My head was spinning. The beating I had taken earlier had left me incredibly weak. I didn’t want to keep fighting with them, so I cried and pretended to agree before escaping to my room. I stared at my swollen eyes in the mirror and felt utterly devastated. People always said that children who weren’t loved feared the holidays most. It was painfully true. If things continued like this, being sold off was only a matter of time. How could I fight the family who had raised me? After making up my mind, I picked up my phone and forced myself to message my mother again. “Mom, I was wrong. What I said today was out of line. Aunt Melissa wants to marry me off to her nephew. Can you please save me?” I waited a long time after sending the message. There was no reply. I told myself that maybe she was still angry. Maybe I had said too much. Once she calmed down, she would help me. After all, how could a mother not love her own child? For the next few days, I tried to make myself invisible. Things were peaceful enough. I looked forward to going back to school. At least then I wouldn’t have to walk on eggshells every second of the day. But what happened next only made me more determined to escape that family. On the sixth day of the holiday, Grandpa suddenly suffered a brain hemorrhage and was rushed to the hospital. He needed a huge amount of money for surgery. But Grandma and Grandpa had spent nearly all their savings supporting me through school. My aunt definitely didn’t want to pay. She got into a huge fight with my mother at the hospital. “Claire, if you don’t pay, who will? We’ve been taking care of your bastard this whole time!” My mother complained that she had no money. She said everyone else’s parents bought them cars and houses and found them jobs. She had received nothing, so why should she be responsible now? She really had the nerve to say that. Grandma’s face went dark with anger. “Why did I even have you? Do you have any idea how hard your father worked to raise you kids?” My mother only became more furious. “If you didn’t have money, why did you have children? Did I ask you to give birth to me? Did any of you get my permission? You enjoyed yourselves once, and that was all it took…” Grandma nearly fainted after hearing that. My uncle slapped my mother across the face. “Daniel, how dare you hit me? Don’t think I don’t know what you’re planning. You want to marry Riley off to your nephew and keep the money for yourselves. That money belongs to me! I’m her mother. I want at least three hundred thousand dollars. Not a cent less.” My heart shattered. I had waited so long for her to help me, only to hear those words. “Mom, stop…” My aunt rolled her eyes and sneered. “Aren’t you always calling yourself a modern woman? Why are you suddenly so attached to money?” Then she continued with complete confidence. “Riley isn’t exactly beautiful, but she’ll still have to have children once she gets married.” “If the child takes the father’s last name, three hundred thousand dollars is only fair.” The nurse looked at me with pity before turning angrily on them. “Don’t you people care about the patient? How can you stand here arguing about this nonsense?” My mother flushed with embarrassment, then immediately turned her anger on the nurse. “Watch your mouth! I’ll report you!” I finally snapped. I shoved her back toward the window and screamed, “Are you done yet? You’re so determined to destroy my life that I might as well die with you!”