I Became My Family’s DisasterChapter 1

The day I was born, the smiles on my parents’ faces froze the moment the nurse handed me to them.

Floating just above my bald head, invisible to everyone else, was a line of numbers.

6570 days.

Not one more, not one less. Exactly eighteen years.

The nurse thought they were just nervous first-time parents. Only they knew the truth—it was my expiration date.

While other families in the maternity ward celebrated new life, my parents were already staring at my end.

For the next eighteen years, I was the most precious thing in our house.

No matter how poor we were, the eggs were mine, the new clothes were mine, the meat was mine. My little brother could only watch with hungry eyes.

“Let your sister have it,” my parents would always say. “She doesn’t have much time.”

I understood my place from a young age. I never made a fuss, never threw a tantrum. I was just quietly waiting to die.

On my eighteenth birthday, I blew out the candles and said a silent, heartfelt goodbye to the world.

The next morning, my parents and my brother walked into my room, their eyes red and swollen, dressed in somber clothes.

I rubbed my eyes and smiled at them. “Good morning.”

The air in the room went still.

The grief on their faces slowly morphed into shock, then stiffened into something cold and hard.

…

The silence stretched for a full ten seconds.

“You… how are you…” My brother, Sammy, hid behind my mother, his voice trembling as if he’d seen a ghost.

“I’m not dead,” I said.

My father’s expression flickered. He forced a smile. “Not dead. That’s good, that’s good…” He nudged my mother. “Go on, make some breakfast.”

Mom stared at me, then gave a numb nod. She walked to the door, then turned back, her eyes filled with a complicated emotion I couldn’t decipher.

For the first time in my eighteen years, I felt that something was deeply wrong in our home.

Breakfast was thin porridge and a side of pickles.

As usual, Sammy placed the single boiled egg in front of my bowl. I reached for it.

Smack.

My mother slapped my hand, hard. A bright red mark bloomed on my skin instantly.

“You’re a grown girl now, fighting with your brother over an egg! Have you no shame?”

I pulled my hand back and just ate my porridge.

After the meal, I scrambled to clear the table and wash the dishes. In the past, whenever I tried to help, Mom would gently stop me, a loving smile on her face. “You’re our little princess, you don’t need to do this.”

This time, she just shot me a cold look and said nothing.

After I washed the dishes, I forgot to wring out the dishcloth, leaving it damp on the edge of the sink.

When my mother came in and saw it, her face twisted with rage.

“Are you blind? You just leave the cloth like that? You want it to grow mold?”

I froze, then quickly reached for the cloth.

“I raised you for eighteen years!” she shrieked, following me. “Didn’t we give you the best of everything? The eggs, the meat, the new clothes! Did your brother ever get anything new?! All you know is how to take! You can’t even wash a few dishes properly…”

“Mom, I did wash them. It’s just the cloth…”

“Don’t you dare talk back to me! Who do you think you are?!” She snatched the cloth from my hand and threw it on the floor.

“Look at you! Standing there with that miserable face! You’ve lived eighteen years and you can’t even wring out a dishcloth! What good are you?!”

My father walked in then. He glanced at my mother’s contorted face, then at my stunned expression. He waved a dismissive hand, as if trying to end a pointless argument. “What’s all the shouting for? Just get on with your day!”

Biting my lip, I asked softly, “Mom, Dad… are you like this because I didn’t die?”

Their bodies went rigid. My father took a deep breath and managed a strained laugh. “We’re just… not used to it. We need some time… to adjust.”

I watched them walk away, hearing them mutter to each other. “How can she just not die? What kind of mess is this?”

I didn’t understand. Wasn’t me being alive a good thing?

I looked out the window. The sun was the same as always. But when its light hit my skin, I suddenly felt very, very cold.