Dead For Fiona, The Last Kidney

It has been three years since I died.

My husband's first love is suffering from kidney failure, and it is now life-threatening.

To save her, my husband has gone insane, torturing my parents to force them to reveal my location.

You old fossils! Where is Ava? She was a perfect match for Fiona three years ago. Is she hiding now? You're a family of selfish rats! If you don't talk, you can all rot in the ground with her!

My elderly parents could not withstand the brutality.

My mother died on the spot.

My father was in critical condition, clinging to the last shred of life.

On his deathbed, my father finally gasped out the truth.

"Child... Ava died three years ago just to save you..."

...

It has been three years since I passed away.

The dilapidated old house in the suburbs has lost its peace because of me.

My husband, Caleb Rhodes, stands outside with a group of thugs.

Inside the room, my mother has already been beaten until her face is bruised and swollen.

Caleb brandishes a whip, pointing it at her and roaring.

"You old hag, talk! Where is that bitch Ava hiding? If you don't tell me today, I'll end you!"

My mother pulled an old handkerchief from her pocket.

She wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth and looked at Caleb.

"Caleb, it is not that I won't tell you. There is a reason for the silence. But stop looking. Ava will never appear again..."

But before she could finish, Caleb raised the whip again.

It lashed down cruelly against my mother's frail body.

She was so thin and old; there was no way she could survive such a beating.

She collapsed straight to the floor.

Watching my mother being tortured like this, my heart throbbed with a piercing pain.

I wanted to rush forward and hold her, to tell her to stop hiding the secret for me.

But I knew she wouldn't speak.

I remembered what she said the day I left this world.

"Ava, we couldn't help you achieve your dreams, and our bad health only held you back. So, we will make sure your final wish is honored..."

"Never appear again? Then I'll keep hurting you! Isn't Ava supposed to be a devoted daughter? I don't believe she'll stay hidden while her mother suffers!"

Caleb's words dragged me back to the cold reality.

Hearing him mention my devotion, my mother cried for the first time.

Ignoring her injuries, she leaned against the wardrobe to stand up and looked at Caleb.

"Caleb, all these years you were with Ava, her father and I treated you like our own son. Now that she's gone, we still have to raise her daughter. Please, stop this. I beg you."

My mother was right.

During all those years of marriage, my parents really did treat Caleb better than they treated me.

I used to joke that Caleb was their real child and I was just the daughter-in-law.

I thought her words might spark a bit of conscience in him.

But Caleb only grew angrier.

He shoved my mother down again.

He pointed a finger at her nose and cursed.

"Your own son? Your whole family is so fake! Whatever I had with Ava is long gone! If Fiona didn't need a massive amount of money and a donor, I'd never want to see you people again!"

"And that brat of a child... I regret letting Ava give birth to her! She's just like the rest of you!"

Because of Caleb's violent shove, my mother's head slammed into the sharp corner of the wardrobe.

Blood began to flow instantly.

Caleb stepped forward and grabbed her by the throat, pinning her against the wood.

"Now! Call Ava right now!"

With one hand choking her, he used the other to take her phone and dial my number.

A familiar ringtone suddenly filled the house.

I was shocked.

I didn't realize that even three years after my death, my mother had kept my phone active.

Hearing the ring, a smug smile spread across Caleb's face.

His grip on my mother's throat tightened.

"I knew it! None of you are any good! Tell me! What time is Ava coming home?!"

My mother was already weak from the previous beating.

Caleb's grip made it nearly impossible for her to breathe.

Her face slowly turned a ghostly pale.

But Caleb was like a rabid dog; he had no intention of stopping.

Seeing her agony, I frantically tried to knock things over in the room.

I hoped to make even a tiny sound to distract him.

But I only saw my ghostly form pass through the furniture in silence.

Despair washed over me.

I hated myself for loving the wrong man and bringing this nightmare upon my family.

"Let go of her! I'll tell you about Ava!"

With a roar, the door was kicked open.

It was my father.

Caleb turned and looked at my panting father with total contempt.

"Oh, look, the whole family is here. How did the great Professor Sterling fall so low? It seems my man did a good job making your life hell. But the fact that you're still standing is a failure on my part."

Caleb's words pulled my attention to my father.

I hadn't seen him in three years, and I barely recognized him.

The once dignified and clean professor was now wearing patched clothes.

He was carrying a bag of recyclables he had clearly scavenged from the streets.

My father used to say that a teacher must be clean inside and out.

To see such a proud man reduced to this broke my heart.

I could only imagine what Caleb had done to him over the years.

My hatred for Caleb burned hotter, but my father didn't look broken.

He straightened his ragged clothes, set down the bag of trash, and faced Caleb.

"If you have a problem, take it out on me. Ava's mother knows nothing. Torturing her is useless."

Caleb looked momentarily surprised by his defiance, but the scorn returned quickly.

"Fine. Then you tell me. When is your precious daughter coming home? Her phone just rang in this house, so don't even try to lie to me! Or else..."

"Ava isn't coming back."

Before Caleb could finish his threat, my father cut him off.

Caleb let out a soft, mocking laugh.

"You ask me to let the old lady go, and then you give me this bullshit? Not coming back? Why? Did she die out there somewhere?"

Caleb began walking toward my mother again as he spoke.

Panic flared in my father's eyes.

He screamed at Caleb's back.

"Yes! She's dead! She's been dead for three years!"

Caleb stopped in his tracks and turned around, laughing hysterically.

"Dead? A plague like her would live forever! You're wasting my time with such a pathetic excuse? I guess I haven't been hard enough on you!"

He swung the whip again, lashing it across my mother's body.

My father screamed and tried to run to her.

But Caleb's thugs grabbed him and pinned him to the spot.

I watched as my mother's thin clothes were shredded by the whip, followed by her skin.

Caleb didn't stop.

My father struggled wildly to protect her, but he was met with the thugs' fists and boots.

I don't know how long the beating lasted.

All I knew was that my mother's clothes were ruined, and her flesh was torn.

She lay on the floor like a discarded rag.

One of Caleb's men stepped forward and checked her pulse.

He looked at Caleb with a cold, indifferent face.

"She's stopped breathing."

My father let out a gut-wrenching scream, calling him a "Monster!"

He crawled desperately to my mother's side.

This was the first time I had ever seen my father cry.

It was the first time I heard him use such language.

Caleb stood frozen for a few seconds, then calmly went to wash his hands.

My father's eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Caleb.

"This is murder! I'm calling the police! You'll pay with your life!"

Caleb pulled a tissue from the table and wiped his hands.

He tossed the crumpled tissue onto my mother's body.

"Go ahead. Call them. But if I go to jail, your precious granddaughter won't live to see another day."

Seeing Caleb say those words so casually made me wonder if he was even human anymore.

Lily is his own flesh and blood.

Yet, to force me out for Fiona's kidney, he was willing to threaten his own daughter.

My father heard him mention the child and fell into deep despair.

He held my mother's hand, trying to wipe the blood from her face.

He kept whispering under his breath.

"Devil... monster... devil..."

Caleb glanced at my empty-eyed father and my breathless mother.

He waved a hand to his men.

"I've had enough fun for today. We'll come back tomorrow."

He left the old house without a single backward glance.

Looking at his cold silhouette, I couldn't believe this was the same man who once swore to love me forever.

Everything changed three years ago in May.

I was at the office when I got a call saying Caleb had been kidnapped.

The kidnappers' demand was strange; they didn't want money, they wanted me at the scene.

I dropped a massive deal that could have saved my company and raced to the location.

I didn't know the men who took him.

They told me it was a life for a lifeDmine for Caleb's.

I agreed without a second thought.

As my lifeblood drained out of me in that abandoned building, I saw Fiona Miller arrive to pick him up.

I wasn't blind; I saw the way she looked at him.

With my last bit of strength, I called my mother.

I begged her never to tell Caleb what happened that day.

I wanted him to live a happy, guilt-free life after I was gone.

I thought our bond was deep enough that even if he moved on, he would protect my parents and child.

I never imagined it would come to this.

My attempt to protect him had become the weapon that killed my mother.

Suddenly, a sharp ringtone from inside Caleb's car pulled my thoughts back.

Caleb looked at the caller ID, took a breath, and answered.

"Caleb, can you get Ava or not? My health is failing. I can't take this anymore. If this goes on, I'll just jump from the 35th floor..."

Fiona's voice on the other end was frantic and aggressive.

Caleb's face tightened with worry.

His tone became incredibly gentle as he comforted her.

"Fiona, listen to me. I'll have news about Ava very soon. I heard her phone ring at her mother's house today. Once I find her, I'll make sure she gives you that kidney. Don't do anything reckless..."

Hearing about the phone, Fiona's mood shifted instantly.

"Then you need to strike while the iron is hot, Caleb. Don't give them a chance to breathe. Where are you?"

"On my way home..."

Fiona interrupted him again.

"No, don't come home. Go back to the old house. I don't want you to see me looking so pathetic tonight. If we solve this, we can plan our destination wedding next year. You know marrying you is my only wish..."

Hearing her sweet promises, Caleb's frown vanished.

A look of infatuation crossed his face.

"Fine. Anything for you..."

He hung up and turned to the driver.

"U-turn. We're going back."

Back at the old house, my father had cleaned up the mess.

He was wiping the blood from my mother's face while talking to Lily, who had just come home from school.

"Lily, if you ever see your father, you run as fast as you can. Do you understand me?"

The little girl was young but sensible.

She gripped my mother's cold hand and kept asking my father.

"Grandpa, what happened to Grandma? Why is she so cold? I want to hug her..."

Lily started crying uncontrollably.

My father wiped her tears and whispered back.

"Grandma is just sleeping. She went to the other world to find your mommy. She's going to get our home ready there. When we go there, we'll be a family again..."

Hearing this, Lily cried even harder.

She knew this was exactly how I had left three years ago.

To a child, this kind of "sleep" meant Grandma was disappearing forever.

My father pulled the sobbing child into his arms.

He looked out at the moonlight and sighed.

"Ava, this is all we could do for you. I hope you don't hate us for this..."

"I knew you were a lying old snake! Tell me! Where is Ava?!"

Caleb was back.

The sound of the door slamming open startled my father and Lily.

The moment before Caleb entered, my father signaled Lily to hide.

Then he stood up to face him.

Caleb seemed furious that the house had been tidied up again.

He slapped my father across the face.

"Oh, waiting for a nice family dinner with your daughter? She's a coward! Her mother is dead and she still won't show her face. She really loves that kidney more than her own parents, doesn't she?!"

He raised his hand again.

This time, my father caught his wrist mid-air.

"Caleb, in all the years you were with Ava, we never did you wrong. Ava has been gone for three years. We tried to contact you for the funeral so many times, but you never showed up. Why are you doing this now?"

Caleb was enraged by the resistance.

My father's defiance only made him more violent.

He wrenched his hand away and kicked my father in the chest.

My father was old and exhausted from grief.

The kick caught him off guard and sent him flying backward.

Caleb walked over in his expensive leather shoes and looked down at him.

"Keep acting! The funeral? In the three years since Ava vanished, I haven't heard a single word about her!"

"And if Fiona didn't desperately need a kidney from that selfish bitch, I'd never have come looking for that unfaithful woman! She's a turtle hiding in her shell!"

My father let out a cold, mocking laugh.

"Believe what you want. Ava has been gone for three years. You won't find her even if you search the whole world. As for Miss Miller's kidney, it has nothing to do with us. As you can see, this broken house and this old man can't help you..."

Before he could finish, Caleb's phone rang again.

Fiona was likely at a market, the background was noisy.

But her excitement was clear as she shouted into the phone.

"Caleb! How is it going? I'm already preparing the victory dinner. I'm buying all your favorite things. Don't make me wait too long..."

Caleb's brutal tone instantly turned sweet.

"Fiona, don't worry. Just cook and wait for me. Our good life is about to begin..."

After a few moments of flirting, he hung up.

His expression turned murderous again.

He sat on the old sofa, seemingly tired of hearing my father talk.

He signaled his men to be even more ruthless.

The thugs swarmed my father, raining kicks and punches down on his frail body.

But my father didn't make a single sound.

I knew he was afraid for Lily, who was hiding nearby.

He wanted to endure everything to keep her safe.

But Caleb was used to getting his way.

The quieter my father remained, the harder the blows became.

I heard the sickening sound of a bone snapping.

My father's left arm, which had an old injury, couldn't take the pressure.

The broken bone actually pierced through his skin.

Seeing this, Caleb grew even more frustrated because my father still wouldn't talk.

He stepped on the protruding bone and screamed.

"Tell me! You old bastard! Where is Ava?!"

No matter how strong he was, my father couldn't help but scream from the agonizing pain.

Caleb pressed harder with his shoe.

"Tell me and I'll let you go! Where is she?!"

"Mommy is dead! She's at the Southwood Memorial Park!"

Lily suddenly burst out of the small storage closet.

She ran to my father and threw herself over him.

She took the hits meant for him with her tiny body.

My father wept as he tried to pull Lily into his arms.

Caleb, however, looked excited to see the child.

He told his men to stop and leaned down toward Lily with a fake smile.

"Lily, tell Daddy. Where is Mommy? If you tell me, I'll take you away from here. We'll eat good food and live a great life with that nice auntie."

Lily suddenly leaned forward and bit Caleb's face.

She must have used all her strength.

When Caleb finally pulled away, his cheek was bleeding.

Lily spat blood toward him and screamed.

"My mommy is dead! Three years ago, when you were kidnapped, she died saving you!"

Caleb's pupils dilated in shock.

Ignoring the blood dripping from his face, he grabbed Lily by the shoulders.

"Three years ago? She died... saving me?!"