My Sister, the Monster

I was born under an unlucky star.

At three, I lost my legs.

At five, I lost my hearing. By eight, I was blind in one eye.

After my wealthy parents finally brought me home, the fake heiress sneered at me, her voice dripping with venom.

Even if you're back, I'm still the only daughter of the Sterling family! Try anything funny, and I'll break your other leg!

I looked at her, utterly bewildered, thinking she was making a fuss over nothing.

Then, I calmly detached both of my prosthetic legs.

Seeing the empty space where my limbs should be, my parents' faces drained of all color.

My brother, Alexander, scowling darkly, leaned close to my ear and warned me, "Stop provoking Sofia. Right now."

I pointed innocently at my ear, then shouted back at him, loud enough to make him flinch.

"What did you say?! This ear's no good! Somebody beat me deaf! I can't hear you!"

He stumbled back a step, staring at me like I was a ghost.

At a family ball, Sofia tried to frame me. She pretended to fall down the stairs and accidentally tore my dress clean open.

Alexander arrived just then, leading our parents to 'deal with me'.

Instead, they all saw a body mapped in scars.

Everyone froze.

Mom and Dad rushed forward, crushing me in a trembling hug, sobs wracking their bodies.

"Who did this to you?! Tell us! We'll make it right!"

Seeing the situation spiral, Sofia dropped the act.

She scrambled to her feet, brushing herself off, her voice shrill.

"Don't you dare pin this on me! I didn't do that!"

I nodded.

Indeed, she didnt.

The human traffickers did.

I was the only kid from our village who made it out alive.

Id promised my friends that Id make the monsters pay.

......

"It really wasn't me..."

Sofias voice trembled with a sob as she looked pleadingly at my brother, Alexander.

Alexander immediately stepped in front of her, his tone dripping with protective fury.

"Mom! Dad! Can't you see? Chloe's just putting on a show! She's trying to make Sofia look bad!"

"You know Sofia! You know her heart! There's no way she could have done this!"

I pulled the coat the butler offered tighter around myself, hiding the landscape of scars.

Even though I was shaking uncontrollably, I managed a small, wobbly smile for them.

"Mom, Dad, Alexander is right. My... my injuries have nothing to do with Sofia."

"I did this to myself. To make her look bad."

Years in the hands of traffickers taught me one survival rule: compliance. Taking the blame, even for things you didn't do, was always better than resisting and inviting a fiercer beating.

But as soon as the words left my mouth, my parents' expressions darkened.

Crash! Dad slammed his glass onto the floor, shattering it.

A trembling finger pointed at Sofia, then swung to Alexander, who stood defiant.

"Look! Look at what you've driven her to! She's talking nonsense!!"

Hearing this, Sofia and Alexander both gaped, disbelief written all over their faces.

Just then, a girl in a cocktail dresswhod exchanged a quick glance with Sofiastepped forward smoothly.

"Mr. and Mrs. Sterling, where her scars came from can be investigated later."

"But we all saw her push Sofia down the stairs! With our own eyes!"

Alexander seized the lifeline, his voice booming. "That's right! She used her left leg! I saw it clearly!"

All eyes locked on me again.

I peeked out timidly from behind Mom, my face a mask of confusion and fear.

Under their collective gaze, I bent down and slowly rolled up the left leg of my trousers.

Empty.

I looked up, my one good eye wide and meek.

"Mom, Dad... even though... even though my left prosthetic leg was out for maintenance today..."

"If Alexander and this young lady say they saw me kick Sofia... then... then I must have done it."

I reached out and plucked nervously at Sofia's sleeve. "I'm sorry, Sofia. It was my fault. Let me make it right."

Using my one remaining prosthetic leg for support, I hopped once, twice, towards the grand staircase.

Without a moment's hesitation, I hurled myself over the banister.

A dead silence swallowed the room.

Then, a blood-curdling scream tore through the air.

"CHLOE!!"

My parents fumbled to catch me.

The butler scrambled for the phone, yelling for a doctor.

Alexander and Sofia stood frozen, utterly dumbstruck.

The other guests wore identical expressions of sheer horror.

"The doctor! SOMEONE GET THE DOCTOR NOW!!!"

Excruciating pain shot through every nerve ending.

Amid the chaos and shouting, the light faded from my vision, and I let the darkness take me.

That night, my parents pulled the security footage from every camera in the house.

Sofia's little performance, from start to finish, was laid bare in crystal-clear HD.

The evidence was undeniable.

Faced with my parents' questioning, Sofia rubbed her red-rimmed eyes, her voice dripping with grievance.

"Dad, Mom... I'm so sorry... I never meant to frame her."

"I was just... so scared..."

"I was terrified that now she's back, you wouldn't want me anymore..."

Alexanders heart visibly broke for her.

He jumped to her defense, his tone laced with reproach.

"Mom! Dad! She's just insecure! Can you blame her?"

"She's lived here for eighteen years! Suddenly someone shows up to take everything from her! Of course she's scared!"

"It wasn't malicious! Stop ganging up on her!"

He paused, as if struck by a thought, his brow furrowing in disgust.

"Besides, have you considered that maybe Chloe's the one with problems?"

"What sane person jumps off a balcony because someone accused them of something?"

My parents shot him a scorching glare but seemed to take his words to heart.

The next day, they called in a top psychiatrist.

To everyone's surprise, I was perfectly cooperative.

"Chloe, can you tell me about your injuries? How did you get them?"

I thought for a moment. "...I did it to myself."

The doctor looked startled. "Why would you hurt yourself?"

My answer came naturally, as if stating a simple fact.

"Because if I punish myself before they get angry, when they see I'm sorry, they might not be as mad. Then they might not hit me as hard."

I still remember, every time I made a mistake, if I punished myself first before those people got angry, the punishment was always lighter.

The doctor stared, lost for words.

Finally, he tried a different angle.

"But don't you see? Hurting yourself doesn't solve anything. It only hurts the people who truly love you."

I blinked, genuinely curious.

"What's love?"

"Is it like the traffickers? Breaking my legs and saying it was 'for my own good,' so I could beg and survive on pity?"

"Or is it like my parents now..."

"One second holding me, crying, promising justice. The next second, seeing the proof that Sofia framed me and letting it go, then deciding I'm the sick one who needs a doctor?"

I leaned in a little closer, my voice dropping to a whisper.

"Doctor, I used to have friends who loved me. We got beaten together. We starved together. We promised to escape together..."

"But now..."

I let the pause hang. "Everyone who loved me is dead."

The doctor's pen froze mid-air. His face went sheet-white.

The psychiatrist repeated every single word I'd said verbatim to my parents.

His final diagnosis: Severe psychological trauma.

The compliance. The preemptive self-harm in the face of perceived threats.

All of ita survival mechanism, was forged in hell just to stay alive.

After he left, my parents shut themselves in their room for the entire day.

Until Alexander kicked the door open.

Seeing all the attention shift to me, Alexander couldn't take it.

He let out a cold, mocking laugh.

"She said all that in front of the doctor on purpose! A calculated performance to get sympathy and kick Sofia out."

"She makes me sick. So manipulative."

Sofia, however, floated over and looped her arm through Mom's, her voice sweet as syrup.

"Mom, Dad, don't listen to him. He's just upset."

"What happened before was my fault. I promise, I'll try harder with Chloe."

"There's a charity gala in a few days. We should all go! It'll be good for Chloe to meet people, and... it'll be a chance for us sisters to bond!"

My parents exchanged a look. Thinking it might help me adjust, they agreed.

The night of the gala arrived quickly.

I hadn't taken more than two limping steps into the glittering hall when a server bumped into me, sending me sprawling. Champagne soaked my dress.

Sofia snorted a laugh, then quickly covered her mouth.

"Oh, dear! Come on, let's get you cleaned up!"

She grabbed my wet arm, her grip deceptively strong, and hauled me away from the crowd.

Halfway to the bathrooms, she yanked me close, her whisper vicious in my good ear.

"You think playing the pathetic, crazy cripple will get you their love? Dream on!"

"They love me! They always will!"

A cruel smirk twisted her lips.

"Wanna bet? If I can prove it, you walk out of the Sterling family and never come back!"

Before I could react, a powerful shove hit my back.

Splash! Icy pool water swallowed me whole.

A second, louder splash followed, then a piercing, dramatic scream. "ALEXANDER! HELP! I'M SCARED OF WATER!!!"

Alexander came running and, without a second thought, dove in and swam straight for the "drowning" Sofia.

The moment I hit the water, muscle memory took over before conscious thought, choosing the safest way.

Don't move. Don't make trouble. Wait for it to be over.

I went limp, letting the water pull me down, bubbles escaping my lips.

It wasn't until Alexander had dragged a sputtering Sofia to the edge, and other guests started yelling and pointing, that he noticed.

"There's another one! The one that's not moving!"

He whipped around, his face pale. He plunged back in, fumbling to haul my dead weight out.

I lay curled on the cold stone, coughing up water.

Ignoring my violent shivering, Alexander grabbed my wrist, his grip bone-crushing.

"Apologize to Sofia! Look what you did to her!"

I brought my hands up, pressing them tightly over my eyes, my whole body shuddering.

He snorted, his voice dripping with contempt. "Now you're scared? Now you want to cry? Too late!"

"Don't even try to deny you pushed her!"

"Sofia is terrified of water! If you hadn't"

He shoved my head down towards the ground.

My hands, clamped over my eyes, slipped.

My left, empty eye socket was exposed to the crowd.

I looked up. The entire patio was dead silent.

In the utter quiet, I offered a small, timid smile.

"My... my eye fell out. I didn't want to scare anyone."

All of Alexander's anger and accusations died in his throat.

"You..." he choked out, unable to form another word.

Crack!

A sharp sound from above. The chandelier's support gave way.

The crystal monstrosity plummeted.

In that split second, I saw my friend, the one who pushed me out from the collapsing beam.

My body moved faster than my mind.

With a strength I didn't know I had, I threw myself sideways, shoving Alexander out of the way.

Shards of crystal grazed my cheek, drawing a line of blood.

Alexander stumbled and fell, looking back at me.

His eyes went wide with shock, which quickly morphed into frustration and rage.

"Chloe, you goddamn idiot!"

"I'm your damn brother! I don't need you to save me!"

His words were harsh, but he was beside me in an instant.

He hesitated for a second, then scooped me up into his arms, yelling at the stunned crowd.

"Don't just stand there! Someone fish her... fish my sister's eye out of the pool!"

He carried me to a lounge, wrapped me in a thick blanket, and placed the cleaned prosthetic eye gently beside me.

"The... the doctor's taking forever. I'll go find one myself!"

With that, he fled in a frantic rush.

Wrapped in darkness and the tight cocoon of the blanket, exhaustion pulled at me.

I don't know how long I drifted before a sharp, acrid smell cut through the air.

A fire had started.