Tapes Sent to Prison

Ten years ago, I had leaked the trade secrets of my family's company, leading my parents to jump to their deaths. I had also sent my two older brothers, who had always loved me, to prison to take the blame for me. They were each sentenced to ten years. Every year, I sent them a videotape in prison. In the first year, I stood in a lavish villa, mocking their miserable state, and told them I had leaked the secrets on purpose. In the second year, I stood before our parents' graves, sneering that they deserved to die and calling them cowards. In the third year, I held up two plane tickets and told them that I had sent both their wives to slums overseas, where they were living a life worse than death. This went on until their sentences were finally over. The videotapes stopped just as abruptly. Three days before their release, a prison guard suddenly said to Colin Garcia, "When you get home, make sure you turn over a new leaf. And remember to treat your little sister better. She always thinks of you two." Colin grimaced, his gaze darkening. "She comes every year?" "Yeah. No, actually, that's not quite right. She's—" Then the prison guard's phone rang, and he hurried away. "Never mind! Just remember to turn over a new leaf!" Chapter 1 The prison guard, Xavier Resler, opened the door, holding some documents. "Inmates 1103 and 1104, your sentences end in three days. Come over and sign these documents." Colin Garcia and Lance Garcia stepped forward, their hair cropped short. They no longer looked like the dashing scions of the Garcia family. Ten years of incarceration had left them numb and cold. As Xavier watched the two men sign the documents, he sighed, "You two have been pretty well-behaved. When you get out, make the most of your lives. Your family is still waiting for you." My eldest brother, Colin, paused mid-signature, a blot of ink bleeding across the paper. He smirked and laughed mockingly, "Family, huh?" "Ha!" My second brother, Lance, seemed to recall something. He closed his eyes briefly, suppressing the storm of emotions within him. Upon closer inspection, the corners of his eyes were tinged red. Xavier had worked here for ten years and had watched them go from arrogant and defiant newcomers to men who had been beaten into submission by their fellow inmates. He couldn't help but feel a pang of sorrow at how far they had fallen. He said, "By the way, you two have a younger sister, don't you? She—" "Don't bring her up," Colin cut him off coldly, his voice hoarse. "She isn't my sister. She's my enemy." Xavier looked surprised but said nothing more. Meanwhile, I, their so-called enemy, was standing nearby as a spirit. I watched the hatred they felt for me, my heart heavy with sorrow. This year marked the tenth anniversary of my death. It was also the tenth year I had spent accompanying my brothers through their prison sentence. Even though it broke my heart, I had chosen this path myself, and I had no regrets. All I wanted was for them to do well. During their break, Lance turned to Colin and asked, "Once we're out, should we go after Sutton Group for revenge first? Or do we look for both our wives? Or…" He paused, his voice turning hoarse. "Do we track Brittany down and ask her why she betrayed us?" Colin remained silent. Only his tightly clenched fists betrayed his anger. "We'll do all of it. As for Brittany, she's no longer a part of our family. And she's certainly not our sister! Lance, you'd better remember that." I stiffened at his words, a familiar ache settling in my heart. Even after all these years, I still couldn't bring myself to stop caring about how much they despised me. Colin pulled several videotapes from beneath his pillow, his eyes filled with hatred. But beneath that hatred lay humiliation and pain. "We've watched these tapes over and over again. Lance, don't ever forget what Brittany did to us!" Lance's gaze darkened. He still remembered how, when they had first arrived, they had spent every day protesting their innocence. But in prison, no one would listen to their cries for justice. Their pleas fell on deaf ears. That was until I sent them the first videotape. Back then, they had thought it was a message expressing how much I missed them or how much I loved them. But to their shock, they heard me confess that I had leaked the company's secrets and driven our parents to their deaths. Lance pushed back his sleeve, revealing his wrist. It was covered in countless scratches, each one a painful reminder of the agony he had endured. "Of course I remember. I remember it all." I crouched beside them, my fingers trembling. I wanted to touch those scars, but my fingers passed straight through them. "I'm sorry…" I whispered, my eyes welling up with tears. "But I don't regret this." Three days later, Colin and Lance were released from prison and had rented a place to live. As luck would have it, their next-door neighbor was Xavier, the very prison guard who had delivered my videotapes over the years. "Not bad. You both look like you're in good shape," he said, patting them on the shoulders. "If you run into any trouble, you can come to me." Then, he remembered something and added, "Oh, right. Your sister left another videotape with me." He handed the videotape to them. "We agreed that I would give this to you a month from now. But now that you're out of prison, there's no reason for me to keep it anymore." Colin looked down, staring at it silently for a few moments without taking it. Lance pursed his lips, his expression conflicted. "Just throw it away, Xavier. Thank you for everything over the years, but we want nothing to do with Brittany's filthy things." Xavier sighed, "Okay. Are you sure you don't want to take a look? I noticed there was a sticky note on it." He paused, then said, "It said 'The Truth.'" Chapter 2 Colin's steps faltered. Something occurred to him, and he laughed bitterly. "The truth? Every year's videotapes have been labeled with those words. And what did we see?" He closed his eyes, forcing down the bitterness in his chest. "They were all just her way of gloating over how she had betrayed our family!" Lance took the videotape and tossed it into the trash. "We're not watching that. We cut ties with her a long time ago." My fingers curled into fists. Even as my nails dug into my palms, I felt no pain. The dull ache buried deep in my heart was the real source of my suffering. I wanted to tell them that whatever was on this videotape really was the whole truth. I wanted them to learn the truth, but I also couldn't bear the thought of them having to face it. That was why I had written those words on every tape. If knowing the truth would only bring them pain, it was better for me to bear it alone. Xavier looked surprised for a moment. "Really? When I first met that young lady, she didn't strike me as the kind of person you two make her out to be." Colin scoffed, "Before she drove our parents to their deaths, brought Garcia Group to ruin, and made us take the fall for her, I had no idea she was such a monster!" When I heard this, my eyes welled up with tears. Xavier noticed that he was getting worked up and decided not to say anything more. "All right. But I need to tell you something. She gave me all those videotapes at once. So, the last time I actually saw her was ten years ago." Colin and Lance exchanged a glance. For a fleeting moment, they felt unease and panic, but the feeling passed so quickly that neither had time to make sense of it. Instead, they sneered. Colin yelled, "She's living the high life now. Why would she ever return to this godforsaken dump every year?" "What a vicious woman! Even after leaving, she still had to record something to rub it in!" With that, he stormed off. Lance hurried after him, but when no one was looking, he quietly retrieved the videotape from the trash can. I watched him in surprise, and a glimmer of hope rose within me. Perhaps Lance didn't hate me as much as I thought. That evening, Xavier invited Colin and Lance to his home for dinner. After a few rounds of drinks, the three of them had loosened up and begun speaking more freely. Xavier said, "You need to stop being so stubborn. I may have only met that young lady once, but I trust my judgment of people." Xavier recalled the day we first met. Colin and Lance had just been brought into the prison when he saw me. I was staggering as I walked, my face pale and my eyes swollen and red from crying. As he reminisced, he said, "You have no idea. She was crying so hard that the entire prison could hear her. Even I felt tears welling up." Colin and Lance remained silent, their fingers gripping their cups so tightly that their knuckles turned white. "What right does she have to be sad? Isn't all of this her own fault?" Colin hurled his cup, and it shattered just inches from my feet. "I'm sorry," I whispered. But a ghost's words could never reach the ears of the living. Xaiver shook his head drunkenly. "No, that's not it. When she came to see me, she handed over ten videotapes. I saw that one of her fingers had been severed! Her wrists were also covered in bruises." I raised my hand and looked down at the missing finger on my right hand, smiling bitterly. A memory surfaced in my mind. My parents and brothers gathered around me, watching me play the piano. Sadly, those beautiful memories had eventually been ruined by the cruel reality that came afterward. Lance suddenly froze. "What did you say?" He sprang to his feet, suddenly sobering up. But a moment later, he smiled in derision. "You can't be talking about Brittany. Such a selfish person would never let herself end up like that! She must be living it up in some villa by now!" As he spoke, his arms trembled uncontrollably. He struggled to suppress the hatred in his heart and the lingering trace of sorrow. Colin listened in silence, his eyes welling up with tears. "Xaiver, you can never judge a person by appearances. No one knows better than I do what a monster she really is!" By then, Xaiver had already passed out drunk on the couch. Yet, he continued mumbling the same words under his breath. "No, that's not right. I heard her say something. She said she sent you to prison to… What was it again?" Colin and Lance stood there gloomily. After covering Xavier with a blanket, they quietly left the house. As soon as the front door closed, Xavier suddenly murmured, "Oh, right. She said it was to protect you…" Chapter 3 Early the next morning, Colin and Lance went to our parents' graves. "Hey, Mom, Dad. Lance and I have come to see you." Colin laid the flowers on the ground, then reached out to wipe the dust from their gravestones. His voice trembled with emotion. "I'm sorry we took ten years to come here. You must have been waiting for a long time. I know what you want to ask. You want to know where Brittany is, don't you?" Lance continued for him. "She's doing well. You don't need to worry. She's married now and has a family of her own." Colin fell silent, offering no objection. I looked up at them in surprise, tears welling up in my eyes. Even now, they had still chosen to preserve my dignity. Lance crouched and buried his face in his arms, sobbing like a child. After returning from the cemetery, they ran into Xavier again. "Hey, Xavier," Lance greeted him. "We're heading abroad the day after tomorrow to bring someone home." "Really? Who?" Colin and Lance hesitated for a moment before answering, "Our wives." Xavier nodded. Then a thought suddenly crossed his mind, and he asked, "Oh, by the way, I just got home and saw someone skulking around behind you. Do you know who it was?" Colin and Lance widened their eyes and looked behind them. They saw a corner of someone's clothing just as it disappeared from view. "Stop right there!" Colin yelled. The strength he had built up through years of hard labor in prison came in handy. In the blink of an eye, he had pinned the man in black to the ground. Lance and Xavier rushed over. I stared at the man kneeling on the ground, my eyes widening in shock. It was him! "Let me go!" he shouted, struggling as his face turned red. Xavier stared at the man for a few seconds. He seemed familiar, as though he had seen him somewhere before. Before he could think any further, a police car pulled up right behind them. "Thank you for your help! He's a fugitive wanted for multiple murders. We've finally caught him! Thank you!" After the police car drove away, Xavier suddenly remembered. "I remember now! I've seen him before." As Colin and Lance stared at Xavier in confusion, his expression turned solemn. "Ten years ago, when Brittany came to deliver those videotapes, she was riding in his car!" Colin stopped dead in his tracks, fury appearing in his eyes. "So, it's true. Even back then, she had already been involved with ruthless criminals! What could he possibly have offered her to make her betray us and drive our parents to their deaths? What kind of monster would do something so vile?" He kicked the trash can beside him. It was impossible to tell whether he was angry about being followed or about being betrayed again and again by the person he loved. He yelled, "Brittany! How much longer are you going to keep tormenting us?" That wasn't true! I stood nearby, completely at a loss, waving my hands frantically. I didn't know why he had shown up either! But all my attempts to explain myself were futile. Just then, Xavier, who had remained silent, murmured, "No, I don't think she was involved with him. If anything, it looked more like she was…" He hesitated, then finally spoke under my brothers' bloodshot stares. "Being held hostage." I shuddered, looking up at Xavier in shock. How on earth did he know that? "Held hostage?" Colin and Lance exchanged a glance, seeing uncertainty and disbelief in each other's eyes. They felt a brief unease, but neither could grasp it. "You must have been seeing things!" For some reason, they instinctively rejected the idea. "Brittany looked like she was living the high life in those videos! Held hostage, my foot!" Xavier remained silent. He wasn't even sure whether his suspicions were correct. Lance frowned and asked, "Xavier, do you have any way to contact her?" Xavier shook his head. "No, I only saw her once, ten years ago. After she handed over the videotapes, I never saw her again." A thought then crossed his mind, and he said hesitantly, "Why don't you watch the last tape? I can't shake the feeling that there's something going on here that we don't know about." Colin refused immediately. "Lance, why are you looking for that bitch? Don't tell me you actually want to ask her why she betrayed our family? "Don't be foolish. Someone as vile and heartless as she is wouldn't even understand what she had done wrong! And I've thrown the videotape away. There's no need to watch it anyway." Lance looked down and pursed his lips. He didn't tell Colin he had retrieved it. Just then, Xavier's wife came rushing downstairs, panting heavily. She turned to Colin and Lance and yelled, "You need to get home! The landlord's grandson broke in and rummaged through your metal box. He's playing something he found!" Lance immediately panicked. He had secretly hidden the videotape he had retrieved in there! Colin and Lance hurried home. They arrived just in time to see the little brat fiddling with the videotape before pressing play. A familiar figure appeared on the screen. "Colin, Lance, when you see this…" Chapter 4 Before I could finish speaking in the video, Colin stormed over and yanked out the videotape, his face dark with fury. He yelled, "Scram!" The boy was startled and immediately ran away, crying loudly. Lance looked a bit guilty. He tried to explain himself. "Colin, I—" However, Colin hurled the videotape at him. He was breathing heavily, his chest heaving with rage. "Lance, why did you bring her things back home? Are you out of your mind? She got Mom and Dad killed and made us spend ten years in prison! And you still can't let go of her?" Lance pursed his lips, his face turning slightly pale. Xavier sighed. There was only so much an outsider could say about family matters. He stepped forward and patted Colin on the shoulder. He explained, "Colin, I still trust my instincts. If your sister really was as cruel as you say, and her grief in prison that day was all an act, she must be one hell of an actress. You have no idea. That day, she cried so hard that she actually coughed up blood." My brothers froze, shock and confusion flickering in their eyes. I trembled. That day, I had traded my life for one last chance to see them. I had no regrets. Colin's expression stiffened as he desperately tried to smother the sudden panic rising in his chest. A suffocating silence settled over the room. After a long silence, Colin looked up at Xavier. "You've always thought Brittany was a good person, haven't you?" He laughed bitterly, ignoring the sharp ache in her chest. "It's no wonder she managed to fool you. She managed to fool us for over 20 years." As he spoke, he walked into the room and took out the nine videotapes. "Go ahead and watch them. Once you've seen them, you'll know exactly what kind of person Brittany really is." "Colin…" Lance murmured. Colin said, "It's okay. We're leaving tomorrow anyway. We won't be coming back. Nothing here will matter to us anymore." Xavier instinctively straightened up, his eyes fixed on the TV. The first videotape began to play. "Colin, Lance, is life in prison miserable for you? Well, let me tell you something. I was the one who leaked the company's confidential information. Don't bother asking me why. It's because I hate you both! I despise you! In the Garcia family, I was nothing but an idiot!" Xavier's eyes widened in shock. Colin forced a painfully ugly smile. "You know how Lance and I were when we first showed up. With Mom and Dad dead, we had no desire to go on living. But her cruelty gave me my reason to keep living. I want to kill her with my own hands." The second videotape began to play. "I sent both your wives to a slum overseas. Who knows if they'll even survive? By the time you get out of prison, everyone will have turned their backs on you. Don't even think about trying to find me. I'll be living a much happier life than you could ever imagine." Colin squeezed his eyes shut, gripping the remote so tightly it nearly cracked. "See that? The woman you keep calling kind didn't even spare two innocent women. I can't even imagine what kind of life they've been forced to live all these years!" Lance hung his head, his hands clenched into tight fists. He forced down the hatred inside him, along with the trace of sorrow he refused to acknowledge. "Xavier, don't speak up for her anymore. She doesn't deserve that." "But…" Xavier paused, hesitating for a moment. "I still believe what I saw." I crouched to the side, already sobbing uncontrollably. I thought, "No, none of that was true. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" However, I didn't know what else to do. All I could do was let the pain in my heart consume me. Just then, the landlord's mischievous grandson came rushing in again. Before anyone could react, he pressed play on the last videotape, a cheeky grin on his face. "Stop!" Colin yelled. He was about to rush over and turn it off when he heard my faint, weary sigh from the TV. "Colin, Lance, if you're watching this, please go to Plot No. 19 at Linton Cemetery." Everyone froze, their eyes turning instinctively toward the screen. On the TV, I gave a faint smile, bitterness filling my eyes. "That's where I'm buried."