Mysterious Autopsy Case

Chapter 1

The psycho was torturing me while my dad, the head detective, and my mom, the chief medical examiner, were cheering on my little sister, Emily, at her gymnastics meet.

Some creep my dad had busted years ago wanted payback, so he sliced out my tongue.

Then, he used my phone to call my dad.

Dad just said one thing before hanging up.

“Whatever it is, Emily’s competition is the priority today!”

The creep scoffed.

“Guess I grabbed the wrong kid. Thought they’d care more about their own flesh and blood!”

At the crime scene, Mom and Dad were stunned by how messed up the body was, ranting about the killer’s brutality.

But they didn’t even recognize me, their own daughter, lying there.

…

1.

My body was found in an abandoned construction site.

Some construction worker was puking his guts out while dialing 911.

Mom and Dad showed up from Emily’s victory party.

The crime scene tech frowned, told them to mask up.

Dad was a top-notch detective, Mom, the city’s best ME.

Even after seeing tons of crime scenes, they both kinda stumbled back when they saw me.

Summer heat, body was bloated, face bashed in, a bloody mess. Couldn’t even make out my features.

Beat to hell, head barely hanging on by a thread of skin.

The stench of rotting flesh was sickening.

Mom squeezed her eyes shut, took a deep breath, and put on her gloves to start the autopsy.

She looked at my body with pity.

Something I’d never gotten from her when I was alive.

I nervously watched her take off the bloody ring on my hand.

I’d gotten identical rings made for the family, but Emily complained about the size, and Mom and Dad went ballistic.

“You’re always trying to be sneaky, trying to make your sister feel bad!”

“Sarah, you’re our daughter, sure, but Emily’s been living here for eighteen years. She’s always going to be more important!”

Even though their yelling still echoed in my head, I still believed they loved me.

They had to recognize the gift I gave them!

But Mom just emotionlessly nodded for the assistant to toss the ring into an evidence bag.

I shouldn’t have expected anything. My parents’ hearts were always closed to me.

Even though I was their real daughter.

My brother said Mom and Dad adopted Emily because they couldn’t find me after I was kidnapped. They always loved me the most.

But when I came home, there was no place for me in the house.

I felt like I was butting in.

Dad surveyed the scene and sighed, asking Mom, “What’s the story with this one?”

Mom took off her gloves, rubbed her temples. “Estimating victim’s around 20 years old. Preliminary cause of death is a slit throat. Looks like she was tortured for a while before she died.”

“This is vicious. Bad for the city. Gotta catch this guy before it blows up.” Dad lit a smoke, took a long drag, like he was already stressing out.

Even in death, I was giving Mom and Dad trouble.

The crime scene tech spoke up. “Killer’s still out there. Remind the family to be safe. You got two girls at home, tell ’em to stay in at night.”

Mom just rolled her eyes. “Emily always listens. Sarah? Good luck getting her to do anything.”

The tech had known Mom and Dad forever, knew the whole story.

Dad rubbed his right shoulder.

The tech noticed. “Shoulder acting up again, Lin?”

Dad waved it off. “Nah, just slapped on some of that cream Sarah got me…”

He stopped dead.

The daughter they called a pain was the one who cared about them.

The tech clapped Dad on the back. “Be good to Sarah, man. She’s your daughter.”

Dad just shook his head. “Emily had her tennis match the other day, kept saying she wanted Sarah to come. And Sarah, she got a phone call and played dead. Emily was bummed and only got second place.”

“Sarah’s been gone for days. Who knows when she’ll come home. Not your own, you know?”

Hearing Mom and Dad’s complaints, I felt sick.

Mom and Dad, I didn’t want to stay away from home.

I just couldn’t come back.

The black sheep you talked about was dead while you were cheering on Emily at her tennis match.

My body was right in front of you.

2.

At the case debriefing, after Mom laid out the autopsy report, the cops looked grim.

I was so messed up, they couldn’t do a facial ID.

The construction site wasn’t where I was killed, making it even harder to crack.

Dad sent officers to check out the area around the site for any leads.

“Labs guys, run those DNA samples, quick!”

Dad gave Mom a look and then rushed out with the team.

Mom and Dad cared more about a dead body than they did about me.

Mom used to stroke Emily’s hair, saying being a medical examiner, speaking for the dead, was a noble calling.

I watched Emily nod along, then wipe her hair when Mom turned away.

I slapped Emily once, and Dad shaved my head bald as punishment.

And now, Mom gently touched my body’s hair and said, “Dying so young, the family must be heartbroken.”

I gave a bitter smile. My family was probably glad I was gone. Maybe my brother would be sad for a minute.

Mom’s gloved hand traced my back.

There was a huge burn scar there, from when I was kidnapped.

When I was first brought home, getting changed, Mom was surprised, kinda disgusted. “What’d you do to your back? That’s nasty. Don’t scare Emily.”

Did Mom recognize me by the scar?

I bit my lip, sweating.

But then, Mom just murmured, “Not new.”

The assistant suddenly whispered, “Dr. Miller, there’s a piece of paper in her stomach!”

Mom’s eyes widened. “Eroded by stomach acid. See if the forensics lab can get anything off it.”

My phone rang, Emily’s favorite song.

Mom took off her gloves, rushed to the hallway, her voice all sweetness.

“Honey, what’s up? Mom’s at work.”

“Tomorrow?” Mom paused. “Mom and Dad will be there to cheer you on. Your brother’s on a business trip.”

Emily’s voice reached me. “Love you, Mom! I wish Sarah would watch me play. I always win when she supports me.”

“It’s okay if she doesn’t. She probably doesn’t like me since I’ve hogged you and Dad’s attention.

Even though we never got along, and Emily always sabotaged me, she always pretended to be a good sister in front of our parents.

Mom was probably going to yell at me again.

I was right. Mom’s voice jumped. “You’re our baby, honey. What is Sarah? Stealing money, bullying you behind our backs. She doesn’t deserve to be our daughter!”

“Don’t worry. Even if she breaks her legs, Mom will push her in a wheelchair to watch you play!”

Emily giggled, all sweet. “Dad called me today, told me to be safe. Mom, can you remind Sarah when you see her?”

“Take care of yourself. I don’t care what happens to Sarah, just as long as she doesn’t die on me.” Mom never had a good word to say about me.

Probably because the daughter they found didn’t have a good education and wasn’t good enough for them.

When I was found, they wouldn’t even change my last name.

In my parents’ eyes, Emily was always their one and only daughter.

They cared about her safety, but nobody remembered that I was their daughter.

If they found out how I died, I wondered how they’d react.

My death was Emily’s fault, and also, their fault.

3.

Mom said goodnight to Emily and then answered my brother’s phone call.

“Liam, when are you coming back from your trip? Your sister wants you to see her competition!” Before Liam could say anything, Mom rushed in.

The day I was brought home, my parents stayed with Emily, who wouldn’t stop crying. Only my brother took my hand and brought me home, telling me not to be scared.

I felt the only warmth in the family from my brother.

My brother sounded surprised.

“Is that Sarah’s math competition? Isn’t that next month…”

Mom snapped. “Sarah, Sarah, Emily’s been your sister for years! I told you how many times, Sarah’s been raised to be evil. She doesn’t deserve to be a part of our family.”

My brother sighed, like he didn’t get Mom’s hate for me. “Mom, don’t always believe Emily. Sarah’s nice and works hard. You’d see if you cared more.”

“I just called Sarah. She didn’t answer. The texts I sent a couple days ago didn’t send either. Is she not home?”

Mom scoffed, cold. “Walking out on her own, what do you want me to do? I think she’s just out there messing around. Tomorrow is Emily’s tennis match. If you can’t come, don’t.”

Mom hung up, ignoring my brother’s defense.

Dad walked back in, upset. “Is the body hard to deal with?”

Mom rolled her eyes. “Sarah called Liam and complained. Her brother is running away with her now.”

Dad was frustrated. “We’re so busy. Why are they causing problems? I’m calling her and talking to her now!”

But every time he called, he got an answering machine.

“Useless girl. I wish we never found her, all she does is make me mad!”

The forensics expert spoke up. “You guys took a year off to look for her after Sarah got kidnapped. Why do you hate her now?”

I bit my lip, a bitter taste in my mouth.

Because the girl they found was awkward and didn’t know anything.

When I came home at fifteen, my parents were hugging Emily in the fancy living room, comforting her.

I was wearing mended clothes, embarrassed to stare at my rubber shoes.

When Emily saw me, she stopped crying. “Who’s this little beggar?”

Mom and Dad frowned, but not at Emily.

But because I wasn’t the daughter they thought I’d be.

“Lin, Zhang, I checked the records. There’s no missing person report.” A cop walked in.

“Daughter’s missing, family didn’t even notice. Are the parents that bad?”

“Are the parents always so cruel? They don’t even care!”

The murmurs hit me.

I was wrapped in sadness, and I could barely breathe.

Mom and Dad felt bad that the dead girl’s parents hadn’t reported her missing.

But they didn’t think about whether I was safe.

They gave everything up to look for me when I got kidnapped, but now they were suspicious of me.

Maybe I shouldn’t have come home.

This was Emily’s house, not mine.

Mom and Dad spent more time with her, not me.

I couldn’t take the kindness and love anymore.

4.

Mom gave the eroded paper to the forensics expert.

She rubbed her back and said, “Hopefully that will help. Did you tell Emily to lock the doors?”

Dad looked worried. “Sarah never answers, and Liam doesn’t text back. What if something happened? Should I find someone to look into it…”

Mom snapped. “You know how she is. Hiding, waiting for us to look for her! She does it all the time.”

“She doesn’t want to see Emily’s competition. Tomorrow, she’s going to call us crying and apologize.”

The last time I disappeared, it was during the summer, when Emily locked me in the school bathroom.

Nobody was there, and nobody could hear me yell.

I barely got out, stumbling home.

Dad slapped me and Mom yelled at me.

“Emily said she saw you go to a motel with a bad guy? I don’t know why you’re so shameless!”

I couldn’t speak, and I watched Emily smile.

When my brother was taking care of me, he gently said, “Mom and Dad love you. They just don’t know what to do with you.”

But I knew that compared to Emily, I would never be as important as her.

The kind of love our parents gave us depended on how much they liked you.

That person was never me.

If I was still alive, I would be the one delivering soup to the police station when Mom and Dad were at work.

But this time, I couldn’t be like Mom and Dad wanted.

I was just dead.

The lab called. “Mrs. Zhang, we have the DNA results!”