The Will Left By My Mother

The first year after my mother became a star, I learned that children give their fathers gifts on Father's Day. I didn't have a gift. I only had the letter Mom left behind for him. In my earliest memories, Mom was always on the balcony, talking to Dad on the phone. When I was three, she said, "Five million hush money? What is that supposed to buy? I spent it ages ago. I want cash now!" When I was four, she cried into the phone, "You're successful now. Just let a few crumbs slip through your fingers, treat it like spare change for a beggar!" When I was five, those phone calls stopped. Mom came back to us inside a wooden box. The lawyer told me that not a single penny of Mom's bank account had been touched. She left everything to me. But I didn't want the money. I just wanted my mom. This year, my teacher at school said we had to thank our fathers for Father's Day. I made the prettiest greeting card. Following the address written on the envelope, I walked all the way to a pair of grand iron gates. The security guard looked down at me and said, "Kid, Mr. Wright doesn't have any children. You clearly have the wrong address." Chapter 1 I held up the cherished photo with both hands. "Look! This is my mom, and this is my dad! Mom told me my dad lives right here." In the photo, Mom was leaning against Dad's shoulder. They were both smiling like they owned the world. That photo was taken six years ago. Not long after, Mom left Dad while she was already pregnant with me. Fearing he wouldn't believe me, I pulled out an envelope. On it, Mom had written in her own handwriting. [To Ethan Wright.] I had already memorized the address written on the front. "Mom wrote a letter to Dad, and I have to deliver it here!" The security guard looked down at my red cheeks and led me inside to Dad. "Mr. Wright, this little girl says she's looking for you." Dad looked down, scanning me with cold eyes. "What kind of trick is your mother playing now? She's using a kid this time? Where is she? Hiding outside waiting for money?" Thinking of Mom, tears streamed down my face. "Mom became a star." He froze for a second, but then let out a cold laugh. "Teaching a kid this young to pull scams for her. Like mother, like daughter." "Ethan, do we have a guest?" A woman in a light blue dress walked down the stairs." Dad didn't even turn his head. "It's nothing, Chloe. Go back upstairs." Her smile stiffened, but she quickly recovered. "What a cute little girl. What's your name, sweetheart?" I answered softly, "Lily Wright." Lily. Mom told me she named me that because I would be missing my dad. Her face changed slightly. "Ethan, she shares your last name?" Dad adjusted his cuffs impatiently. "Just a coincidence. Where is your mother? Tell her to come out and face me herself." I sniffled and brought out the greeting card I had carefully made. "Mom became a star. My teacher said we should thank our dads on Father's Day. I made this card for you." On the cover, I had glued glitter to spell out "DAD", surrounded by hand-drawn stars. The biggest, brightest star was Mom. It took me several nights to make it, and my fingers got stuck together by glue so many times. Dad stared at the card with an unreadable expression. Chloe's gaze grew even colder. "Ethan, kids nowadays have quite the imagination." "Someone probably coached her to say that. You know how some people will resort to anything just to get close to you." Dad's expression darkened even further. "Did your mother teach you to say that? Playing the pity card stopped working six years ago." I shook my head and pulled out the photo Mom and I cherished most. "Look, this is you, and this is Mom. She kept this photo and looked at it every single day." The edges of the photo were worn thin. On countless nights, I would wake up to see Mom sitting by the window, staring at this picture under the moonlight and crying silently. She would gather me into her arms and whisper, "Lily, this is your dad. He's gentle, the best dad in the world." She told me that on the day they took this picture, they thought they would be together forever. Dad's fingers gently brushed over Mom's smiling face in the photo. Chloe reached out to see it, but Dad turned away, leaving her hands hanging in the air. "Ethan?" Dad's voice sounded raspy. "Your mom... kept this photo?" I nodded frantically. "She looked at it every day! She said it was her most precious treasure!" Chloe turned pale. "What does a photo prove? Does it erase what she did back then?" Dad's cold demeanor returned. "Her tricks haven't changed at all." "She'd make up a story like this just for money." I rushed forward to grab the photo back. "It's not a story!" Dad cut me off impatiently. "Go back and tell your mother." "Whatever we had ended six years ago. Tell her to stop playing these games." Seeing that Dad still didn't believe me, I broke down crying hysterically. "Mom is really dead! She was sick! It hurt so much, and she couldn't sleep at night!" "But she never cried. She said if she cried, I would be even sadder!" "Even at the end, she was holding this photo..." Dad waved at the guard. "Enough. Take her out." I struggled. "Give me back the photo!" That was Mom's most precious thing. I couldn't leave it here. Dad carelessly tossed the photo aside. I instinctively dashed to catch it, tripped over my own feet, and slammed onto the ground. My backpack popped open, spilling its contents all over the floor. A pill bottle rolled across the floor, stopping right beside Dad's shoe. Dad froze. Chapter 2 I sat helplessly on the ground, my knee scraped and bleeding. Mom, Dad doesn't believe me. The bottle of painkillers you took for so long was right by Dad's shoe. He saw it, but he just stood there staring. Dad picked up the little bottle, turning it over in his hands. His eyebrows pulled into a tight knot. "Painkillers? Why do you have something like this?" I wiped my tears with the back of my hand. "When Mom took these, it didn't hurt as much." Dad's hand seemed to trembled slightly. Chloe took the bottle from his hand. She poured out a tablet, sniffed it, and popped it straight into her mouth. I stared in shock. Chloe chewed slowly, her face twisting into a strange expression. "Ethan, this isn't medicine. It's a milk candy." Dad froze. He grabbed the bottle back from Chloe, poured out a few tablets, and held them under his nose. "What is the meaning of this?" Dad looked down at me, his eyes growing cold again. I whispered, "Mom ran out of her real medicine a long time ago." "What?" I didn't dare look him in the eye. "Mom's medicine ran out last summer." "Mrs. Gable told me those pills were very, very expensive, and we didn't have enough money to buy more... so the bottle stayed empty." Tears welled up again, but I tried my hardest to choke them back. "I didn't want Mom to be in pain. Mrs. Gable gave me these milk candies and said sweet things make the pain go away." "So I put the candies inside and told Mom I bought new medicine for her." "Whenever Mom took one, she would smile and say, 'Lily's medicine really works. Mom doesn't hurt anymore." "After Mom left, I kept the bottle with me. It felt like Mom was still here." Dad stared at the bottle in his hand, his expression shifting wildly. Then he tossed the bottle straight into the trash can. "Your mother is a fraud, and so are you." Panicked, I rushed forward to retrieve it. "I'm not lying! That's Mom's medicine bottle!" Dad stepped in front of me, blocking my path. "A medicine bottle filled with candy?" "You certainly put a lot of effort into this story. Go back and tell your mother this won't work on me." I tried to push past him, but he wouldn't budge. All I could do was look up and cry out, "You threw her medicine away! What will Mom take when she hurts at night? She won't be able to sleep!" Whenever Mom used to grow pale from the pain, she would comfort me as my tears fell. "Don't be scared, Lily. It doesn't hurt." "Your dad could never stand to see me in pain. If I scraped my skin even a little bit, he would worry for hours." "He would say I had to get better tomorrow, or else he would..." "He would what?" Mom's eyes would shine bright. "Or else he would fetch the best medicine in the whole world just to make the pain go away." But now, Dad had thrown Mom's "medicine" into the trash. I shoved past Dad with all my strength, grabbed the bottle out of the can, and hugged it tight against my chest. "You're all mean! I don't want to give you a Father's Day card anymore!" I glared at Dad, then at Chloe, who was standing by, watching the show. "You're all horrible! I hate you!" I turned around and ran out the door as fast as my legs could carry me. Chloe's voice floated from behind, "Ethan, maybe we should have someone walk her out? It's not safe for a little girl to walk alone..." "Let her go. She's not my kid. Why should I care?" --- I didn't know where to go. I just kept walking down the road. "Mom, Dad has a new house and a new woman. He doesn't want Lily anymore." No matter how much I wiped my eyes, the tears wouldn't stop. Mom had said Dad would be so happy if he knew about me. She said he would lift me high up on his shoulders so I could see the best view in the world. She said he would buy me pretty dresses and make me feel like a real princess. Mom had listed so many things he would do. But now, he didn't want me. He even called me a liar. "Mom, I miss you so much." I crouched by the curb, clutching the bottle and crying until I couldn't catch my breath. The sky grew darker and darker. I stood up and kept walking. I didn't know where I was going, or where I could go. My legs felt so heavy, and my head was spinning. I stumbled, reaching out to catch a tree, but my hands grabbed empty air. "Lily!" Was that Dad's voice? But why would Dad come looking for me? Didn't he say I wasn't his child? I wanted to open my eyes to look, but my eyelids felt heavier than lead. Chapter 3 When I woke up, the air smelled like disinfectant. I tried to sit up, but a warm hand gently pressed down on my shoulder. "Don't move. You're on an IV." It was Dad's voice. He set a glass of warm water on the nightstand, his voice stiff. "Low blood sugar and malnutrition. Is this how your mother takes care of you?" I scrambled to defend her. "No! Mom saved all the good food for me! She only ate plain oatmeal..." I remembered those hard days. Mom grew thinner and paler by the day, yet she always smiled as she put the only boiled egg onto my plate. When I woke up hungry at night, I would catch her in the kitchen, choking down stale bread with cold tap water. Dad turned his face away. "She ran off with millions. How poor could she be to let her own kid starve?" I wanted to stand up for Mom, but I had screamed so hard earlier that my throat throbbed with pain. "When is your mother coming to pick you up?" My heart sank into my chest. "Mom isn't coming to pick me up. Mom became a star." "Enough!" He stood up and paced the floor, visibly agitated. "Stop saying things like that." "Until your mother shows up, you'll stay at my place. I want to see how long she can play hide-and-seek." I froze. Dad was letting me stay? "It's only temporary. When she finally shows her face, I'm going to find out what kind of game she's playing this time." My mind was a tangled mess. Dad still didn't believe that Mom was gone. --- After the IV finished, Dad brought me back to the grand house. I couldn't sleep, so I walked barefoot down the long hallway. At the very end, a door stood cracked open. I pushed it open gently and gasped. The room was massive. Three walls were lined with glass wardrobes filled with dresses. Every single one was unique, completely different from anything sold in stores. A soft lavender dress caught my eye. It looked so familiar. "What are you doing in here?" I jumped in surprise and turned around. Dad stood at the doorway, a troubled look on his face. "I... was just exploring." Dad didn't scold me. He walked over to the lavender dress and gently brushed his fingers along the fabric. It was the exact same way he had touched the photo. I gathered my courage and asked, "Who did you make all these clothes for?" Dad's hand froze mid-air. He shoved his hands into his pockets, his expression unreadable. "None of your business." I pointed at the lavender dress. "But Mom wears that exact same dress in one of her photos. She said you designed it for her." "What else did she say?" His voice rasped. "Mom said you designed so many dresses for her." "She said you called her your muse, and that you promised to dress her in the prettiest gowns in the world." Dad fell completely silent. He walked over to a dress mannequin and stared at an unfinished white gown. "This room... gets a new addition every month." I stared at him in disbelief. Every month? "But Mom left six years ago. Why are you still making dresses for her?" Dad didn't answer. He just stood there, surrounded by a room full of dresses. Looking at his silhouette from behind, I suddenly recalled Mom sitting in the dark, crying over that old photo. Maybe Dad didn't hate Mom as much as he claimed to. "Go back to bed. Don't come into this room again." I nodded softly and slowly walked toward the door. As I reached the doorway, I couldn't help but look back one last time. Dad was still standing there, his back turned to me. His tall and rigid posture looked somehow lonely in the quiet room. Chapter 4 On my third day at Dad's house, Chloe came over again. "Ethan, I had this cake specially ordered from France. Try a piece and see if you like it." Dad sat on the sofa flipping through documents without looking up. "Just leave it there." Chloe acted like nothing was wrong and placed the box on the coffee table. She opened the box to reveal a white cake adorned with delicate chocolate flowers. It looked fancy and delicious. I couldn't take my eyes off it. It was so pretty. When Mom was alive, we only ever stared at cakes like this through supermarket glass display cases. Chloe noticed my gaze. "Would you like some, Lily?" I looked at her, then at the cake, and nodded softly. "Here you go, sweetheart." I took a tiny scoop with a small spoon and put it into my mouth. It was so sweet and soft. "Is it good?" I nodded, closed my eyes, and pressed my palms together. When I opened my eyes, Chloe was smiling. "What did you wish for, Lily?" "I wish Mom could taste this cake. Mom never got to have any." Chloe glanced at Dad. "Your mom lives abroad. She's had all the fine food in the world." "I'm sure she's eating something even better than this right now." Dad finally raised his head. He looked at me, his eyes cold and distant. "Your mother sure is heartless. Leaving you here for days without showing her face even once." I didn't say a word. I just kept my head down, taking tiny bite after tiny bite. But Mom really never got to eat it. In her final months, she couldn't even swallow porridge. She had withered away to skin and bones, lying in bed without even the strength to sit up. Yet she still stroked my hair and whispered, "When Mom gets better, I'll take Lily to eat the biggest, prettiest cake in the whole world..." Suddenly, the cake tasted bitter in my mouth. --- On the morning of Father's Day, I woke up very early. I pulled out the greeting card and checked it again. The word "DAD" still glittered, surrounded by hand-drawn stars. Only the star representing Mom had faded a bit as I had been touching it so many times. I also brought out the letter Mom left for Dad. The envelope was thick and heavy. After waiting for so many days, I finally understood, Mom wasn't coming back. She had really gone. Dad said I was a liar. But I thought he was the real liar. He said Mom would come to pick me up, but she never would. He said Mom took millions to live a lavish life, but she couldn't even afford her medicine. Holding the card and the letter tightly, I walked downstairs to find Dad. "Dad." I held out the card to him. "Happy Father's Day." Dad took the card, looked at it, and said nothing. I then offered him the envelope. "And this. Mom left it for you." Dad didn't reach for it. He stared at the envelope in my hands with a conflicted expression. "Keep the letter yourself." "I'm going to wait for your mother to deliver it to me in person." I shook my head. "Mom can't come." "She will. When she's done playing games and acting out her drama, she'll come." My voice grew louder. "She's never coming back!" My hands trembled, and I lost my grip. The letter slipped and fell onto the floor. Both of us looked down. The envelope wasn't sealed shut. When it hit the floor, part of the paper inside slid out. On the front, there were words written in large, heavy strokes. [The Last Will and Testament of Evelyn Wright.] Dad froze completely.