I woke in the hospital with tubes everywhere
,the stench of antiseptic choking me.
The family stood by my bed.

Mom’s eyes were red.“Emily,Are you feeling better?”
Seeing them,I used my last strength to push them away.“Get…out!”
Cancer hurts
,but their betrayal was a thousand times worse.
I couldn’t stand them.
Michael knelt with tears streaming

.“I was wrong,Emily.I ignored your pain,let you suffer.Please get better.I’ll buy you anything.”
I wore an oxygen mask, and my face was cold.
A tree with a hollow heart stands but dies inside.People think it’ll sprout in spring,but it’s long gone.
I looked at Mom.“You always said you wished you’d never had me.”

She knelt, sobbing with broken pride
“Those were angry words.Can you forgive me?”
I pulled my hand free and smiled faintly.
“I have something to say,too.I never wanted to be your daughter.I wish you’d strangled me at birth.”
Her body shook and collapsed
She couldn’t fathom why her daughter became this.
No words came to her..She fled,crying.
I laughed with tears falling.
,staring numbly at the ceiling.
I pressed the call button.
Nathan arrived with the doctor.
Our eyes met, and my voice softened as I pleaded.“Brother…I don’t want to stay here.Take me home.”
He looked at me,calm.“Okay.”
Michael grabbed him and choked out.
“She can’t leave!She’ll die!”
Nathan shook him off.“So she stays and dies in a hospital bed?”
Michael’s hands fell,his eyes closing in grief.
He agreed to let me go.
While leaving, I didn’t look back.
I knew they followed,but apologies don’t fix anything.
Forgiving them wouldn’t heal me.
Why should I?