Mark just stood there, dazed, watching me
get swallowed by that wave.
Then his face twisted up, and he actually
threw up blood.
“Honey…?”
Brittany gasped.
“Ashley…where’s Ashley?”
He looked totally lost, staring at the river. “I
think I just saw Ashley disappear.”
“Ashley!”
He screamed and ran toward the edge of the
pier.
“Honey, the current’s too strong. She’s
gone…
”
Brittany clung to his arm. “She’s dead.”
Mark froze, his brain short–circuiting. Who’s
gone? Who’s dead? Ashley?
“No…no way!” he mumbled.
“She terminated the pregnancy herself, then
did God knows what to her body…and
jumped.”
My parents were shaking, staring at the blood
and tissue on the ground.
“She was so determined, didn’t even
く
Mom was staring at the mess on the ground.
“How could she do that? She must be mad at
us for pushing her around…just trying to
scare me…”
She looked at Dad, then back at the river.
“Why’d she jump? I made her chicken soup,
to help her recover after the abortion…”
Dad picked up the knife, tears running down
his face.
My daughter, so alive just days ago, just
gone.
“Before she died, she gave her body back to
us…she hated us…”
Mom picked up the mess from the ground,
crying her eyes out.
Dad covered his face, sobbing.
“She was so eager to please us, always
calling me ‘Dad‘…”
How did we push our daughter to mutilate
herself and drown?
Thinking about everything that had happened,
Dad felt a sharp pain in his chest.
Since she hadn’t grown up with us, Ashley
didn’t know how things worked here. We
always sided with Brittany.
When we heard about Brittany’s illness, we
panicked.
We couldn’t let Brittany die.
But to make Brittany happy, we killed our own
daughter!
Dad squeezed the knife. It cut into his palm,
drawing blood.
“Daughter!”
Dad pounded his chest, crying.
“Honey…Mom, Dad, I didn’t think Ashley
would do this…I’d rather die than have this
happen!”
Brittany was pale, holding her chest. “The
body comes from your parents, Ashley, how
could you!”
