I Was Born For Their Mistakes, Not For Love Chapter 04
Dad and Mom came rushing downstairs.
The moment they saw Caleb and Maya standing outside the confinement room, Dad exploded.
“What the hell are you doing?!” he roared. “Sneaking around in the middle of the night trying to break a lock open? Do you realize that’s a crime? Is this what I taught you kids?”
Maya lunged at Mom and clung desperately to her arm, sobbing so hard she could barely breathe.
“Mom, please… please let her out. Just let us see her and make sure she’s okay. I’m begging you.
Mom yanked her arm away violently.
“She can’t handle one night in there?” she scoffed loudly toward the door. “Hazel, are you hearing this? Are you pulling that pathetic little victim act again?”
Every nerve in my body screamed in agony.
The pain had sunk deep into my bones.
I wanted to answer her, but my throat felt scorched raw. I didn’t even have the strength to open my
mouth anymore.
Mom’s face darkened further.
“Oh, so now you’re pretending to be mute too?” she snapped. “You think staying silent will make me let you out? Dream on.”
Dad hesitated before finally speaking.
“Alright, enough is enough. She’s learned her lesson already. One more night won’t prove anything. Maybe we should let her out before something actually happens.”
Mom’s voice shot up instantly.
“I finally got them to admit what they did and promise never to do it again. If I let her out now, then everything tonight was for nothing! If they don’t remember this lesson, they’ll just pull the same stunt again next time!”
As soon as she finished speaking, she stormed into the storage room.
Caleb and Maya exchanged alarmed looks.
“Mom… what are you doing?”
A second later, she came back holding a can of Great Stuff insulating foam.
Without hesitation, she aimed it directly at the tiny ventilation window in the confinement room
door.
White chemical foam sprayed out rapidly, expanding as it sealed the opening shut.
Maya screamed and rushed forward to stop her.
“Mom, you can’t do that! The room’s airtight! That window is the only ventilation she has. She’s going to suffocate!”
Mom never stopped spraying.
“Quit trying to scare me with all this ‘she’s gonna die’ nonsense,” she snapped. “I had an exhaust fan installed when this room was built. Do you seriously think I’m stupid?”
She shot Maya a furious glare.
“And honestly, I’m sick of the two of you acting like I’m some evil stepmother every time I discipline her.”
The foam completely swallowed the last bit of visible light from the window.
Then Mom pointed upstairs.
“You two are going back to your rooms right now. If you keep arguing with me, I’ll shut the exhaust fan off too.”
Caleb and Maya were shaking with rage, but Dad grabbed both of them by the arms and dragged them backward.
“You heard your mother,” he barked. “You kids are unbelievable. She’s right. Now go upstairs.”
Curled
up in the corner, I felt the air around me growing heavier by the second.
I opened my mouth desperately, trying to breathe.
The metallic taste of blood filled my throat even more strongly.
What Mom didn’t know was that the exhaust fan had broken years ago.
I wanted to tell her.
But the second I opened my mouth, another thick mouthful of bloody foam flooded up my throat.
My temples pounded violently.
My brain screamed from lack of oxygen.
I gasped desperately for air like a dying fish thrown onto shore.
Instinctively, I clawed at my own throat trying to force myself to breathe.
My fingernails dug deep into my skin, leaving angry red welts behind.
By the end, my face had turned dark purple-red.
My consciousness slowly began slipping away.
At dawn, when the first pale light crept across the sky, Maya came running downstairs with tears all
over her face.
“Mom, it’s morning now,” she cried. “Please open the door.”
Caleb stood beside her looking wrecked, dark circles heavy beneath his eyes after staying awake all
night.
Mom casually adjusted her hair, completely unbothered.
“What’s the rush? I haven’t even finished breakfast yet,” she said lazily. “I already told you, I know exactly what I’m doing. Hazel’s fine. The two of you baby her too much. That’s why she keeps pulling these dramatic stunts and coughing up blood for attention.”
Maya stared at her in disbelief.
“Mom, how can you say that?!”
Mom’s hand stopped mid-motion.
Her eyes turned cold instantly.
“Watch your tone,” she warned. “Say one more word, and I won’t open the door today either.”
Fresh tears immediately streamed down Maya’s face.
She bit down hard on her lip and swallowed the rest of her words.
Finally, after Mom and Dad leisurely finished breakfast, they stood up.
“Good grief, stop yelling already. I’m coming,” Mom muttered impatiently.
She walked over to the keypad and punched in the code.
Then she turned toward Caleb and Maya with a smug expression.
“You two better take a good look at Hazel when this door opens,” she said. “Maybe then you’ll
remember what happens when you secretly order junk food behind my back. Next time either of you
thinks about sneaking takeout into this house, remember this.”
With a heavy metallic click, the steel door slowly swung open.
Morning sunlight flooded instantly into the pitch-black room that had been sealed shut all night.
And the horrifying scene waiting inside became a nightmare none of them would ever forget for the
rest of their lives.
