No Time

I'm 4 years old now.

My little brother's already been born and is 2 years old. His name is Shui Lai.

My parents dote on him much more than me since he's the youngest.

I don't care, he deserves it. He was the first one to die in the apocalypse when dad pushed him out to the zombies to escape.

This time, he won't die. I'll save him and push out my parents instead.

Oh, today's the day the incident will happen.

The incident, it ruined our mom's life and she turned abusive because of it.

"Kyaa!"

Yup, here comes that high-pitched scream.

My mom was calling on her phone while stirring the soup.

She accidentally dropped her phone in and put her hand in the pot to retrieve it. She, fortunately, realized that it was a bad idea and hurriedly retrieved her hand, but knocked the pot over. She jumped away, but some of the boiling soup still got on her leg.

She told me to call my dad through the house phone.

Obviously, you're supposed to call the ambulance first!

After calling the ambulance, I called dad.

I could hear the activity going on in the background.

A young woman's giggles.

Slurps and moans.

Disgusting.

Dad hurried home after the call.

The ambulance was already here and was transporting mom out of the apartment.

Our neighbors got outside to see what the commotion was about.

Mom was crying because it hurt too much for her.

Psh, even children during the apocalypse didn't feel a thing when burned like that! Just go through it!

Well, maybe my standards are a bit too much...

Mom was checked by a doctor immediately.

Her leg was treated, but he then said something that would affect our lives from then on.

Mom had bone cancer.

It was one of the early stage cancers that could be easily treated.

Expensive, a million yuan, but it was ok, right?

Who would have imagined at that time, dad was having an affair with another woman, and that he was giving most of his paychecks to buy things for her?

Our family wasn't rich, and it wasn't poor either, but having most of the life savings end up in an outsider's hands was really not good at all. That woman spent most of her time shopping and going to night clubs.

Imagine what mom looked like when dad told her that it was too much to pay for treatment.

She looked absolutely livid! Flames were officially ready to shoot out from her eyes~

Haha, this was too funny for me.

My parents, who claimed to love us, did nothing for us during the apocalypse.

Killing off Shui Lai.

Making Ge take care of their portion of hunted zombies.

Making me work for them exclusively and trying to use me to curry favor with the higher-ups.

Even our sister was sold off by them.

To appease our mother, dad had careful sex with her, mindful of her burnt leg. For the last time, but mom didn't know that.

I guess this was how sister was born, no wonder mom hit her the most...

So, after about 2 months, mom found out that she was pregnant again.

By that time, Dad rarely came home, making excuses that work was too much. Mom believed him and was still the ever-faithful wife.

Dad always looked uncomfortable when mom asked him where he had been.

Mom got plenty of hints that Dad was cheating on her but she still stubbornly stuck to her imaginations and acted her part.

In the 7 months that she was pregnant, she was hinted at, again, again, and again.

Since it was bad for the baby to be within a depressed mother, mom always acted cheerful and happy.

Ge and Xiao Lai didn't know what was going on.

My Ge was 6 years old and went to kindergarten every day, missing the actions that lead up to mom's abuse. Xiao Lai went to daycare with me since he turned 2 years old. They were still too young to understand and I didn't want them to be blemished by the acts soon to come.

I told them not to disturb mom and they listened.

I was nicest to them. I was respected. I always made the right choices at the right time. Well, it's also because I love them while my parents don't.

Mom didn't take care of Xiao Lai properly and was always out of the house these days, hanging out with her friends.

So I took care of Xiao Lai and Ge. To be honest, I kind of spoil them a lot... My siblings are the only people who care for me, I have to properly care for them too.

My parents are always gone during the weekends. Mom goes out with her friends, Dad goes to visit the girl he was having an affair with.

They always leave us plenty of money to spend on food.

We always eat instant noodles and go outside exploring instead. Saving up the money, I stash excess under the refrigerator.

The day our sister was born, dad wasn't there.

The nurses thought mom was crying because of happiness. How wrong they were.

To be honest, my younger brother, Shui Yu, is kind of weird.

He doesn't seem to like our parents.

He doesn't like to sit still.

He doesn't act his age.

Well, I guess he's what they call a genius.

But he's much better than our parents.

Although he's younger, he knows how to do many things.

I feel quite embarrassed due to how much he spoils us.

I'm supposed to be the eldest, but I can't do much...

But, I really don't get my younger brother.

Why does he prepare for everything?

What is he preparing for?

How does he know everything?

Why does he look at our youngest brother like he feels sorry for him?

Why is he always so uncaring to our parents?

Why does he look so mockingly at them all the time?

Why is he so...

There are many questions I would like to ask, but Xiao Yu says God doesn't exist, so I can't expect answers.

But, as long as he doesn't look at us with the scary eyes that he looks at our parents with, I'm fine.