My Silent Suffocation

My face flushed a deep, bruised purple. I clawed at my throat, silently begging my own mother for help. She just stared at me with unfiltered disgust. She thought I was faking it.

She thought I was trying to sabotage my dad's promotion party. She shoved me into my bedroom and threw the deadbolt. I suffocated behind that heavy wood.

My fingernails gouged frantic, bloody streaks into the door panel. Outside, she was laughing and clinking champagne glasses.

She had no idea that the fancy stuffed canapé I just swallowed had already signed her daughter's death warrant. Chapter 1 They used to treat me like I was made of fragile glass.

No seafood was ever allowed in the house. They even aggressively warned our relatives before every family dinner. Then my little sister, Eden, was born. Everything changed.

Eden obsessed over shrimp. She constantly begged Mom to make it. That was the first time Mom ever snapped at me. "Can't you just stay away?

Do you always have to ruin your sister's mood?" Dad didn't defend me. He just quietly closed the kitchen door and handed me a medical mask.

But tonight was Dad's important promotion party. The burning in my throat spiked. A thousand jagged needles stabbing my windpipe.

I gripped my neck and staggered toward Mom, a broken, desperate wheeze ripping from my lips. "Mom… help…" Just moments ago, Bonnie had handed me a beautiful, bitesized appetizer.

I ate it without a second thought. It was stuffed with pure shrimp. Mom was holding a champagne flute, beaming a perfect smile as she toasted Reginald, Dad's boss.

Mom spotted my contorted face. Her smile instantly vanished, replaced by pure disgust.

She yanked me aside by the arm, her voice dropping to a furious hiss. "Wren, what the hell are you doing? Do you have any idea how important tonight is?

Your father's entire career hinges on this dinner!" I opened my mouth, but not a single sound came out as the oxygen thinned in my failing lungs.

The room tilted and spun wildly out of focus. I shook my head frantically. I jabbed a desperate finger at my swelling throat as tears streamed down my cheeks.

Mom's eyes only grew colder. "Not this again. You pull this dramatic crap every time we have a major event. You are faking it.

You just can't stand seeing your father succeed, can you? You hate seeing this family happy." Her words shredded my chest. The betrayal hurt worse than the asphyxiation.

She completely ignored my purple face.

I watched her polished heels pivot away, the scent of her expensive perfume lingering in the air, a sickening contrast to the metallic taste of blood pooling in my own mouth.She just shoved me hard toward the hallway. "Get in there!

Stop embarrassing us!" My feet tangled. I stumbled forward, my shoulder slamming brutally into the doorframe. She shoved me inside the dark bedroom.

The heavy click of the deadbolt echoed like a gunshot. "Stay in there and think about your pathetic behavior. Don't come out until you drop this act!" Slam.

The world instantly went quiet. Nothing remained but the wet, ragged rattle of my own failing lungs. I threw my entire body weight against the door. I pounded. I screamed.

But the sounds dying in my throat barely registered in my own ears. Outside, the party raged on.

The bright laughter, the chime of expensive crystal, Reginald's booming voice—it all pierced right through the cracks. Every happy sound was a physical slap to my face.

My knees finally buckled. My body began to twitch as I slid down to the floor. My bleeding fingers tore into the hard wood, leaving dark, wet streaks in the shadows.

Right before my consciousness faded completely, a tiny voice drifted through the door. "Mommy?

Where did Wren go?" Mom's voice filtered back, sickeningly gentle and sweet. "Your sister isn't feeling well. She went to rest.

Do you want a big piece of cake, Eden?" Chapter 2 In Deirdre's mind, my suffocating agony was just a toxic grab for attention.

My actual life meant less than Terrence's corporate ladder. Less than Eden's fleeting happiness. The last drop of adrenaline drained from my veins.

I curled into a tight, shivering ball on the freezing hardwood. Like an abandoned puppy. Then, the blackness swallowed me whole. My face remained locked in a bruised purple.

My lips were entirely black. My eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, frozen in absolute terror. I was dead. I floated above my own twisted corpse, just a lingering ghost.

Through the door, the dinner party was finally wrapping up. Terrence practically carried a completely wasted Reginald toward the entryway.

Deirdre hovered right behind them, practically bowing in submission. "Drive safe, Reginald! We'd love to host you again soon!" Deirdre's voice was sickeningly sweet.

The moment the front door clicked shut, Deirdre let out a massive, relieved exhale. She couldn't hide the smug satisfaction on her face.

Terrence's face was flushed red from the expensive bourbon, clearly thrilled with his networking victory.

He strolled back into the living room and spotted the shattered ceramic on the rug—the vase I knocked over while choking to death.

He scowled. "What the hell is this?" Deirdre snatched up a trash bag, her voice dripping with venom. "Take a wild guess. Your precious daughter.

She saw the crowd tonight and pulled a massive stunt. Faked a panic attack for attention.

I locked her in her room." Terrence yanked his tie loose and collapsed onto the leather sofa. "God. She's getting more and more unreasonable.

So entirely selfabsorbed." I lunged at them. I wasn't faking! I was choking! Open the damn door! I screamed at the top of my lungs, but no sound came out.

But my hands passed straight through Terrence's chest. My desperate shrieks dissolved into nothingness. Eden padded down the hallway, clutching a halfeaten slice of tiramisu.

She stopped right outside my bedroom and tapped the wood with her tiny knuckles. "Wren? Are you asleep?" Only the heavy, oppressive stillness of the hallway answered her.

Eden tilted her head back, her innocent eyes finding Deirdre. "Mommy? Why is Wren ignoring me?" I drifted down to the floor.

I wrapped my invisible arms tightly around her small shoulders. "I'm not ignoring you, sweetie," I whispered.

Deirdre marched over, her expression hardening instantly. "Leave her alone, Eden. She's throwing a ridiculous tantrum. Let her starve for a night.

That'll fix her attitude." Terrence let out a loud yawn. "I'm hitting the shower. Don't let her ruin your mood tonight.

Get some rest." Eden stared miserably at my door. "But I wanted to play with her…" Deirdre scooped Eden up into her arms and pushed a spoonful of dessert into her mouth. "Play with Mommy instead.

Your sister is being a brat. We're cutting her off." She scraped the leftover cake—and the rest of the expensive catering—straight into the garbage can.

My phantom stomach twisted in a sickening knot. There they were. The fancy shrimp canapés. The exact poison that stole my last breath. Deirdre carried Eden away.

The living room emptied out, leaving me all alone. I drifted back to my locked door. I stared blankly at the horrific, bloody gouges I clawed into the wood.

I was dead, and they literally did not care. To them, I was just a petty, dramatic child who desperately needed to be "taught a lesson." An hour passed.

Deirdre bathed Eden and tucked her in. Then, she walked back down the hall and stopped right outside my door. She stood there for a long time.

My nonexistent heart hammered against my ribs. Did she finally realize? Is she going to check on me? She raised her fist. She just knocked. Two sharp, light taps. "Wren?

You asleep?" I phased right through the wood and hovered inches from her face.

I stared into her exhausted, deeply annoyed eyes. "I was a little harsh earlier, but it was for your own good," Deirdre said, crossing her arms. "Your dad's promotion changes everything for this family.

Why do you have to be so incredibly selfish?" She paused. She stood there in the quiet hallway, waiting for a corpse to apologize.

Chapter 3 But I would never be able to answer her again. Met with absolute stillness, Deirdre let out a heavy sigh, acting like she just checked a chore off her list. "Fine.

Keep throwing your little tantrum. I left a glass of warm milk by the door. Drink it. Think about your behavior tonight.

You can come out and apologize to me tomorrow." She spun on her heel and marched back to the master bedroom without a single backward glance. She didn't even touch the doorknob.

I stared down at the steaming glass of milk on the floor. I let out a bitter laugh. Dead girls don't drink milk. Your apology is a little too late.

I drifted after her into the master bedroom. Terrence was already in bed.

He rolled over at the sound of her footsteps. "How is she doing?" Deirdre shrugged off her blazer, her voice dripping with exhaustion. "Dead silent.

She probably cried herself to sleep. Kids these days just have too much fragile ego." Terrence sighed. "Don't push her so hard. Her health has been garbage since she was born.

She's never had a single comfortable day.

Watching Eden run around with boundless energy… it probably eats her alive inside." Deirdre sat at her vanity, scrubbing off her makeup with frustration. "I'm pushing her?

She's the one suffocating me! It's the exact same exhausting pattern every single time. The second we give Eden an ounce of attention, she suddenly feels 'sick'. Honestly?

I think she fakes it. She's doing it on purpose to manipulate us." Terrence fell completely quiet. After a long pause, he rubbed his temples. "Stop overthinking it.

I'll sit her down for a serious talk tomorrow.

If she keeps acting out, we'll just book her a therapist." Hovering right between them, I listened as their words violently shredded what was left of my soul.

To my own parents, my physical agony was just a calculated, manipulative performance. They had no idea.

They didn't know about the countless nights I woke up suffocating in the dark.

How I buried my face into my pillow and bit my own lip until it bled, just to endure the pain in silence. I had never dared to cry. I had never dared to scream.

I had been so terrified of waking them up. Terrified of seeing the worry in their eyes. All my quiet suffering.

All my desperation to be a "good daughter." They labeled it as calculating manipulation. I'm sorry, Mom. I'm sorry, Dad. I was just too useless. Even dying was a burden to you.

If I had never been born, you would only have Eden. A perfectly healthy, vibrant daughter. Your lives would be so much easier. I lay down on the mattress right between them.

Just like when I was a little kid. Deirdre on my left. Terrence on my right. But I couldn't feel their warmth anymore. Just the freezing void.

The next morning, harsh sunlight sliced through the bedroom curtains. Deirdre woke up to prep breakfast. Walking past my door, she froze.

The glass of milk sat entirely untouched on the hardwood. It was icecold. A thin film had formed over the surface. Any trace of morning softness vanished from her face.

Glacial fury took its place. She snatched up the glass and pounded violently on my door. "Wren!

Get your ass out here right now!" The bedroom remained trapped in a heavy, suffocating quiet. Deirdre's eyes flashed red.

Her voice cracked with escalating frustration. "What do you want from me? I already apologized to you last night! Refusing to eat? Refusing to drink?

Are you seriously pulling a hunger strike? Who do you think you're punishing? Are you trying to literally drive me insane?" Still nothing. Absolute silence.

Her burning rage slowly bled into icecold panic. Her fingers clamped around the doorknob. A fierce tremor started to take over her entire body.

Chapter 4 Terrence stumbled out of the master bedroom, stifling a massive yawn. "What is all the screaming about?" Deirdre spun around.

She looked like she was clinging to the edge of a cliff. Her trembling finger pointed at my door. "Terrence… Wren… she won't open it!" Terrence's brow furrowed. "Another tantrum?

I'll go grab the spare key." Eden padded into the hallway, sleepily rubbing her eyes. "Mommy? Is Wren still mad at us?" I hovered frantically in front of them.

I waved my invisible arms, my phantom chest heaving. Don't open it! Please, God, don't open it! But they looked right through me. They heard absolutely nothing.

Terrence returned and slapped the cold metal key into Deirdre's palm. Deirdre sucked in a harsh breath.

She marched up to the door like a soldier heading into battle and jammed the key into the lock. "Let's see exactly what kind of game you're playing in there!" The metallic grinding echoed loudly in the deadquiet hallway.

Click. Deirdre shoved the heavy wood open. The bedroom was dark and dim. The blackout curtains had been drawn tight. Then, her gaze dropped to the hardwood floor.

My small body was curled up on the floor. Unmoving. My skin was painted a horrifying, violent shade of bruised purple.

My eyes—the ones that always used to carry a smile—were blown wide open, permanently locked in suffocating terror. The anger and annoyance on Deirdre's face instantly froze.

Visceral horror slammed into her. The spare key slipped from her trembling fingers. Clatter. The metal hit the floorboards. She stumbled backward. Her knees buckled.

She opened her mouth wide in a silent scream. No oxygen reached her lungs. Terrence sensed something was wrong. He leaned in over her shoulder.

The second his eyes processed the floor, all the blood completely drained from his face. A guttural, wet choke ripped from his throat.

A dying animal sound. "Wren… Wren…" Eden squeezed past Terrence's leg, her big eyes blinking in the dark. "Is Wren sleeping?

Why is she on the floor?" That innocent, tiny voice snapped the final thread of Deirdre's sanity.

A bloodcurdling, inhuman shriek ripped from her lungs. "Ahhhh—!" That scream shattered the quiet morning. It shattered the illusion of our perfect family. Deirdre hit the floor.

She scrambled frantically on her hands and knees until she collided with my corpse. Her frantically trembling fingers hovered under my nose. Ice cold. Nothing. "No!

No, no, no!" She shook her head wildly, her breathing completely fractured. "Wren! Wren, wake up!

Stop joking with Mommy!" She snatched my stiff, freezing shoulders and yanked me into her chest.

She desperately tried to force her own body heat into my dead skin. "My baby, open your eyes! Look at Mommy! I was wrong! I was so wrong!" Hot, heavy tears freefell from her chin.

They splashed harshly against my bruised, bloodless cheeks. "I didn't mean to lock you in!

I wasn't ignoring you!" Her vocal cords shredded with every word. "Wake up and scream at me! Hit me! Just hit me!

Please, God, just look at me…" She frantically pressed her lips against my freezing forehead. She swept the sweatmatted hair out of my dead eyes.

She scrubbed at my cheeks, desperately trying to rub the rigid death out of my skin. But my eyes would never blink again. I knelt right beside her on the floor.

I reached out to wipe the hot tears streaming down her face. My phantom fingertips phased straight through her cheek. Again and again. I could only watch.

I watched the crushing, suffocating weight of absolute regret swallow my mother whole. Chapter 5 Terrence's paralysis finally broke.

He scrambled across the hardwood on his hands and knees. He frantically fumbled for his phone from his pocket. "Call… call 911!

Hurry!" His thumbs shook with a frantic, helpless spasm. He fumbled with the screen, missing the passcode three times before it finally unlocked. The line connected.

He shrieked into the speaker. His voice broke into an unrecognizable sob. Eden burst into terrified wails. She couldn't process the nightmare.

She didn't understand why Wren wouldn't wake up, or why her parents were making such monstrous sounds. I hovered right next to them.

The phantom ache in my chest ripped me wide open. I desperately wanted to beg them to stop crying. I wanted to wrap my arms around them. But I couldn't touch them.

I could only whisper the exact same useless apology into the void. "I'm sorry, Dad. I'm sorry, Mom.

Even in death, I just cause you trouble." Sirens wailed outside just before paramedics swarmed into the bedroom. The lead paramedic dropped to his knees. He checked my vitals.

Seconds later, he stood up and shot my parents a heavy, solemn look. "Pupils are fixed and dilated. No signs of life. Rigor mortis has already set in.

She's been gone for at least eight hours." Deirdre's head snapped up. She lunged at the paramedic like an enraged lioness, screaming at the top of her lungs. "You're lying!

She's just asleep! My Wren is just exhausted!" She fought wildly to reach my body. A nurse clamped onto her arms, dragging her back. "Save her! You're doctors!

Fix her!" "Ma'am, please try to calm down. Your daughter is already—" "Get out! All of you, get out!" Deirdre completely snapped. "It's just an allergic reaction!

She just needs some rest! I know my own daughter!" Terrence grabbed Deirdre and held her tightly.

He pressed his hysterical wife against his chest, burying her face into his shirt to block her from seeing my rigid corpse. Hot tears streamed down his own face.

He choked out a raspy whisper to the paramedics. "I'm sorry… she's… she's just in shock…" The police arrived minutes later. Carter took the lead.

His questions were completely sterile and brutal. "When was the last time you saw your daughter alive?" Terrence shivered as if submerged in ice water. "Last night… we hosted a dinner party…" "Did she exhibit any unusual behavior?" Deirdre quivered helplessly in Terrence's arms.

He squeezed her tighter. He forced the words past his teeth. "She said… she said she felt sick. That she ate… something with shrimp." Carter's pen stopped dead on his notepad.

His head snapped up. His gaze was razorsharp. "You knew she had a severe shrimp allergy?" "We knew…" "Did you administer an EpiPen?

Did you call an ambulance?" Terrence dropped his head.

His voice barely registered above a whisper. "We… I thought she was throwing a tantrum… so we locked her in her room…" Carter's face hardened into stone. "Excuse me?

You locked a child experiencing anaphylactic shock alone in her bedroom?" The air in the hallway evaporated. A suffocating hush fell over the hallway