The Prank At Thanksgiving Was Fake

On Thanksgiving, my whole family gathered in a B&B in the suburbs when a group of masked men with machetes suddenly barged in. “Seth owes us four hundred and fifty thousand dollars in gambling debts! Either all of you die, or give us a young woman to work outside the country to pay for his debts!” Olivia was so terrified that she peed herself and cried. My mother shielded her and turned to me. “Ninian, Olivia has a weak heart. If she has to leave the country to work, she’ll die! Could you go in her place?” Clark Grant, the fiance I had dated for seven years, turned away and pushed me forward. “If we sacrifice you, we can save everyone else. Don’t be selfish.” When I saw their cold and aversive gazes, my heart shattered in disappointment. Under the pretext of grabbing my clothes, I went into the bathroom, brought out the paraquat under the basin, and drank half of it. When I opened the door and was prepared to face my end, the lights in the living room lit up, and loud laughter erupted. Olivia had been crying loudly a second ago, but she was holding her phone and laughing hard at the moment. “Everyone, the prank was a success! My sister nearly cried from fear!” The masked men removed their masks, and I saw that it was Seth as well as Clark’s friends. Clark squeezed my stiff shoulder. “It’s okay. Olivia was just filming a bit. It’s all fake.” My throat started burning, as if there was fire raging inside. I watched them laugh. The creditors were fake, and the threat to kill us all had been fake too. But the paraquat I downed had been real. Chapter 1 The camera flash was trained on my face. Olivia had the camera so close to me that it was almost touching me. “Guys, look at how pale my sister is. It’s amazing! She couldn’t even say anything out of fear just now. She just kept moving back!” Seth threw the plastic machete on the table and wiped away the tears he shed from laughing too hard. “Ninian, you’re such a coward. You couldn’t even tell that this is a prop? How could I really owe anyone four hundred and fifty thousand dollars?” I stood frozen, my stomach feeling as if it had been stuffed with burning coal. The pain spread up to my throat. I opened my mouth to say something, but it felt as if my throat was filled with sandpaper. I could not say a proper word. My mother got up from the floor and dusted her pants. She then glared at me. “Enough. Stop looking so glum. Olivia only needed a viral video to get advertisements playing on her channel. There’s no harm in us helping her stage this act. “It’s Thanksgiving. Stop pulling such a long face.” Clark threw an arm over my shoulder. “Are you actually angry, Ninian? I only pushed you out according to the . Olivia had said that this would create even more of a contrast compared to my usual image and make the netizens talk more. “I’m your fiance. How could I possibly really send you out of the country?” He smiled gently and frankly, as if the man who told me not to be selfish just then had not been him. I broke free from his grasp. My churning stomach made it so that I could not stand on steady feet. I planted a hand on the door frame behind me, and my nails dug into the wood. I had been a member of the family for twenty-five years, and I had been Clark’s girlfriend for seven. But all of that was nothing compared to clout and that stupid bit. I swallowed the blood in my mouth and forced myself to not tremble. “Are you done filming?” My voice was incredibly hoarse, like a torn bellows. Clark frowned. “What happened to your voice? Did you lose it from the fear just now?” Olivia immediately trained her camera on my mouth. “She actually lost her voice! Guys, this is what we call an immersive prank! Ninian, say something else. This is great.” I turned my head away to avoid the camera. “I’m tired. Let me sit down.” My mother immediately pulled a long face. “Sit down? For what? We had to work hard for an entire day in order to keep this a secret from you. We didn’t even eat. There’s still a fish that hasn’t been cooked in the kitchen. Get it ready. “Olivia has a weak heart and can’t stay up late. Once we’re done eating, we have to let her rest.” Seth also started urging me to relax. “Stop being so melodramatic, Ninian. It’s just a joke. Why are you being so gloomy? You’re souring everyone’s mood.” I stared at Seth and his self-righteous face. In order to pay for his tuition, I dropped out of high school so that I could work in an electronics manufacturing plant. The moment I got my salary every month, I only kept two hundred dollars for myself to pay for my meals. But he was saying I was being gloomy? The pain in my stomach threatened to tear apart my body. I bent down and cradled my stomach. The sweat on my forehead dropped on the tiles. Clark grabbed my arm. “Ninian, what’s the point of pretending to have a stomach ache? I already said sorry. Why are you still kicking up a fuss?” I looked at him with a pale face. “I’m not pretending.” My mother scoffed and went to the dining table. “Let her be. She has always pretended to be sick to get attention since she was a kid. Let her pretend to be in pain. We’ll see how long she can keep that act up.” Chapter 2 The smell of smoke and oil from the kitchen drifted into the living room. In the end, Clark brought the fish to the table. I took a seat in the very corner. Since breathing had become increasingly hard for me, I could only take shallow breaths. The paraquat had begun destroying my lungs. Whenever I breathed, it was like I was swallowing countless needles. The entire family sat together happily, and celebrating that the video had passed a hundred thousand likes. Olivia held her phone and smiled so brightly that she did not even bother to eat. “Mom, I got sponsors! The prank video just now went viral, and advertisers have come to negotiate contracts with me!” My mother smiled brightly and put a large slice of fish on Olivia’s plate. “I just knew that you’re a capable person, unlike someone, who can’t even take a joke.” She did not hide her disdain toward me in the slightest. Seth lifted his wine glass and toasted Clark. “Clark, when you pushed Ninian forward, you were like a true actor. Everyone online is calling you a piece of trash.” Unbothered, Clark took a sip of wine. “Let them. Bad publicity is still publicity. As long as Olivia becomes famous, getting insulted a bit is nothing.” He made himself sound so righteous. But I watched him quietly. Seven years ago, his business failed, and he was saddled with a huge mountain of debt. I worked three jobs to clear his debt. I still remembered how he had held me and cried like a baby on the day he cleared his debt. He had sworn that he would never let anyone hurt me, but when our lives were under “threat,” he had been the first to push me right into the lion’s mouth. “Why are you daydreaming, Ninian?” Olivia suddenly pushed her camera in front of my face. On it was a licensing agreement. “The video went viral, and the platform is asking for everyone in it to sign a contract to allow them to use your image. Sign it.” I looked at the stream of clauses on the screen, and my vision started to blur. The poison was flowing to my nerves through my blood. I held the stylus, but my hand trembled nonstop. Olivia clicked her tongue, annoyed. “Are you doing this on purpose? Why is your hand trembling so badly? If I lose this advertisement deal, you’re compensating me!” I sucked in a deep breath, and a sound akin to a torn bellows rose from my chest. I held the stylus tightly and signed my name crookedly on the screen. Satisfied, Olivia put her phone away. “At least you have some sense.” Clark then put the fish tail, bones and all, on my plate. “Eat it, Ninian. Once you do, apologize to everyone, and we’ll put this behind us.” I stared at the fish tail on my plate. Since I was a child, whenever we had fish, the fish meat itself would always go to Olivia and Seth. I could only have the fish tail and fish head. “Why should I apologize?” I stared at Clark. Those words caught him off guard, and he scowled. “Give it a rest already. Everyone is celebrating Thanksgiving happily, but you’re pulling a long face. Olivia only wanted to liven the mood. You’re her sister. Can’t you be more tolerant?” I could no longer stop the blood from rising up my throat. Quickly, I turned to the side, and I spat out a mouthful of gastric juice mixed with black blood into the trashcan beside me. Silence fell on the dining table for a brief moment. Then, my mother slammed her cutlery on the table. “Ninian, that’s disgusting! Everyone’s eating! Why did you have to vomit at this moment?” Seth pinched his nose in disgust. “You just ruined the mood. If you didn’t want to eat, just say so. You’re seriously something else to do something so disgusting.” Clark grabbed some tissues and threw them at me. “Go clean up in the bathroom. When have you become so unreasonable?” Not a single one of them was worried about why I vomited. In their eyes, even me being sick was a tool I used to buy their sympathy. I slowly got up from the table, but it was as if my legs were filled with lead. With the tissue in hand, I wiped my mouth. “Fine, I’ll get out.” I turned around and dragged my feet to the bathroom. Behind me, those people soon started laughing again. Chapter 3 The light in the bathroom was so bright that it was blinding to the eyes. I planted my hands on the basin and stared at my reflection in the mirror. My lips had turned completely purple, and my face was so pale that I looked like I was already dead. My lungs burned, and every time I breathed, I needed to use all of my strength to do so. I turned on the tap and tried to use the cold water to wash away the bitterness in my mouth. At the corner of the cabinet under the basin was the half-empty bottle of paraquat. I stared at it and grimaced. From the living room, I could hear the sound of a cake being cut. It was Thanksgiving, and it was also my mother’s birthday. In order to book that Airbnb and make them happy, I had reserved the place half a month ago and spent all of my savings. “Happy Birthday to you…” The cheerful song seeped through the thin door. “Make a wish, Mom!” Olivia said sweetly. “I hope that you can be a huge influencer and that Seth can get married soon!” My mother’s voice was booming. I was not in her wish. It was not as if I was ever present in her wish. I shuffled back into the living room. There was a beautiful butter cake on the table. Clark cut the biggest slice and gave it to Olivia. “Olivia, this one has the most strawberries. It’s for you.” He then turned to me and froze for a bit before casually pointing at the cake at the corner of the table. “Yours is over there.” I stood still and stared at the engagement ring on his ring finger. “Clark,” I whispered as lightly as a wind that was about to disappear. “When you were chased down by your creditors, I was the one who shielded you. That machete almost destroyed the tendon in my hand. Why do you think I’d survive in another country?” Clark stopped cutting the cake, and the atmosphere at the dining table froze over. My mother slammed the plastic knife used to cut the cake. “Ninian, you just want to ruin the mood, don’t you? I already told you, it’s an act! An ACT! Do you even understand English? “Why do you have to bring up the past when everyone is happy?” Seth got worked up too. “Clark only did it to make it believable. Why are you so stubborn?!” Clark slammed his plate on the table with frustration in his eyes. “If that’s what you think, I can’t do anything about it. If you insist on painting yourself as the victim, do as you like. I won’t get married to you anymore, happy?” It was what he always did. Whenever we argued, he would threaten to break our engagement, and I would concede. I grew up with too little love and was terrified of being abandoned. For once, I just found the whole thing ridiculous. With great difficulty, I removed my ring from my ring finger and put it on the table. “Okay.” Clark was stunned. In his disbelief, he stared at the ring on the table. “Are you serious, Ninian? Who else but me can tolerate your boring and dull personality?” I had no strength to retort any longer. The oxygen in my lungs was getting thinner. I felt like I was a fish tossed on land. I could open my mouth to gasp for air all I liked, but I could not suck in any air. Without sparing them another glance, I went to the guest bedroom. “I’m tired. I want to rest.” My mother started yelling at me. “If you dare go into the bedroom today, you’re no longer my daughter! I don’t have such an ungrateful daughter as you are!” With her phone in hand, Olivia trained the camera on my back. “Guys, my sister is so mad! She’s throwing a tantrum now. Should we break down her door?” I did not turn around. Every step I took made the tugging sensation in my organs grow stronger. Finally, I made it into the guest bedroom. I locked the door, and all the noise as well as ill-will was blocked outside. Chapter 4 The moment I shut the door, it felt as if the last of my strength had been drained away. I slid down the door until I sat on the floor. The cold tiles stung my nerves. My phone vibrated in my pocket. Olivia had uploaded a livestream link to the group chat. [Entire Family Moves Out To Teach The Drama-Queen Sister A Lesson!] I did not even have the strength to turn it on any longer. A muffled sound that resembled something being torn came from the depths of my throat. I hurriedly covered my mouth. Black and foul blood gushed out, slipped through the cracks between my fingers, and fell in huge splats on the floor. It also stained my blouse and skirt. My alveoli were dying in large quantities. I gasped for breath. The footsteps outside were getting closer. Clark’s voice came through the door. He was giving me a warning, and there was an impatient note in it. “Open the door, Ninian. Olivia has one hundred thousand viewers on her channel right now. Don’t make things too ugly.” I lay in my blood, and my eyes had stopped focusing. The lights on the ceiling spun until they turned into countless blotches. “Come out and apologize to your mom, and I’ll pretend that you never removed your ring. If you continue with your tantrum, you’re going to hurt our feelings.” Then, my mother started pounding on the door. “You stupid girl, are you only going to be satisfied after tearing the family apart? I gave birth to you and brought you up. We only pulled a prank on you, and we have to put up with your attitude? “Open the door!” I opened my mouth, but black blood kept spilling out of my mouth and blocked my airway. I could not say a single thing and could only listen to them voice their displeasure outside. Olivia was even chatting with her viewers with a sweet voice. “Exactly. My sister has always been so petty. She has been like that since she was a kid. We let her have her way, and she takes advantage of it. “Once she opens the door, I’m going to make her apologize to all of you.” The ruckus outside grew louder, but the voices were fading away from my ears. Pain spread from my stomach to my limbs. I knew that my end had come. At the end of paraquat poisoning, the victim would feel suffocated while still conscious. I turned my head slowly to stare at the light from the crack under the door. My tears finally spilled down, along with my blood. If I had another chance at life, I no longer wanted to be Ninian. I did not want to be the puppet who was treated like trash, even though I worked tirelessly for these people. My hands fell limp, and my phone fell into the pool of blood. Finally, I breathed my last. Clark and my family’s patience finally ran out. Seth kicked the door. “Ninian, if you continue playing dead, I’m going to break the door down! Don’t go thinking that you don’t have to apologize just because you’re hiding in there!” There was only silence. Clark frowned, and his voice turned cold. “Break it down. She wants to control us through this method. If you let her get away with this, she’s going to push her luck. Once you break the door down, she won’t be able to get out of this mess.” After a few loud crashes, the old lock shattered with a crack. The door was shoved open. I had been leaning against the door. Without it as my support, my stiff body fell to the side due to the inertia and crashed by their feet. The camera pointed at the floor. The large pool of black blood stunned everyone. Clark’s impatient expression froze on his face. My mother went inside and started yelling, “What are you trying to do on the floor—” Her voice came to a screeching halt when she saw the blood flowing down the door until it reached the floor. Then, she saw my wide-open, lusterless eyes.