Chapter 4My Family Refused To Be My Emergency Contact

After a full day at the adventure park, my parents washed up and went to bed as soon as they got home.

Dad fell asleep almost immediately, but Mom kept tossing and turning.

She had not gone on any of the intense rides that day, but even standing below and watching Dad and Nellie scream their way through them had left her dizzy and unsettled for quite a while.

The longer she lay there, the worse she felt. Clutching her chest, she reached for her phone and called me.

A silent laugh escaped me.

Whenever they needed help, I was always the first person they thought of.

But Mom, the daughter who would always drop everything and come running the second you needed her was not coming back.

Four or five hours had passed between my fall and my death.

If they had called for help as soon as they received my SOS alert, there was a very good chance I would have survived.

My phone rang, but no one answered.

Mom frowned and triggered an SOS alert to me.

Still no response from me.

She stared at her phone for a few seconds, almost as if she could not believe it.

Ever since I had gone off to college and become old enough to handle things on my own, there had never been a time when I failed to respond to an emergency alert.

Annoyed, she tossed her phone onto the bed.

The noise woke Dad. He asked what was wrong.

Mom pressed a hand to her chest. “I missed one call from Kate this afternoon, and now she won’t answer my calls.

“After everything I’ve done to raise her, she’s seriously going to hold a grudge over this? Unbelievable!”

Dad sat up and tried to calm her down. “Maybe she’s just dead asleep. You’re the one I’m worried about right now. Come on, I’ll take you to the hospital.”

“Forget it. I’m already worked up enough as it is. You hurt your ankle today, so you stay here. I’ll try Kate again in a bit and have her take me.”

A few minutes later, Mom sent another SOS alert, but once again, there was no response.

In the end, she had no choice but to wake Dad again.

“No, I think we should go. My heart’s racing, and I’m really dizzy.”

Dad quickly pulled on a coat. They took a cab to the hospital.

At the hospital, Mom had an ECG and some bloodwork done.

The tests showed an arrhythmia caused by overexertion. It was not serious, but they wanted to keep her overnight for observation.

As she lay in the hospital bed, her frustration only kept building.

Dad could sleep through anything. He was already snoring on the empty bed beside her, so when Mom wanted some water, she had to get up and find it herself.

In the quiet hospital hallway, I listened as she sent Aunt Sally a long voice message to whine about everything I had supposedly done wrong.

“Just wait till she calls me back. I’d love to hear her excuse. I could’ve had a real medical emergency, and she was off sleeping like the dead.”

I gave a bitter smile.

Mom, I was dead.

Mom was discharged the next morning. While settling the medical bill, she took a picture of it and sent it to me. She was expecting me to reimburse her.

I supposed she could consider the bill reimbursed when she got my inheritance.

As soon as they got home, Mom started ranting about me again.

“She can stay away for all I care. She won’t answer my calls or respond to my messages. Apparently, we don’t matter to her anymore.”

Right then, Mom’s phone rang.

She answered. “Hello? Who is this?”

“Hello, ma’am. Am I speaking with Kate Hamer’s mother?”

Mom’s expression hardened. “Not anymore.”

There was a brief pause on the other end before the caller continued.

“This is the Westhaven Police Department. I’m very sorry to tell you this, but your daughter was found this morning near Ravencliff Mountain. She was pronounced dead at the scene.”

Mom went completely still.