The Girl Who Cried Abuse

After the SATs, my niece’s essay went viral online. It was titled: The Pains of Living in Someone Else’s Home. During her freshman year, my niece, Kristen, had moved in with us. Afraid that she might not settle in well, I made sure she got everything my own daughter, Gabrielle, had. I bought them all the same things. However, ten days after the SATs, Kristen’s essay went viral, and a target was painted on my back. [Why did you abuse me when my parents send you money for my living expenses every month? Why did you make me feel like vermin living in your house?] In the end, because Kristen accidentally revealed our location, I was nearly killed in a car crash perpetrated by a self-righteous netizen. Gabrielle was doxxed and bullied online. In the end, she broke down and committed suicide. Before I died, I went back in time. When I opened my eyes, I found myself back on the day of the SATs. Kristen and Gabrielle were holding hands as they walked out of the school. Chapter 1 “My parents want me to go home after taking the SATs, Aunt June.” Kristen McLaughlin, my niece, wore a pained look on her face. She turned to look at my daughter, Gabrielle Drake, and said, “But I want to stay with Gabby. We won’t have many chances to see each other after I start college.” I nearly cursed out loud after I heard these familiar words. These were the very same pretty words Kristen had used in the previous timeline after she finished her SATs. In reality, she just did not want to go home and suffer the poor treatment awaiting her there. My brother and sister-in-law, Caleb and Harmony, much preferred their younger son. They had said early on that Kristen had to go home and work on the farm after she finished her SATs. They wanted her to make money for Kinsley to get a game console. In the previous timeline, I had been soft-hearted. I was worried that Kristen would have it very bad back home, so I gave Caleb and Harmony 5,000 dollars of my own money to keep Kristen with me. She remained in my house and lived comfortably. But what had happened, then? In her essay, she wrote that I had abused her, drawing the ire of netizens who did not know the truth. Given a second chance, I decided to go against my usual behavior and said, “Kristen, I think you should go home.” I patted her on the shoulder and said warmly, “Didn’t you just say that you won’t have as many chances to see us after starting college? It’ll be the same with your parents. You’ll be starting college soon, so you should go home and spend some time with them. They’re working very hard to pay for your schooling. You should be a bit more considerate of them.” Kristen was stunned. She must never have never expected such a response. After all, I had always doted on her in the past. As long as she whined a bit to me, I would certainly not let her go home and suffer. Yet, her tactic was not working on that day. I opened the front passenger door for Gabrielle to get into the car. It was only then that Kristen came back to herself. She finally showed her true colors. She grabbed me by the arm and confronted me viciously. “My parents paid you for my living expenses! I haven’t even spent it all. How could you ask me to go home?” What living expenses? I nearly laughed out loud when I heard that. I took out my phone and opened my bank statement. I showed it to her. “Your parents sent me a grand total of 300 dollars. That was your freshman year of high school. They never gave me a single cent after that. Everything you needed for the past three years, your food and clothes, that all cost me money. I was the one who paid for it all.” Kristen’s face went white in a second. Her mouth opened, but she said nothing. Just then, the bus that would take her back to her hometown arrived. Without giving her the chance to retaliate, I pushed her onto the bus. “Enough. The bus is here, so you should go home. Have a safe trip home. Once you get back, you should try and get along with your parents.” On the step of the bus, she looked at me, her eyes red-rimmed and lower lip trembling. I avoided her gaze. Had she not written that she did not want to live in my household and endure my scorn? I would fulfill that wish of hers and send her back to her parents. It was an hour’s drive to get home. While waiting at some traffic lights, I turned to Gabrielle and asked gently, “What do you want to do after finishing your SATs, Gabby? Is there anything you want? You should let loose after finishing those exams.” Gabrielle was a little taken aback. She shot a glance at me and asked, “Will I… have to be like Kristen?” My heart squeezed painfully at that thought. In the previous timeline, I had told Gabrielle every day to be nicer to Kristen as life on a farm was not easy. In the end, Gabrielle became a compromising and validation-seeking sort of girl. It had even caused her to lose her life. I had to make things up to her. “Kristen has her parents to care for her.” I held Gabrielle’s hand and promised solemnly, “I’m your mother. My priority is caring for you.” Gabrielle immediately started tearing up at that, possibly because she had not heard something like that from me in ages. Chapter 2 After I questioned her repeatedly, Gabrielle finally said softly, “I want some Lego, Mom. I’ve always wanted some, but they’re so expensive. In the past, you would always buy a set of everything for both me and Kristen. I didn’t dare to ask for Lego because I was worried that you wouldn’t have enough money and start spending less on yourself. It would hurt me to see that.” My eyes started to sting with tears. My daughter truly cared so much for me. Kristen was the ungrateful child who had spent all my money and accused me of abusing her in her essay. But that was not the immediate problem. There were still ten more days before that essay would go viral online. It was enough. Ten days was enough time for me to make my preparations to teach that ungrateful niece of mine a lesson! I really looked forward to that day. … I made a detour to stop at the mall and get the Lego for Gabrielle. When we got home, my husband, Samuel Drake, was cooking in the kitchen. When he saw me come home with the Lego, he was stunned. “Why did you suddenly get Lego? Those things aren’t cheap, and our budget this month…” “I sent Kristen back home to the farm.” Samuel’s hand stilled. After a few seconds, he suddenly laughed and said, “That’s good. That’s really good. You’ve finally seen the light.” I chuckled a little helplessly. He had talked to me about it more than once, saying that we could not afford to raise two kids. He said that Gabrielle was our actual daughter, and that we could not put all our effort on someone else’s child. He said that it was alright to help Caleb and Harmony out with their expenses, but we should not be raising their daughter for them. I had always taken his words seriously. However, whenever I wanted to call them to get them to bring their daughter home, I could not stand the way they talked about Kristen and her supposed lower worth than Kinsley. With the sad and pitiful way Kristen looked at me, I relented every time. I could not bear to shove Kristen back into that kind of purgatory. I was not going to be that soft-hearted again. In this timeline, I would only care for my true family. As for the essay that would cause the destruction and deaths of my family… I pondered for a moment before taking out my phone. I took a photo of Samuel cooking and then one of Gabrielle playing with her Lego. Her back was turned to me. I posted them on TikTok with the caption: Making things up to my daughter after sending my niece home. I’ve been taking so much care of my niece for the past three years and only just realized how much I owe my daughter. Finally took the plunge and bought her the Lego she always wanted. I feel so happy yet guilty seeing her smile. I was a good aunt, but as a mom, I really owe my girl too much. I posted it. “Time for dinner.” Samuel put the last dish on the table and called for me and Gabrielle to come eat. I came back to myself and turned my phone off. Gabrielle set her Lego aside and sat by my side. Without Kristen, we had a quiet and happy meal. That night, after washing up and getting into bed, I checked TikTok. The post I had published had about half a dozen comments. Some asked for details, while others suggested ways I could make things up to Gabrielle. I chose some to reply to. [For the past three years, I gave my niece all the same things my daughter got. It could be a pen or notebook, but it also included their allowance and tutors. They both got exactly the same things from me.] Then, I posted screenshots of the records of purchases I had made. The dates, amounts, and items were all clearly stated. I knew Kristen’s essay would go viral in ten days. Enterprising netizens would quickly find all these details. When the time came, these records would show the truth, and Kristen would get what was coming to her! … The next day, I took Gabrielle to a theme park, which she had always wanted to visit. I took a picture of her in front of the castle and posted it on TikTok. It was captioned: Day two of making things up to my daughter after sending my niece home. My first post must have garnered quite some attention, because this post quickly got dozens of comments. The majority of them expressed positive sentiments toward me and Gabrielle. However, one of them was hostile. It was posted by a throwaway account named “Anonymous Samaritan” and was several paragraphs long. [Apologies for shooting too straight, but there’s no way there’s such a good aunt as you in the world. I don’t believe you could give such perfectly equal treatment to your niece and your daughter.] [Also, I saw your screenshots of purchases yesterday. Those are all some practical things. You’re obviously not rich. How is it that you can buy Lego and bring your daughter to a theme park the moment your niece left? Where did you get the money?] [If I could make a bold guess, I would say that you stole your niece’s living expenses. You took her money to spend on your daughter, but you’re posting online to garner sympathy and pretend to be a model aunt? That’s some classic toxic behavior!] Chapter 3 The rest of the comments section took a turn after that comment. Several replies agreed with it. [There’s a point there. The timing is too perfect.] [This aunt doesn’t seem like a good person.] [I pity her niece.] There were only a few posts trying to defend me, but they were buried by the comments that castigated me. I did not get angry, because I had read far more scathing words in the previous timeline. I did not post a clarifying statement. The whole point of this project was to gain attention. The more people that know about this, the more people I would have on my side once I put the proof up after Kristen’s essay went viral. The commenters thought I did not reply because I felt guilty, and the debate ramped up to a fever pitch. Similarly, the whole debacle became more viral. Right then, my phone rang. It was Kristen calling. “Aunt June—” The second I answered the phone, I could hear Kristen crying so hard that she could barely speak. “Aunt June, can you take me in? “Dad wants me to do the laundry, cook, and do farmwork. I still have to babysit Kinsley, too. They treat me like a workhorse. Please, Aunt June, please take me in. “I swear that I’ll never fight with you again. I’ll take care of Gabby. I can do chores, too. I only want to go back to you, and I can do anything you ask…” If it were still the previous timeline, I would get her to come back overnight after hearing that. However, I only listened silently as she cried. Then, I said coolly, “Kristen, they’re your parents. How could they treat you so badly? Stop crying for a moment. Could you be having some sort of misunderstanding with your parents?” After talking a bit more, I pretended that the signal was bad and hung up. Kristen was already unable to handle things there? I was really looking forward to seeing how she would handle things after eight days and she really learned her lesson. “Was that Kristen, Mom?” Gabrielle asked. “Yes.” I nodded. Gabrielle seemed to want to say more, but she only ended up saying, “Mom, could you not bring Kristen back?” I was stunned. It was very rare for Gabrielle to express such open dislike for someone. Had Kristen done something I did not know about? Gabrielle continued, “At school, Kristen keeps saying you’re biased against her and that you abuse her. I’ve heard it many times. I’ve tried talking to her, but she never listens. I don’t like her, Mom, and I don’t want to talk to her anymore.” I could not help but sigh. So, this whole thing had started so much earlier on. I thought that Kristen had only decided to burn bridges after her SATs, but it seemed that she had never been happy during these past three years. I closed my eyes and regained some calm. Then, I turned around and ruffled Gabrielle’s hair. I swore to her, “Don’t worry. I won’t bring her back home ever again. It’ll just be us three from now on.” Gabrielle brightened up at that. Five days after the end of the SATs, my posts were overrun with people cursing me out, saying that I stole Kristen’s living expenses from her parents and calling me heartless. Someone had even tried to doxx me. I did not stop any of this. I had even followed my main account with the one I posted on, making it easier for them to find my information. On the seventh day, someone doxxed me. Calls from people wanting to curse me out kept flooding in. Seeing that the whole debacle was coming to a head, I finally posted the evidence I had prepared, such as the 300 dollars from Caleb and Harmony and the ignored texts when I asked them for some financial help raising Kristen. I posted these in the comments section and added: What money did I steal when they only gave me 300 dollars in three years? Once this was posted, the comments section went very quiet. I was preparing to post something else to rile things up even further when the doorbell rang. I put down my phone and opened the door. Standing outside was Kristen. “Aunt June!”