Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I got lost when I was three and wasn’t taken back to the Wilson family until I was 14.

Old Miller had raised me for over a decade. Even though he made a living collecting garbage, he never let me go hungry or wanting.

Linda Brown was the first friend I made in middle school. Her mom favored her younger brother and often beat her.

I invited her to my house.

“I thought your family was well-off—you always wear nice clothes and use nice things,” she said, covering her nose with her sleeve as she sat on the living room sofa.

“My grandpa loves me so much. He saves all the good food for me and buys me new clothes all the time,” I told her.

Her expression turned awkward.

Grandpa was eager to ask her to stay for dinner, but she left after sitting for just a few minutes.

Later, rumors started spreading around the class: my grandpa was a garbage collector.

At first, my classmates just avoided me.

Then, Linda Brown started leading the bullying. I couldn’t understand why my friend would hurt me.

When she realized she faced no consequences for picking on me, she grew bolder.

She burned my hair with a lighter, glued my chair, and during PE class, she and a group of girls used me as a target, hitting me with a volleyball. She forced me to kneel by the trash heap at the back gate and eat garbage. She even stripped me naked, took photos, and threatened to spread them.

When I told the teacher, she just told me to reflect on my own behavior.

I couldn’t hold on anymore.

That evening after school, I jumped off a building. I didn’t go home, and Old Miller, worried sick about me, got into a car accident on his way to the school to find me. He died instantly.

I was rescued in time, but the fall damaged my brain, leaving me completely paralyzed.