The Hide and Seek Game That Lasted a Lifetime Novel – My mother gave birth to me a year after she was assaulted by the school bully. I was despised by the whole family, seen as a curse. On my eighth birthday, my mother took me out for the first time. High on a mountain ridge, she started a game of hide-and-seek with me. “If you find me, you get a reward.
If you don’t, you can’t come home.” Thrilled and nervous, I covered my eyes with my hands and began to count silently. Mom was really good at hiding. I searched everywhere I could think of but couldn’t find her. As the sky grew darker, I stumbled and fell numerous times until I was covered in cuts and bruises. Staggering back home, I knocked on the door, crying, “Mom is gone!” The door slowly creaked open a crack.
Mom peered at me through the crack, her gaze cold and distant, like I was a stranger. My tears turned to a timid smile. “Mom,” I whispered. But she went crazy, slapping me hard across the face. “You little bastard! Why didn’t you die up on that mountain? I told you not to come back!” Terrified, I lowered my head and pulled back my foot, which had just started to step forward. “Mom, I don’t want the reward anymore.” … “The reward? You dare mention the reward?!” Mom shrieked hysterically, lunging at me and yanking viciously at my hair.
Clumps of hair were torn out from the roots. The pain made me want to run, but instinct made me cling to her body instead. “Mom, it hurts.” The door suddenly opened wider. Dad walked out, his face expressionless. “Since she’s back, she can stay for now. We’ll deal with everything later.” He took Mom’s hand and led her inside. From start to finish, he didn’t look at me once.
Frantically, I wiped the blood beading on my scraped arm and hurried after them, keeping close. Just as my thin fingers reached out, the door suddenly slammed shut, crushing the joints of my fingers. A scream tore from my throat, and tears burst forth uncontrollably once more. My brother, Liam Miller, stared coldly at me from the window, his pretty face full of scorn and disgust. “Bastard.
If you make my mom angry again, next time it’ll be your neck getting slammed!” It hurt, a piercing, heart-wrenching pain. I wanted to scream, to demand why he would do this. But eight years of experience had taught me that making anyone in the family angry meant going to bed hungry that night. I ducked my head and pleaded softly, “Liam, can you let me in now?” He snorted, hugged his stuffed toy tighter, and stepped back.
When his eyes landed on my filthy clothes, his brow furrowed in disgust. “You’re disgusting! What mud puddle did you crawl out of? Don’t you dare dirty the floor!” I nodded vigorously, moving carefully, trying my hardest not to touch or soil anything. The house was big, but there were many places I wasn’t allowed to go. Pushing open the heavy door to the storage room, I froze at the sight before me. The space where my bedding used to be was now piled high with boxes.
All my belongings were gone. Confusion flooded my mind. I stood there, stunned, not knowing what to do. Liam walked over, his voice dripping with contempt. “Dad thought you weren’t coming back, so he threw all that junk out.” I turned and stared at him blankly. “I was just playing hide-and-seek with Mom… I never said I wasn’t coming back…” “Hide-and-seek? You’re so stupid you actually believed that.
Mom came back a long time ago.” He sneered. “Do I need to spell it out for you? Dad thinks you’re bad luck. He doesn’t want you anymore.” Liam had always been mean to me, but for some reason, a sudden, inexplicable anger surged within me. Emotion overrode thought. I shoved him hard, sending him tumbling to the ground. “You’re lying! Dad wouldn’t abandon me!” “I’m not bad luck! I’m Dad’s child too!” Liam, used to being the bully, was shocked by my defiance, his face turning pale.
This was the scene Dad walked in on. My body trembled violently, and I immediately lowered my head. “I… I didn’t mean to.” Dad’s eyes were calm, devoid of any emotion. He just uttered a few flat words and walked away without a backward glance. “Follow me.” At the side of the yard stood an old, disused kennel. Dad pointed inside. “You’ll sleep here from now on. You are not to set foot inside the villa without permission.” I nodded blankly and peered inside.
Years of neglect had left it filled with a pungent, foul odor that hit me along with the stale air. It was worse than the storage room. Dad said nothing more and turned to leave. “Dad, wait.” I instinctively reached for the hem of his shirt, but the next second, a tremendous force shoved me to the ground. Dad frowned, glancing almost imperceptibly at the spot on his shirt I’d almost touched. “Speak.” I felt like I’d been struck by lightning.
A dawning understanding, emotions too old for my young mind, settled in. I think… I understood. “