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308words
A collective wince.
I peeked—three subjects,300 points total,and Mason scored under 80.
Holy indeed—a holy failure.
I chuckled.
Miranda stood there, stunned, her hands trembling as she ignored the smirks around her. “No!” she insisted, her voice rising. “My son's not like this! There must be a mistake!”
Seeing her unravel,relatives quickly dispersed, eager to spread the gossip.
Derek,who’d come for the results,fumed,slapping her across the face.“This is your‘holy’son?I spent thousands for this loser?”
“You’ve shamed me!”
Miranda,clutching her face,sobbed,“How dare you?I spent that money for our son!”
Derek slumped into his chair, lighting a cigarette with a trembling hand, too stunned to speak.
I relished the chaos,ready to play peacemaker,when Mason stormed in.
Now grotesquely obese, his face almost completely hidden by rolls of fat,he waddled like a cannonball,snapping,“Stop fighting!It’s just one test—I didn’t try!”
“Next time,I’ll crush it!”
He spewed curses,ranting about his classmates and teachers, spewing vulgarities.
Miranda stared,shaken,unable to grasp how her“holy”son turned rotten.
I smirked to myself. In my past life, I’d been childless and alone,I treated Miranda’s family as my own,raising Mason like my son.
I tutored him, set an example of decency, and even managed to get him into a state college despite his lackluster performance.
A normal life—solid degree,okay job,maybe a partner—should’ve been enough.
But they were ungrateful.Miranda thought I sabotaged Mason’s“destiny”out of jealousy,accusing me of faking kindness to steal her son’s loyalty.
Mason,fed her lies,believed it,standing by as she unplugged my oxygen.
Derek,absent unless he needed me,preached“family”when it suited him,otherwise wishing I’d vanish.
I knew he kept a mistress last life.
Watching Derek berate them,I planned my next move.
The show was just starting.
Miranda sank every dime into“warding off evil spirits.”
Mason’s condition deteriorated rapidly. His eyes grew cloudy, his pupils shrinking to tiny pinpoints, giving him a ghostly, almost otherworldly appearance.
