"Dom, do you think Dexter won't eat it because he hates me?" Derek suddenly asked, lowering his eyes and sounding aggrieved.

"Dexter Richmond!" Dominic yelled, slamming his fist on the table. "Eat that fucking shrimp, you ungrateful bastard! You will accept everything Derek gives you in this household, even if you have to get down on your knees to beg for it!"

"Dom, that's not how you speak to your brother," Mom said, finally looking up. However, she simply chided him lightly like that before turning to me. "Hurry up and eat it, Dex. Don't make Dom mad. Derek's just being kind to you."

I picked up my fork and stabbed it into the peeled shrimp.

"Yes, Mom."

I put the shrimp in my mouth and chewed it for a while before swallowing.

It tasted very sweet and delicious, but it also tasted like death.

Less than three minutes later, I felt my throat constricting, and rashes also broke out on my skin. It got harder and harder for me to breathe, as though someone had wrapped their hands around my throat.

I began to choke, unable to stop myself from crying out.

"Shut up!" Dominic yelled, glaring at me in disgust. "Shut up and eat your dinner instead of making those horrible sounds like an animal! Don't you know any table manners at all?"

I immediately clapped a hand over my mouth as tightly as I could. If Dominic told me to shut up, then I had to make sure that I made absolutely no sound at all.

My throat kept swelling, making it harder and harder to breathe. My face turned purple as cold sweat streamed down my forehead.

However, I remained tightly seated with my mouth firmly over my mouth, not daring to make a sound.

Eventually, the fork in my other hand clattered to the ground, and I collapsed onto the carpeted floor with a heavy thud.

"Dexter!" Mom cried out in horror.

Derek got a fright and shot to his feet at once. "What's happened to Dexter?"

Dominic frowned and came over to me, kicking me in the calf. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Get up!"

I didn't move. I couldn't even move a muscle anymore.

My dad, Calvin Richmond, finally realized something was wrong and rushed over to turn me onto my back. He froze in shock when he saw my face had turned purple.

"It's an allergy! He's going into an anaphylactic shock! Call the ambulance! Hurry!"

Everyone was flustered. When I was finally wheeled into the ambulance, my eyes were still wide open as I stared unblinkingly at Dominic, my hand still tightly covering my mouth.

Dominic's face was pale. His hands wouldn't stop shaking either. Seeing me still covering my mouth, he suddenly remembered yelling at me to shut up.

I remained at the hospital for a few more days before waking up. My body was somehow just too tough and refused to die.

When I woke up, I realized that only Derek and Dominic were in the ward.

Derek was sobbing, tears streaming down his face.

"I'm sorry, Dom… I forgot that Dexter was allergic to seafood… I really didn't mean to do it…"

Dominic wiped away his tears, feeling absolutely sorry for Derek. "It's not your fault, Derek. You were just too kind. Dexter was just being a dumbass. It's all his fault for not saying a thing about his allergy. Apparently, that mouth of his is just purely for decoration."

When he turned around and saw that I'd woken up, the look in his eyes immediately turned to one of disgust.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you, Dexter Richmond?" he snapped, pointing a finger in my face. "You did this on purpose to frame Derek for it and make Mom and Dad think that he hated you and wanted you dead! How could you be such an evil, ungrateful brat?"

I yanked off the oxygen mask, my voice as hoarse as though sandpaper had gone through it. "Dominic told me to eat it. So I ate it. Dominic told me to shut up. So I did."

His breath stuck in his throat. He opened his mouth like he was going to retort, but when he saw that my eyes were about as calm as death, he suddenly felt a bout of fear coursing through him.

"You… You're just impossible! You're a lunatic!"

He grabbed Derek and led him out of the ward. "Let's go, Derek. There's no need to care about this lunatic anymore."

The atmosphere at home changed after going back. Mom and Dad felt a little sorry for me, but that was about it. Rather, they were more worried about Derek, afraid that this incident would traumatize him instead.

To be fair, Mom gave me a smartwatch as a present. It was supposed to be a birthday gift for Derek.

"I picked this out for you, Dex. Do you like it?" Mom asked, carefully putting it on my wrist.

I liked it. This was the first gift I'd ever received from anyone in my life.

Derek stood next to me, saying enviously, "It looks so nice on you, Dexter. It suits you so well. It's a pity that I don't have it though… But I guess it's fine as long as you're happy."

Dominic scoffed coldly. "It's a waste to give Dexter the smartwatch. How could someone from the slums even know how to use it? What a terrible waste."

He then came up to me and grabbed me by my collar in disgust. "That watch is too dangerous for you. You'd better not let it electrocute you to death.

"Also, you reek like hell, just like the slums. You smell so poor that no amount of clothing you wear can ever cover up that foul odor. Go and give yourself a good scrubbing and don't come out until you're squeaky clean, you embarrassing piece of trash!"

I touched my collar and then my arms.

"Okay. I understand."

I turned, went into the bathroom, and locked the door behind me.

I didn't run the bath or turn on the shower. Instead, I found a stainless steel scourer in the cabinet under the sink meant for heavy-duty cleaning.

Since Dominic said I stank and reeked of the countryside, maybe I should just scrub all my skin off. Without it, I'd probably finally be clean, right?

So, I grabbed the scourer tightly and began scrubbing my arms hard.

Eventually, my skin began to tear, and blood began seeping out from the welts in the skin. However, I didn't feel any pain. All I could think of was Dominic telling me to scrub myself clean.

After I was done scrubbing and scouring my left arm, I began with my right. Then, I did the same to my neck and chest.

The blood began soaking into my bathrobe, slowly streaming down my body and pooling on the floor. The bathroom soon began to reek of a metallic stench.

Half an hour later, Derek knocked on the door.

"Dexter? Are you still in there? Mom said to come down for tea."

I didn't reply and continued scrubbing my thighs hard.

"Dexter?"

Derek tried the door, but it was locked. "Dom! Dexter locked himself in the bathroom!"

Hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.

"Dexter Richmond! What the hell do you think you're doing inside the bathroom? Come out here right now!" Dominic yelled at the door, pounding on it hard.

He was just about to kick the door down when it opened, making him suddenly freeze on the spot, his leg hanging in the air.

I stood at the bathroom door without a single inch of skin on my body that wasn't bloodied or shredded to bits. I looked like a monster that had been completely skinned, with red muscle showing through.

Yet, there was a wide smile on my face as I still held onto the bloodied stainless steel scourer.

"Dominic," I said, raising my bloodied arms and showing them off proudly to him. "I'm all clean now. There's no skin left. The smell's gone too, right? Do I still reek?"

Derek screamed at the top of his lungs. Then, his eyes flipped upward, and he fainted on the spot.

Dominic's eyes widened, his body trembling as though he'd been struck by lightning. He stumbled backward and braced himself against the wall for support as he began to dry-heave.

"You… You…"

He pointed his finger at me, trembling hard, but he couldn't get another word out.

Mom rushed up just then. However, when she caught sight of me, her eyes also rolled up, and she fainted on the ground.

I was utterly confused. Had I been disobedient after all? Why were they all so afraid of me?

…

Ever since that incident, everyone in the family had begun to look at me differently. They didn't dare to give me any commands or even make any comments anymore. Even Derek would go out of his way to avoid me if he ran into me.

However, I knew that this calm was only temporary.

It was Derek's birthday a week later, and the Richmonds held a party for him, inviting a few friends and relatives over to celebrate.

Derek also owned a gray parrot named Pippy. Everyone was very fond of it because it was smart, witty, and could even recite lines from Shakespeare.

I sat alone on the living room couch when the party started, staring off into space. Derek came up to me just then with Pippy in his cage.

"Look, Dexter! Don't you think that Pippy is just the cutest?" he asked, opening the cage and letting the parrot out.

Pippy flapped its wings and landed on the coffee table before me. Then, it cocked its head at me and suddenly opened its mouth, squawking loudly, "Go kill yourself! Go kill yourself! Dexter the sewer rat! Dexter the sewer rat!"

Every guest in the villa, including family, friends, relatives, and even Mom and Dad, froze on the spot.

Derek hurriedly clapped his hands over his mouth and exclaimed, "Pippy! Who taught you that? How could you?"

He then turned to Mom and Dad and immediately began to cry. "I never taught it that, I swear! I didn't even know that it knew how to swear! Maybe… Maybe Pippy… Maybe Pippy picked it up from someone else…"

Dominic's face darkened like an approaching storm. However, he didn't yell at Derek. Instead, he turned to look at me in disgust, his eyes flickering dangerously as he yelled, "It was you, wasn't it? You taught Pippy to swear so that you could frame Derek for it!"

I stared at the parrot, still telling me to kill myself, then back at Dominic, who had completely twisted the truth.

"I did no such thing," I said calmly.

"And you're still trying to deny it?"

Dominic stormed over angrily. "Who else in this household would hate themselves this much if not you? Derek is such a kind soul! How could he ever have taught Pippy to swear? I know you must have taught it to swear behind our backs to embarrass Derek on purpose!

"You're completely hopeless, Dexter Richmond! How much more evil and vicious can you get?"

He then picked up a glass from the table and smashed it on the floor next to my feet.

"Apologize to Derek! And then, apologize to the parrot!"

I looked at the broken glass on the floor. "Apologize?"

"Yes, apologize to them now! If not, then consider yourself kicked out of this household for good! We, the Richmonds, will never accept someone as evil as you as part of our family!"

I nodded and said, "Okay. I understand."

I stood and walked toward Pippy.

A hint of smug satisfaction appeared in Derek's eyes. He thought that I would submit, cry, or make a fuss about it.

Instead, I reached out and caught the parrot. It was still screaming at the top of its lungs, "Go kill yourself! Dexter the sewer rat! Go kill yourself!"

"This bird has a potty mouth," I said, looking at Dominic seriously. "Mom said that potty mouths must be punished. And it's telling me to kill myself. It did something wrong."

"What do you think you're doing? Let go of Pippy!" Derek yelled, suddenly realizing something amiss.

"I just want it to be quiet," I said, suddenly using force in my hands.

A loud crack sounded, and the parrot's head was violently twisted to the side, its squawks ceasing immediately.

Then, I tossed the dead bird into Derek's arms.

"No! Pippy!" Derek screamed, bursting into tears as he sank to the floor while cradling Pippy in his arms.

"Dexter! I'm going to kill you!" Dominic yelled, snapping completely.

He rushed up to me and punched me hard in the face until I was abruptly shoved to the side. Blood trickled from the corners of my mouth, and my ears began ringing loudly.

"You're nothing but a monster! You're worse than a fucking animal!"

Dominic grabbed me by my neck and pinned me down on the couch, his eyes completely red. "That was Derek's favorite bird! How dare you kill it! How could you be so cruel and vicious?

"Why don't you just go and die? Go kill yourself! Why the hell did you have to come back to us and torment us like this?"

I was beginning to suffocate. However, I didn't struggle or fight back. I didn't even blink.

Mom and Dad finally snapped back to their senses and rushed up to pull Dominic off me. "Dom! Let go of him! You're going to kill him!"

Dominic was forcefully pulled off of me, but he still panted loudly and yelled in my face, "Let him die! What the hell do we still want to keep a monster like him around for? Get lost! Get out of this place! Get lost from my sight!"

I crawled up from the couch and lightly touched my painful, swollen cheek.

"Get lost…" I muttered softly, echoing him.

"Yes! Get lost! Fuck off! Don't you ever let me see you again!" Dominic yelled.

I looked at him and smiled. It was a genuine, sincere, and relieved smile.

"Okay. I understand."

I then turned and walked toward the balcony. This was the second floor, and right underneath the balcony was the courtyard, paved with hard marble.

"Dex? What are you doing?" Mom suddenly asked in a trembling voice, finally sensing that something was wrong.

I ignored her and walked even more quickly. I pushed open the sliding doors leading to the balcony, and the wind rushed in at once, ruffling my thin clothes.

Derek stopped crying and stared blankly at me. Meanwhile, Dominic's expression shifted from fury to shock and terror.

I climbed onto the railing with unsettling familiarity, as though I had done it before.

"Dexter! Come down at once! Don't do anything stupid!" Dad screamed as he rushed toward me.

I stood on the balcony railing and looked back at him, staring down at the people who made me call them my family.

"Dominic wants me to get lost. I'm a good boy, so I'll do everything he tells me to do."

Then, I spread my arms open and threw myself backward like a kite on a broken string.