The Girl They Locked Away Is Back Novel – My sister Sophia ate the half-plate of mango I’d left on the table, and broke out in angry red welts all over her skin. My brother James forced my mouth open, pinning me down as he poured mango juice down my throat. “You love mangoes so much? Fine. Let’s see how much you can really take.” The liquid rushed into my lungs. I choked, gasping, my throat swelling shut.
I clawed at his arm, begging him to stop, to help me breathe. He didn’t. He dragged me to the basement instead, shoved me inside, and turned the lock. “If Sophia has to suffer,” he said through the door, his voice cold, “you don’t get to be comfortable, either. Think about what you’ve done. No one ever taught you right, no wonder you turned out so vicious.” Two days passed before my mother remembered I was down there. “James,” she said, her tone careless, almost bored. “That’s enough now.
Let Lily out.” A pause. “If we keep her locked up too long, she might start resenting Sophia.” From across the room, my father spoke without looking up. “What’s the fuss? If she’s upset, we’ll buy her something. That’ll make up for it.” No one came to let me out. But I followed them anyway, a weightless ghost clinging to my father’s back as they walked toward the basement door. I wanted to see.
I needed to see how they planned to make it up to me. *** The first day I was locked in the basement. James stormed back into the living room and smashed a water glass on the table in frustration. “Is Lily even really a Thompson?” “Mom, Dad, are you sure the paternity test wasn’t wrong?” “How could our family produce a child like her!” My parents’ faces were grim. The housekeeper, Mary, stammered, “Mr. Thompson, Miss Lily really did look terrible earlier.
Her face was turning blue. Shouldn’t we take her to the hospital?” James whirled around to glare at her. “Shut up!” “You feel sorry for her? Who feels sorry for Sophia?” “A girl’s appearance is everything,” he snapped. “She knew Sophia was allergic, she left that mango out on purpose. Just look at those hives!” “Always playing these pathetic little schemes, does she think no one sees through her?” James’s face was full of disgust. “She brought this on herself!” Mary opened her mouth but said nothing more. “James, don’t be angry…” A soft, delicate voice came from upstairs.
Sophia was leaning weakly against the railing. Her eyes were brimming with tears. For an instant, the image of Lily’s tear-streaked, pitiful face flashed in James’s mind. He shook his head and hurried over to support Sophia. “Your allergy hasn’t even cleared up yet, what are you doing out of bed?” Sophia’s face was pale. She seemed hesitant. “James, don’t blame Lily… I think… she surely didn’t mean to…” James stroked her cheek, his expression full of concern.
“You don’t need to defend her. She got exactly what she deserved!” As soon as he finished speaking, Sophia started crying even more miserably. “It’s still my fault! If I hadn’t lost track of my sister when we were little, she never would have been taken…” Sophia and I were twins. When we were five, she said she was going to buy me candy. She told me to wait right there and not move. But she went straight home by herself. By the time our parents came looking, I had already been taken away. Sixteen years.
That’s how long I spent trapped in a forgotten mountain village, where the days were marked by blows and cruel words. Then, on the darkest of those days, my foster father’s eyes followed the shape I was growing into, and his hand reached for me with a leer I’ll never forget. It was in that moment, when hope had almost bled out completely, that my real parents found me. I believed I’d finally escaped hell. I never dreamed that in this gilded cage called home, staying alive would become its own kind of battle. … James closed his eyes. “Don’t blame yourself for everything.” “Some people are just born with a mean streak,” James said flatly. “It’s in her nature, nothing to do with us.” He let out a short breath, as if steadying himself for a burden.
“But I’m still her older brother. I’ll discipline her. I’ll make sure she learns how to act like a decent human being, at the very least.” Sophia’s face softened into a look of tender resolve. She nodded, leaning into his side. “I understand, James. I’ll help you. Together, we can teach her… we can turn her into the little princess she was always meant to be.” Mom and Dad nodded approvingly. I swung my hand, slapping James and Sophia across their faces, one after the other.
But the smiles on their faces didn’t change at all. My palm passed right through their bodies, leaving nothing but empty air. I’d forgotten. I was already dead. Before I died, my face was contorted in agony. I clutched my chest tightly, the feeling of suffocation utterly despairing. But even then, I was still hoping. Hoping my brother would open the door and take me to the hospital. Hoping my parents would save me from despair once again, just like they had before. But there was nothing.
My consciousness had already begun to fade, my vision blurring into nothingness. Only my hearing remained, just a little. I heard James outside the door, instructing the housekeeper. “Don’t give her any food or water without my permission.” The housekeeper’s hesitant voice came through. “Won’t that… cause problems?” James sneered. “What problems could a few days without food cause? I’m doing this for her own good.
If she doesn’t suffer a bit, how will she ever learn?” I felt my lips stretch into a grin. I was laughing at James. Laughing even harder at myself. I remembered one time when Sophia was in a bad mood and skipped a few bites of dinner. James remembered it clearly, even went into the kitchen personally to bake her favorite little cake. But when it came to me, going hungry for days was something no one would care about. I didn’t understand. I was his biological sister too.
I was my parents’ biological daughter. So why wouldn’t they love me? Why wouldn’t they believe me? When those gazes filled with annoyance, disappointment, even hatred swept over me…I felt like I had died long ago. Long, long ago, on that summer day when I was five years old. Carrying all that resentment and unwillingness, I finally lost consciousness, sinking completely into the dark.