Chapter 4

Lily sat like a statue watching TV. When she heard me call her name, she rigidly turned her head.

"Your grandma is dead. Don't you have anything to say?"

My daughter shook her head, neither crying nor making a fuss.

But all I felt was a chill. Martha had lovingly raised her, and now the old woman was dead, and Lily felt nothing!

I furiously grabbed her shoulders and demanded, "What exactly do you want?"

"Why do you have to curse your own family?"

Lily pouted, then started to cry: "Mommy, you're hurting me!"

I froze for a moment, then released her. It was then that I felt a flicker of humanity from my daughter.

Otherwise, I would have thought she truly was a demon come to claim our lives.

"Lily, promise me you'll never curse your family again, okay?"

But Lily's gaze went past me, looking behind me.

David, his face pale and drawn from taking Martha to the funeral home, walked in.

My daughter spoke again: "Daddy, you also need to watch out for cars."

I gasped, then became furious. I slapped her across the face.

"Why do you have to curse our family? Are you trying to kill Daddy and Mommy?"

Lily had never been hit by me before. She immediately covered her face and wailed uncontrollably.

David was heartbroken. He scooped Lily up and roared at me, "Sarah, can you please make things easier for me? What can a small child possibly do?"

A lump formed in my throat. "Fine. If you don't believe me, then don't take it seriously!"

David grabbed a few clothes, preparing to drive out and buy a burial plot.

But as he headed to the garage, I regretted it.

Now that Arthur and Martha were gone, I didn't want David to die too!

David must still have been angry; he didn't answer my calls at all.

I called for half an hour before finally getting through.

David's terrified voice came from the other end: "I was wrong! Our daughter really is a jinx! My brakes failed, Sarah, hurry and save me!"

By the time I rushed there and got David to the hospital, the doctor told me he needed an amputation to save his life.

I immediately agreed. As long as he was alive, that's all that mattered.

But Lily showed no emotion when she saw her dad lying in the hospital bed.

Her coldness even chilled David to the bone.

I blamed her in my heart, thinking this child was selfish, only caring about herself, only crying for herself.

I even secretly found a child psychologist for Lily.

The doctor, however, said Lily was fine and that we should simply interact with her less.

Even doctors couldn't find anything wrong. So I thought of the occult.

But all the psychics I consulted looked terrified of Lily, saying they couldn't help.

After much deliberation, I decided to put that thing into Lily's water cup.

That night, Lily indeed cried out in pain.