5
504words
When I came to this world, I only brought Dodo and Mom's song with me.
After his debut, Ethan struggled.
Desperate, he stole my USB drive which contained that song, and shamelessly claimed Chloe wrote it.
Suddenly, everyone knew them as the artistic mother-son duo.
"You stole fame with that song. It's time to give it back."
Ethan hated anyone mentioning his past disability, and hated me exposing him.
Enraged, he swept everything off the table and choked me.
"You want to ruin me? No one will believe you. You're just an old, ugly hag!"
"Threaten me again, and I'll make you disappear!"
I forced words out: "Give me the song, and I'll disappear forever."
He didn't dare kill me. Releasing me, he smirked viciously.
"Disappear forever, huh?"
His made-up face twisted cruelly.
"Then go die. If you die, I'll tell them the song was yours. Deal?"
Through the system's surveillance, I saw how excited he was at the idea of my death.
Yeah, with me dead, no one would know he was once disabled, or how he really "stood up."
With the system counting down my life, I made him swear.
Ethan smiled maliciously: "I swear. No tricks."
Satisfied, I felt my heart slowly stop.
My life points hit zero.
Then, a glowing gate appeared.
The system announced: "Congratulations, Host. Torment mission complete. Time-space door open."
My soul stepped through without hesitation.
The scene shifted.
I saw Joel as a 5'3" teen.
But his look was the same, full of disdain.
"I don't care what you say. I'm going!"
"I know you can't stand Chloe being happy. You're just jealous!"
He ran off with his helmet, and this time, I didn't follow.
At 16, Joel joined an illegal street race to buy Chloe a designer bag.
Worried, I followed. When he was about to crash, I used points to teleport him to safety.
I broke my leg instead.
After, he cried, promising never to race illegally again.
With my support, he won international races and became a star racer.
But at the awards, the mom he thanked wasn't me. It was Chloe instead.
"Her cheering messages from overseas kept me going!"
I'd dressed up for nothing. Humiliated, I fled the ceremony.
Now back at that turning point, without my help, would Joel escape unharmed?
Crippled and legless, would his beloved Chloe still send cheering texts from across the ocean?
I didn't know.
As Joel slammed the metal door, the world spun again.
This time, I was in Noah's middle school office.
His teacher pleaded: "You're too smart to waste your talent! Do you know what dropping out means?"
But Noah didn't care—bleached hair, earrings, a pack of cigs in his pocket.
He flicked his ear boredly.
"Stop nagging, old woman. Who cares if I live or die? Even my mom doesn't!"
The teacher begged me to talk sense into him—but I signed the dropout form without hesitation.
