Starved to Death by My Mother, I Became My Family's Eternal Regret

Hazel is a girl whose newborn sister, Lily, falls gravely ill. A clairvoyant tells her mother, Eleanor, that Hazel carries a dark entity inside her, and that Lily will only survive if Hazel keeps a strict hundred-day spiritual fast of prayer. From then on, Hazel is fed nothing but a small plate of boiled greens each day.

Starving and blacking out, Hazel begs for a scoop of mashed potatoes or a slice of bread, but Eleanor kicks her and locks her in the pantry under the stairs, calling her a monster and a curse. Her father, David, wavers, and her older brother, Ethan, promises treats once the fast ends, yet no one opens the door. Even when David learns the pediatrician calls Lily's illness a standard infant infection, Eleanor refuses to relent.

When Eleanor finally returns and turns the brass doorknob, a phone call about Lily pulls her away, and the door closes again. Hazel's body lies still inside, one hand frozen as if knocking, while her soul watches her family gather hopefully around Lily's crib.