My Dad’s Criminal Ended My Life and I Was Autopsied Novel by Cora Seals

When Lily saw our parents and Eddie in the audience, she smiled smugly.

I knew what that smile meant. With me gone, she was now the most cherished in the family. During the intermission, Lily cutely clung to my dad’s arm. “Mom, Dad, Eddie, I’m so glad you came.”

On the awards podium, Lily beamed as she raised her trophy high. Facing the reporters, she smiled sweetly and said, “I wouldn’t be here today without my family’s support. I hope to always be my parents‘ pride and my brother’s favorite sister!”

Watching her bask in the limelight made me sick to my stomach.

Her happiness was built on my suffering.

How was it fair that Lily pushed me into the depths of hell, yet she got to enjoy applause and admiration?

In the crowd, I could hear murmured conversations. “Didn’t her sister die recently? Poor thing, but she’s still so impressive.”

“I heard her sister was a troublemaker, involved with a bunch of guys. Probably got killed over some love triangle.”

Lily heard the whispers too, but her smile only grew brighter, as if she was reveling in her victory over me. Then, suddenly, a group of police officers approached, and the smile froze on her face.

“You must have the wrong person. I’m the champion of this tournament!” Lily protested.

Eddie scoffed, “You’re exactly who we’re here for. Being a champion doesn’t hide your evil heart.”

In the moment when Lily was at the height of her success, her mask was ripped off.

She gasped for air and her eyes were wide in shock. “What evidence do you have? Mom, Dad, help me! Eddie has lost his mind!”

My mom, filled with confusion, softly said, “Eugene gave us a recording. We heard everything you said.”

From Lily telling me to die to her calling our parents “the old fools,” it had all been recorded.

Eugene had smugly revealed where the recording was hidden. “You want to know why I spared your other daughter? Because your precious adopted daughter killed your biological one. I wanted you to suffer even more.”

Lily’s face drained of color, and she collapsed to her knees.

My mom was enraged and began hitting her. She was desperate to release her grief.

Seeing Lily show no remorse, my dad asked in confusion, “After we adopted you, we treated you like our own. Even when Emily came back, we never showed favoritism. Why would you do this to her?”

Jealousy and hatred flashed in Lily’s defeated eyes. “You only adopted me to replace Emily. When she came back, I wasn’t going to let you play out some happy reunion in front of me. You were fools for not trusting your own daughter.”

Eddie let out a deep sigh. “Mom and Dad never wronged you. They treated you even better than Emily. It’s your twisted heart that made everything look rotten.”

Expressionless, Lily was led away by the police. Her newly won medal was still hanging around her neck. On the day Lily was sentenced, my parents and Eddie placed a bouquet of flowers on my grave.

When Lily’s cellmates learned that she had killed the biological daughter of her adoptive family, they despised her for her actions. In prison, they took every opportunity to torment her.

Every day, they made her act like a dog, throwing a ball for her to fetch.

They taunted her, “A tennis champion should be good at this kind of thing, right?”

At home, my dad scooped up a spoonful of soup and brought it to my mom’s lips. “Honey, open your mouth.”

But my mom, her eyes vacant and dull, only responded mechanically to his voice.

She could not accept that the daughter she had loved so much had killed her biological daughter.

Lost in a daze and mentally broken, she was admitted to the hospital.

My dad, too, was unable to focus on his work. The fact that I was killed by someone he had once tried to apprehend left him with a deep scar.

He sighed deeply, taking a tissue to wipe the drool from my mom’s mouth. “We were wrong. When Emily came back, we shouldn’t have been so harsh with our words. We should have shown her more care.

“Now Emily is gone, and you’ve driven yourself mad. I don’t think I can ever put on this police uniform again.”

My mom, still lost in her world, absentmindedly played with the ring I had given them long ago. “Mommy will go with Emily to her competition. Emily, you better do your best,” she whispered.

From outside the hospital room, Eddie sighed heavily. “Emily, if you could see this, would you forgive them?”

Unable to bear the truth of my death, Eddie resigned from his job. He could not stand living in the same city as our parents anymore.

I watched as he pulled his suitcase. He walked away, leaving my grief–stricken and gray–haired parents behind in the hospital.

I sniffed, feeling as if my heart were buried under a blanket of snow, cold and desolate.

Mom and Dad, if there were another life and I were your daughter again, I would hope you would not lose me.

As my form gradually faded, everything became blurry. In my daze, I heard my parents‘ gentle voices,” Emily, it’s time to come home for dinner.”

Eddie gently took my hand, smiling as he rubbed my nose. “You’ve worked so hard, Emily.”