In Death I Obeyed You Most Chapter 06
Mom was brought into the precinct interrogation room, and my spirit drifted silently behind her.
Two detectives sat across the table, their stares piercing. “Start talking, Hulda. What was that hardware inside your daughter? How did you contract an illegal human modification ring?”
Cowering in the metal chair, Mom shook uncontrollably, mascara running down her blotchy face.
“I… I was referred by an acquaintance at the country club.”
“She said that private clinic could cure rebellious teenagers, make them completely obedient, and that it wouldn’t harm their health…”
“They said a microchip would make her docile and well-mannered… so I sent Nora there.”
The lead detective slammed his palm against the table, his roar shaking the room. “That is an international criminal syndicate! Do you have any concept of the barbaric mutilation required to bolt titanium rods and microchips into a child?!”
Mom buried her face in her trembling hands, weeping hysterically: “I didn’t know… I really didn’t know! I just wanted Nora to behave, so she wouldn’t threaten Chloe! I thought it was just strict behavioral correction… I never dreamed it would kill her…”
As she was escorted out in handcuffs, Dad rushed through the precinct doors straight from JFK Airport.
He grabbed the detective’s coat, his voice wild. “Detective! What happened?! Why is my wife under arrest?!”
The detective took a deep, heavy breath. “Sir, I am deeply sorry. Your eldest daughter, Nora, passed away a week ago from a hit-and-run pulmonary embolism. Her body had been subjected to severe, illegal cybernetic modification.”
“What?!”
Dad turned slowly toward Mom, his eyes bloodshot with rage. “Nora is dead?! Explain yourself right now!”
Mom dropped to her knees at Dad’s feet, clutching his trousers and sobbing, “Darling, I was wrong! I’m so sorry… I killed our daughter…”
“What did you do to Nora?!” Dad shoved her back, his voice cracking.
Mom collapsed onto the floor, wailing, “I didn’t mean to… When Nora came back to us, she resented Chloe! She demanded we send Chloe back to her biological lower-class family! I was terrified…”
“Terrified of what?!” Dad screamed.
“I was terrified Nora would destroy Chloe’s future…” Mom’s voice withered, laden with toxic prejudice. “I raised Chloe from infancy! She is so gentle and sweet; I gave her all my maternal love—is that a crime?”
“Nora grew up in the countryside, rough and unpolished, saying whatever came to mind without tact.”
“I was terrified she would ruin everything! I heard that clinic could make her completely submissive, so I sent her…”
“You lunatic! You monstrous monster!” Dad shook with uncontrollable fury, his fist raised in the air.
Yet seeing her pathetic, sniveling state, his hand fell limp, and he covered his face, sobbing in agonizing despair.
“I knew you favored Chloe, but Nora was our own flesh and blood! How could you have the heart to drag your own child into hell?!”
Floating above them, watching their mutual destruction and bitter tears, my heart felt completely still.
Her justification for her cruelty felt meaningless.
I remembered the afternoon I was first brought to that opulent townhouse.
Dressed in cheap, oversized clothes, I had stood nervously on the doorstep, yearning for family warmth, dreaming of attending school like normal children.
I thought the misery of my childhood had finally reached daylight.
I never could have imagined that simply asking, “Why hasn’t Chloe gone back to her real family?”—that simply posing an innocent question—would lead my own mother to sell me into a clandestine laboratory of horrors.
Belated remorse is the cheapest currency in existence.
My suffering and my death were already etched into eternity.