Mom, I'm Not a Bad Kid

Born a chronic liar — that is the label Lydia pinned on her daughter Evelyn. Lydia trusts science-based parenting: honesty bracelets that flash red for lies and deliver electric shocks by remote. Jessica's bracelet always glows green; Evelyn's flashes red even when she says she is hungry. After countless shocks, Evelyn believes she truly was born bad.

On Christmas Eve, a violent pain tears through Evelyn's stomach. Her bracelet flashes red, so Lydia turns the current up, locks her in, and leaves for the mall with Jessica and Ethan. Alone, Evelyn crawls to her desk to write her punishment essay, and the pain suddenly vanishes. She floats above her own still body, its bracelet flashing red. She is dead, and still not an honest child.

Returning home, Lydia and Jessica pass the slumped figure without a second look, trusting the machine over the daughter Lydia gave birth to. As a ghost, Evelyn can only watch.