Chapter 2

The other day, after locking me in the basement, Leon went on a trip. Henry was busy with his studies, so his forgetting about me sounded perfectly logical.

Alan and Margot didn't blame him. Instead, they shifted the blame to me. "Marcel, why didn't you ask for help? Were you trying to die in the basement and drag our family into a scandal?"

To them, my death would become nothing more than a scandal.

I curled up in the last clean corner of the basement, my eyes hollow. "Can you lock me up for one more day, please?"

Just one more day, and I would die. Unfortunately, I didn't get my wish.

Alan and Margot looked at me like they had seen a ghost. They immediately had someone carry me out of the basement.

After six days without seeing sunlight, I had become sallow and thin, looking more like a dying tree than a high school senior.

They fed and nurtured me until I gained back a pound, and only after that did they send me back to school to prepare for the SAT.

Henry and I were both in the senior class. When our homeroom teacher, Mr. Freeman, saw me, he frowned and pointed to the seat in the very back corner.

"You've been gone for a long time. I thought you'd given up on the SAT."

I gripped the straps of my backpack and stated the truth as if I were talking about the weather. "My family locked me up in the basement."

Then came Henry's wailing. "Marcel, what are you talking about? If this is because you're upset I'm back, you should just come at me! Why would you slander our family in public?"

I had to say, Henry was much smarter than I was. He had only just transferred here a short while ago, yet he had already become the favorite in the class.

So, the students who liked him all turned against me. They decided that, as an adopted son, my very genes were flawed and that I was twisted inside.

Frankly, I didn't know what I had said wrong. After all, they really had me locked in the basement. Was that not true?

Amid the endless accusations, I looked at Henry calmly and said, "You guys really should've kept me locked up for another day."

I was only one day away from dying. If I died, my suffering would finally be over.

For some reason, Henry seemed terrorized by my words and cried even harder, looking more wronged than ever.

In the middle of the chaos, Mr. Freeman tapped on the blackboard and silenced the class with his sharp gaze. "Silence! Marcel, come to the office with me."

I left the classroom under my classmates' mocking, gloating stares and followed Mr. Freeman out. The office was quiet, leaving the two of us alone.

He sat down and gestured for me to speak. "Tell me exactly what happened while you were away from school."

I froze and looked at Mr. Freeman. His gaze was sincere.

I had always thought teachers were like gardeners, nurturing and guiding their students. I believed he was the only person who cared enough to check in on me after Henry returned to the family.

Thus, leaving out the system, I briefly told him everything that had happened during that time.

After listening, Mr. Freeman picked up his phone and pressed the button to stop the recording. He no longer looked at me. Instead, he turned away and called Alan and Margot.

I stared at him for a long time. Once the call ended, I asked him, "Were you just tattling on me to my adoptive parents, sir?"

Alan and Margot were respected business people who, naturally, cared about their reputation more than anything. If people learned that they had locked me in the basement, it would affect their business.

They would never allow something like that to spread, but none of it surprised me. To them, it was perfectly normal.

The sincerity in Mr. Freeman's eyes vanished, displaced by a sense of righteousness. "Marcel, I wasn't tattling on you. I'm just asking them to pay more attention to your mental state. You're acting like you have some kind of issue."

Oh, what a coincidence. I, too, felt like something was mentally wrong with me.

I nodded and no longer pressed the issue. Instead, I waited quietly for Alan and Margot's arrival.