Chapter 4

Chandler froze.

He took a deep breath to suppress his anger.

"Do you both have to make such a scene?" he asked coldly.

“Creating chaos at home is one thing, but what are you playing at bringing two coffins here? Are you trying to intimidate me at my workplace?”

My mom sneered. “Don’t you understand why there are two coffins?

“Besides Mariah, there’s also your child—”

“Enough!” Pauline interrupted as she grabbed Chandler’s hand, playing the peacemaker.

“Let it go, Chandler. Don’t be angry. Mrs. Corey doesn’t understand what happened. She’s just protecting her daughter.”

She lowered her gaze to the scattered cake on the ground, her eyes slightly red.

“I just feel sorry for the cake. It took so long to make it…”

Chandler furrowed his brow. “What a waste of a perfectly good cake! You should ask Mariah to make another one.

“She usually enjoys baking these things, right? She should make a cake for Pauline’s birthday.”

Pauline shamelessly added, “Didn’t you say that Mariah’s cheesecakes are particularly delicious? Do you think I could have a taste?”

My mom trembled with rage.

In a fit of anger, she picked up a piece of cake from the ground and hurled it at Pauline.

The black dress Pauline wore, specially chosen for the day, became covered in large splatters of cake, completely ruined.

Even her face bore the remnants of the cake attack.

Pauline let out a shriek.

Chandler didn't even have time to intervene before my mom yanked Pauline’s hair and pulled her aside.

I noticed my opened coffin very near the two of them.

With tremendous strength, my mom twisted Pauline’s arm and shoved her into the coffin.

“Great! Go ahead and eat! You can have the meal Mariah makes for you down there!”

Pauline's head collided with the lid of the coffin, her eyes wide with terror as she screamed in fright.

My mom always had a gentle temperament and never lost her temper.

Even when I got into trouble, she merely smiled, resolved the issue, and reminded me not to be mischievous again.

I never imagined my mom could go to such lengths for me.

She seemed to have gone mad, intent on shutting the coffin on Pauline.

Chandler lost his last shred of dignity and seized my mom by the neck. “Are you insane?”

My mom screamed and struggled before sinking her teeth into Chandler's neck.

When she pulled away, I saw she had taken a chunk of flesh with her!

Furious, Chandler retaliated by gripping my mom's waist, flipping her over, and shoving her into the coffin Pauline had just climbed out of.

Then came a loud ‘bang!’ as he slammed the lid shut.

His eyes were red with anger.

“You need to calm down, Mother!”

Then he turned around and helped steady Pauline.

He tenderly wiped the cake off her face, completely disregarding my mom, who was still thrashing and shouting inside the coffin.

Then she stopped.

Through the quiet rustling, I thought I heard her calling my name.

“Mariah, where are you? I’m so scared...”

My mom had always been afraid of the dark.

I grew up in a single-parent household so to support me, my mom often worked late into the night.

I always waited for her at the end of a long alley, eager to escort her home.

By holding my hand, she always found the courage to step into the darkness.

She also suffered from claustrophobia.

Once, she got trapped in an elevator and endured a month-long fever that nearly took her life.

Now, the only person I cared about in this world had been heartlessly locked in a coffin.

Chandler knew full well that my mom was afraid of the dark.

As I hovered in the air, rage coursed through me, shaking my entire being.

I strained with all my might to squeeze into that small, narrow coffin, but all I could do was listen to my mom’s terrified voice echoing around me.

She kept calling out to me, her face streaked with tears.

“I’m so scared, Mariah!”