After I Died at My Brother's Wedding

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As I was being pinned down and violated.

While my brothers wedding of the century was taking place downstairs.

I dialed his number, pleading for help.

His cold, disgusted voice came through.

Playing the victim again, Samantha? Why don't you just die!

I hung up, climbed to the rooftop, and jumped off.

I landed on the angle statue's wings at his wedding venue.

The statues wings pierced straight through my body.

With the last of my strength, I smiled at my brother.

"Dont worry Im going to die now."

...

Back to three days ago.

I was still in the asylum, looking at my brother on the phone from the second floor.

After our parents died, it was just me and him.

He was my support, my protector.

But I hadnt seen him in three years.

The head physician pulled me aside, his clammy breath hitting my neck.

"Samantha, about the treatment process you must learn to keep your mouth shut. Understand?"

A chill ran down my spine.

I nodded obediently. "I understand."

The doctor led me by the hand into the visitors room.

My brothers gaze flickered over our joined hands. Not a flicker of emotion.

He wasnt like this before.

Our parents always favored the son. I grew up under his protection.

When I was little and craving candy, hed sneak me some with his own allowance.

When I got into trouble, hed shield me with his own body, taking the blows from Moms hairbrush.

After our parents passed, he became even more fiercely protective.

If a guy so much as glanced at me, his blood pressure would spike. Hed berate them fiercely.

But now, I was no longer the little sister he cherished above all else.

Because Id killed the woman he loved mostAurora.

Three years ago.

On the eve of his wedding.

Aurora and her younger sister, Brielle, were in a car crash.

Aurora died at the scene.

And Brielle told my brother, "Samantha called, begging us to drive through the storm to get her chicken noodle soup.

Thats why we crashed."

That day, he didnt listen to a word of my defense.

He slapped me, twice.

"Samantha! Are you that selfish? Do you realize Aurora was pregnant? You killed the two people I loved most!"

His eyes were bloodshot.

He looked like he wanted to stitch my 'greedy, lying' mouth shut forever.

It wasnt until Auroras reasonable father stepped in, saying, "It was an accident, a tragedy. Dont blame Samantha," that my brother finally let me go.

After Auroras funeral, my brother went abroad to handle her business affairs.

To set his mind at ease, the Andersons took me in.

And my nightmare began.

My brother led me to the parking lot in total silence.

The brother who used to remind me to watch my step was gone.

And I was eerily quiet too.

I used to chatter nonstop around him.

But not anymore.

Because I was sick.

After Liam went abroad, Brielle wished I were dead.

We were both seniors in high school, in the same class.

She bullied me daily, rallying others to join.

One day, she and her crew threw me into a filthy ditch in the pouring rain.

She called me a sewer rat, unworthy of living in the Anderson home.

Then they dragged me to an abandoned warehouse.

Her three lackeys tore off my clothes, grinding cigarette butts into my arm.

My screams of agony seemed to excite them.

Those repulsive bodies pinned me down, one after another.

They complained about the stench of the ditch water on me, even as they took their pleasure.

And Brielle recorded it all on her phone, capturing every expression, every move.

Afterward, they used the video to threaten me into silence, then swaggered away.

I pulled my broken self together and called my brother.

Sobbing, I told him Brielle and her friends had hurt me.

He was silent for a moment. "Samantha, you owe the Andersons a life, and they took you in despite that.

Brielle was very close to her sister. Shes just acting out her grief. Must you be so relentless? Have you no gratitude at all?"

In that moment, my heart shattered along with my violated body.

Gripping the phone, I finally told him the truth.

"Liam, it wasnt just bullying Brielle had them they took turns raping me. Liam, please come back. Take me away from here. Please."

But my desperate pleas earned neither his sympathy nor his trust.

Because Brielle produced a forged gynecological exam report.

In black and white, it stated clearly:

"No evidence of bodily fluids, no signs of sexual assault Hymen shows old scarring."

When my brother received the photo of the diagnosis, his roar nearly burst my eardrums.

"Samantha! You cheap little slut! You slept around long ago and now youre framing Brielle? Im so disappointed in you!"

He hung up.

He never contacted me again after that.

That day, I dragged my ruined body home.

I scrubbed my skin until it bled.

I thought about ending it all.

But then I thought of Liam.

And I hesitated.

I couldnt die. He was my only family left.

If I died, he wouldnt survive it.

I buried all the pain, studied like my life depended on it, fought to keep breathing.

I clung to one thought.

Once finals were over, once Liam came home

Things would get better.

But Brielle never gave me the chance.

Three days before finals, she tied me up and dumped me in a rain-soaked field.

I spiked a fever and missed my exams.

Then she had me committed to this psychiatric facility.

She told the doctors I often self-harmed and then played the victim for attention.

That day, I was diagnosed with Munchausen syndrome.

A disorder where you lie or hurt yourself for sympathy.

Every scar on my body was labeled self-inflicted and every word of defense a lie.

I entered a living hell.

For two years.

Liam took me to the cemetery.

Kneeling before Auroras headstone, I finally lost control, tears streaming down.

He tossed a few tissues at me.

"You think youre worthy of crying in front of Aurora? Save your crocodile tears. Dont dirty her grave."

He didnt know I wished she were alive more than anyone.

So she could tell everyone the truth about that phone call.

Id only called to warn her about the storm, to tell her to come home early.

I never asked her to buy me soup.

I wiped my face and kowtowed three times before Auroras photo. "Im sorry, Aurora."

The head doctor said if I learned to be obedient, my brother wouldnt hate me anymore.

Liam was my only family in this world.

My suffering didnt matter. His misunderstanding didnt matter.

As long as he didnt abandon me.

As I bowed, my sleeve rode up.

Liam suddenly grabbed my wrist, yanking the fabric higher.

My arm was covered in horrifying scars.

Lashes, cuts, cigarette burns.

And beneath them, a tattoo!

"Cutting yourself. Tattoos. Whats next, smoking? Do you have to degrade yourself like this, Samantha?

Just to make me feel sorry for you, you hurt yourself?

If you hate yourself that much, why dont you just die!"

I wanted to explain, but the words died in my throat.

Everyone knew I had Munchausens.

Liam would never believe my version of the truth.

Every scar, that tattoo

They were all Brielles doing, forced on me after Liam left.

In those sunless days, Brielle trampled over me as she pleased.

She thought it would make me end it.

But I didnt.

My endurance made her escalate.

My resilience drove her crazy.

Eventually, Brielle grew so unhinged she force-fed me laxatives.

She watched me lose control in front of everyone, then crawl across the field like a dog.

Pinching her nose, she leaned close and whispered, "Samantha, you know why I hate you? You ruined things between me and Liam."

Brielle confessed she and her sister both loved my brother.

But because I clung to Aurora, Liam loved her by association.

"Samantha, I hated Aurora, and I hate you. You know, that day it was my idea to go get the soup"

So it was Brielles suggestion that killed her own sister.

Yet she pinned the blame on me.

That day, she 'rescued' me in front of the whole school.

Everyone praised Brielles compassion, braving the stench to clean me up.

But no one knew.

She dumped me in that wild field in the pouring rain.

I returned burning with fever.

I cried out for Liam.

That sent Brielle into a rage.

She pulled up the videos on her phone.

"Samantha, if Liam saw how slutty you looked in these, you think hed ever let you call him 'brother' again?"

I fought to get up, to grab her phone.

But she threw herself down the stairs.

That day, Mrs. Anderson sent Liam the security footage of me 'pushing' Brielle.

Brielle suggested the psychiatric facility.

Liam agreed without a second thought.

He trusted the Andersons completely.

So he had no idea what Id been through.

Looking at my brother now, I remembered the day our parents died.

Holding me, he said, "Dont be scared, Sammie. No matter what happens, Ill always protect you."

My eyes burned. I tried to explain.

But I saw him gently stroking Auroras headstone.

"Aurora, Im back home. Mom and Dad they want me to stay part of the family. They want me to try with Brielle. Youd give us your blessing, right?"