Female Novel
Chapter 1641
There was a bottle of water beside Stella’s feet. It did not seem like she had the intention to end herlife.
Marshall heaved a sigh of relief upon thinking about that.
There was a very steep drop just less than six feet away from Stella, and Marshall dared not to startleher. So, he sat down not far from her and accompanied her in silence.
It was past noon. Although the sun shone brightly, it felt chilly at the mountaintop.
Stella wore a windbreaker. It did not look very thick, and her exposed earlobes turned bright red fromthe coldness.
“Stella…”
Marshall called out to her softly.
Stella remained still, and Marshall did not know if she had even heard him.
Marshall gazed at the distant mountains surrounded by mist and spoke again after some time, “I had ayounger brother called Ryan who was two years younger than me. Not only that he was adorable andwell-behaved, but he was also incredibly smart too. He could say plenty of simple words before he waseven a year old. He always had a smile on his face, and almost everyone who met him liked him.
“I was never a talented person, and I was always slower to learn compared to other kids my age. I wasalso introverted, and not many people in my family liked me. My mom often took her anger out on me,but when Ryan came along, the family’s attention shifted away from me to him. He was the reason whyI could finally be myself, so I liked him a lot, too.
“The time when Ryan was born was one of the happiest times in my life, but it didn’t last long. On thesecond Thanksgiving after his birth, our aunt returned from overseas to celebrate with the family.Everyone was busy welcoming her.
“She brought a beautiful toy car from abroad for us. We loved it and played with it in our room.
“Many things were happening in the house, and all the adults were busy. The nanny who wassupposed to take care of Ryan said she was going downstairs to prepare some fruits, but she didn’tcome back up for a long time. Ryan started groaning as if he was not feeling comfortable. I thought hewas thirsty, so I took his bottle and tried to feed him some water.
“However, he seemed to look even more uncomfortable after some time. His face turned red, and hewas making some strange noises from his throat. I didn’t think anything was wrong and kept feedinghim water.
“He couldn’t really swallow the water, and I ended up getting water all over his clothes. It was only thenthat I realized that he was crying but couldn’t make any sound. I had no idea what was happening, so Iimmediately went downstairs to look for help. However, I wasn’t very good at speaking then, so none ofthe adults had the patience to listen to me.
All of them thought that I was just playing with them.
“I ran back to the room. This time, Ryan wasn’t moving anymore…”
Marshall continued in a low voice, “I thought he was asleep. I was getting tired too, so I next to him andfell asleep too. Then, I was awakened by the screams of the adults.
“Ryan was dead. Some tiny parts from the toy car had lodged in his throat, and he died of suffocation.What was supposed to be a joyous celebration had ended in tragedy. My mother cried her heart out,
and the way she looked at me was strange, filled with blame and resentment. I remembered that lookfor a long time.
“I spent a long time thinking about this. What if Ryan was my older brother? What if I was the one whochoked on the car parts? Ryan was so smart; I’m sure he would’ve called for help immediately.
“So, I started becoming more diligent. I worked very hard to be like Ryan just so the adults could likeme more. However, Grandpa still thought that I was dim-witted, and my mother just couldn’t seem toforget about Ryan.
“Then, I thought about how much better things would be if it had been me who died. But do you knowwhat Keegan said to me?”
Stella, who had been sitting still, finally had some reaction upon hearing Keegan’s name. She tilted herhead slightly away from her knees. Her eyes were swollen and red behind
her disheveled hair.
Marshall continued in a hoarse voice, “He said I was just a child, so why would the adults expect a childto handle something that even they wouldn’t be able to handle properly? The adults were only blamingme because they couldn’t own up to their own negligence. But Ryan wouldn’t. He’d always rememberhow much I loved him. Did you know that the first word that he learned to speak was ‘brother’?”novelbin
Marshall turned his face away, trying to calm himself down. After some time, he spoke again, “Stella,this world is full of uncertainties and hardships. You can grieve and feel sad, but life must go on. UncleWenham, Trevor, your grandparents, Felicity, and all your friends, we all want the best for you. I’m surethat this is what Keegan wants, too. Although he had left us, he wouldn’t want anything bad to happento you.”