My sense of direction has always been terrible since young. Getting lost is a norm for me.

When I was eight years old, I had to face the worst consequences of getting lost. That time, I almost got kidnapped by human traffickers.

So, my older sister, Aubrey Cochran, gifts me a GPS watch and repeatedly teaches me how to use it.

"As long as you follow the GPS, you can find your way home. Have you remembered it yet?"

I nod heavily. Since then, the watch stays strapped onto my wrist.

But later on, my adoptive mom has found her actual son. That's when the entire family's attitude toward me begins shifting.

They no longer panic even when I don't return for the day.

This year's Thanksgiving holidays are coming soon. Aubrey decides to take me on a trip out of the blue. Our trip lasts for more than a dozen days.

Our last stop is a remote village. There, Aubrey takes my watch from me and fiddles with it for a long time.

At the start of the next day, I can't get in touch with her no matter how hard I try.

As I stare at the unfamiliar GPS coordinates on my watch, I feel realization dawning on me immediately.

When I'm about to leave, a villager looks at me in confusion.

"You're leaving too, eh? Where are you headed to?"

I smile at her. "I'm going home."

Since Aubrey doesn't want me anymore, I shall grant her wish.

I died on Thanksgiving.

As my soul left my body and drifted back home, I finally understood why my older sister, Aubrey Cochran, had insisted on taking me on a trip.

As it turned out, her biological younger brother, Brent Cochran, wanted to spend some family time without me.

The Cochrans sat around the dinner table, laughing and enjoying themselves, and Brent was the happiest of them all.

"With Gary gone, even the food tastes better!"

Mom and Dad looked uncomfortable, while Aubrey frowned slightly.

"Why do you dislike Gary so much?" she asked. "He's always been good to you, and he's always been well-behaved."

A flash of irritation crossed Brent's eyes. "I just don't like him, okay?" he shot back, raising an eyebrow. "Why does there have to be a reason?"

Aubrey fell silent.

Ever since Brent had been found and brought back to the family, he'd been diagnosed with depression. At home, everyone treated him like royalty. His word was law. If even the slightest thing upset him, he'd throw a tantrum and threaten to end his own life.

No one dared to cross him. When I was still alive, I even went out of my way to avoid him.

"What?" he snapped. "You all miss him now?"

When nobody answered, Brent slammed his fork down on the table.

"I seriously don't get it. I'm your biological son! What on earth is so great about that bastard?"

The mood in the room instantly grew tense. Mom quickly grabbed his hand and soothed him gently, "Don't be upset, Brent. We don't like him. We're just… not used to him not being around."

"If any of you dare bring him up again, I'll run away from home!" Brent threatened.

His face darkened completely as he jerked his hand free from Mom's grasp. "If you all miss him so much, why don't you just bring him home?"

"That's not what we—"

But before Mom could finish placating him, Brent was already spiraling.

"All I wanted was to have one Thanksgiving without him around. Is that a crime? I'm the victim here! He grew up in this family and enjoyed everything that should've belonged to me. I hate him! I'm begging you, can you just stop worrying about him? I really can't take it anymore."

As he spoke, his eyes were red.

Mom and Dad turned pale with panic and hurried to comfort him. Only Aubrey frowned.

"For your sake, I changed the location settings on Gary's watch," she said. "If he gets lost and something happens to him, we'll all be the perpetrators."

Mom shot her a disapproving glare, signaling her to stop talking.

"What could possibly happen to a grown man?" Brent retorted, lifting his chin defiantly. "Is he going to drop dead or something?"

His emotional state was clearly getting worse. With a grim expression, Aubrey stared at him for a long moment before finally sighing and giving in.

"Let's just leave it at this for now. I'll personally go and bring him back after Christmas."

Brent immediately beamed with satisfaction when he heard that.

Meanwhile, floating above them, I let out a bitter scoff.

Brent's words had come true. I really was dead.

What Aubrey had forgotten was that I was 22 now. I was no longer that eight-year-old kid. I knew how to use electronic devices, and I knew how to use GPS.

So even without the watch, my soul could find its way back home without any trouble.

The reason I hadn't come back—and had instead foolishly gone to the altered location she set—was because I understood that I was unwanted in this family.

Aubrey had always been a terrible actress. When I got lost as a child and was finally found, her expression had been icy as she'd scolded me. But her voice had been filled with worry and concern.

This time was no different.

Two days earlier, I'd asked her what was so fun about this small mountain village and why we weren't heading home when Thanksgiving was right around the corner.

She smiled at me, but her eyes were filled with guilt. "There's no rush to get home. I finally carved out some time to spend with you. Let's enjoy ourselves here for a couple more days."

I'd sensed something was off right then and there, but I didn't say anything. At least, not until she asked for my watch, claiming she wanted to take a photo of it so she could buy one for Brent, too.

I took off the watch and handed it to her. Her fingers trembled as she adjusted the settings. Even after she fastened it back onto my wrist, the strained look on her face never eased.

Smiling, I said, "Aubrey, this model's pretty old. You should buy a new one for Brent, otherwise he won't be happy."

She couldn't even bring herself to look at me as she said, "It's fine. I'll just buy him this one."

That only made me more certain that something was off with her.

That night, I took off the watch and examined it carefully. Sure enough, I discovered that the GPS location had been altered.

On the surface, it still showed that our home address was in Riverbridge. But if one clicked on it and dug further, they'd find that the actual destination was now set to a patch of woods outside Maple Hollow.

Aubrey had probably picked a random spot on the map and hadn't realized that it was deep in the woods.

In that instant, my heart sank to the pit of my stomach. But I didn't go to her, nor did I ask any questions, because I knew she was caught in a difficult position as well.

Brent couldn't stand the sight of me, and with his depression, he threatened suicide at the drop of a hat. For nearly ten years, she'd been caught between her biological brother and me. That couldn't have been easy.

…

The next morning, Aubrey didn't come to knock on my door like usual. I knew she must've already gone home.

So I left as well and followed the route shown on my watch.

Along the way, one of the villagers recognized me. "Aren't you the tourist from the city?" he asked. "Your sister left early this morning. Are you leaving too? Where are you going?"

I forced down the bitterness in my heart and smiled. "Home."

The villager frowned. "The road back to town isn't this way. Don't go any further. There are wolves and snakes in these woods. Even traps."

"It's okay," I said, smiling. "I'll be careful."

Even if it were hell itself, if it was where Aubrey wanted me to go, I'd go.

The villager stopped trying to talk me out of it and headed home.

Originally, my plan had been to leave the watch at the marked location so Aubrey wouldn't worry. Then, I'd leave the woods and find some random place to live.

What I never expected, however, was to fall into a trap after only a few steps.

There was no cell service, and even emergency calls couldn't get through. I fell into despair, feeling utterly helpless.

And to make matters worse, there was a venomous snake in the pit. That very night, it bit me, and I died.

…

"Gary's GPS location disappeared!"

Aubrey's anxious voice snapped me out of my thoughts. Her face was pale as she stared at her phone. As soon as she said those words, she jumped to her feet and started putting on her coat.

"Something couldn't have happened to Gary, could it? No, I have to go find him!"

"Maybe he just turned off the watch himself," Brent quipped as he grabbed Aubrey in a tight hold. "Why are you so worried? You can't leave. It's Thanksgiving. You promised you'd spend it with me."

Aubrey sighed and patted him on the head. "I'll just go take a look. As long as he's safe, I'll come right back."

"I'll send someone to check on him," Brent insisted, refusing to back down. "You have to stay home with me today!"

Aubrey frowned and opened her mouth to speak, but Brent suddenly grabbed the fruit knife off the table and pressed it against his neck.

"If you dare take one step out that door today, I'll kill myself right in front of you!"

Mom and Dad screamed in panic. Equally alarmed, Aubrey quickly raised her hands and tried to calm him down.

"Okay, okay! I won't go. Just put the knife down first!"

A flash of smug satisfaction crossed Brent's eyes as he tossed the knife aside.

"You just want to check in on him. It's not like you have to do it yourself," he said. "Don't worry. I'll make the arrangements."

Still shaken, Aubrey bent down, picked up the knife, and returned it to the kitchen.

"Don't grab a knife so recklessly again," she said. "What if you get hurt?"

Seeing the worry on her face, a dull ache spread through my chest.

When I was little, she'd always panic whenever I was gone for more than two hours. Back then, she behaved exactly the same way. She would scold me, but the concern on her face was barely contained.

"Do you know how long I've been looking for you? Who told you to run off by yourself? What if something happened?" she would ask.

But ever since Brent had been brought back home, I had become invisible. Even if I deliberately stayed out all night, no one was concerned.

Still in my teens back then, I couldn't understand it. I had asked Aubrey, with tears brimming in my eyes, why she didn't look for me anymore.

She had simply chuckled as she shook her head. "Don't you have a watch with a GPS now, Gary? I've told you before—the watch shows you the way home. You can always find your own way back."

After all these years, those words still echoed in my mind. The things I couldn't wrap my head around back then, I finally understood now.

The way home? The moment Brent returned, I no longer had a home.

The following afternoon, Brent showed Aubrey a video. In it, only my back was visible.

His assistant, Trevor Prescott, asked, "Mr. Gary, would you like to come home?"

Without turning around, "I" replied impatiently, "Tell Mom and Dad that I'm doing great here, and I'm never going back."

"What happened to your watch?" Trevor asked again.

"I turned it off," I answered flatly.

The video was obviously fabricated, but Aubrey didn't notice. She seemingly didn't care what "I" had said, and instead just let out a sigh of relief.

"As long as Gary's okay, then that's all that matters," she said with a smile. "It looks like he's adjusted pretty well to life over there. I'll go bring him back after Christmas."

Brent nearly exploded. "Did you not hear him say he never wants to come back?"

Aubrey shrugged nonchalantly. "It's just a phase. There's no place better than home. He'll grow tired of living there in a few days."

"Tell your assistant to leave Gary some extra money," she added. "Make sure he has enough to spend."

With that, she headed out the door for work, completely missing the resentment brewing in Brent's eyes.

The moment the front door shut, Brent immediately called Trevor.

"Find a random place and bury Gary's body. Damn it! He's already dead, and my sister still can't stop thinking about him! What a bastard!"

Trevor had clearly never done something like this before, and his voice trembled slightly as he asked, "What… What if someone finds out?"

"What are you scared of? It's not like you killed him. If anything, you're doing a good deed by burying him!"

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, and an eerie, cold sneer curled across his lips.

"Oh, right, bring me his phone too. Aubrey will definitely message him. If nobody replies, she'll start getting suspicious."