Apparently I'm a Compulsive Liar

I've been a liar for as long as anyone can remember. When I was seven, I told Mom that Jared smashed our piggy bank. She searched me instead and found the missing coins in my pocket. When I was 12, I insisted I didn't steal my classmate's notebook. Then it was found inside my backpack. When I was 18, I accused my stepfather of assaulting me. He produced photos proving he was out of state that night. By then, everyone knows exactly what I am. A compulsive liar. A daughter who will say anything. At 22, I sit in front of a camera with my psychiatric evaluation in my hands and start a livestream. "For the next three days, I'm going to show you what it's like to spend 22 years being called a liar." Chapter 1 The comments hadn't stopped pouring in since the moment I went live. "Isn't this the girl who falsely accused her stepfather of raping her? And she still has the nerve to show her face online?" "I remember her. The whole thing got so big she ended up in the local papers." "Apparently she's been a pathological liar since she was a kid. She even tried to get her own father arrested!" I sat in front of the camera and made no attempt to hide. Acid churned in my stomach, rising into my throat. I swallowed hard and forced it back down, then looked straight into the camera and smiled. "I'm going to wear a hidden camera and keep it running 24 hours a day. Give me three days, and maybe by the end of it, you'll finally know the whole story of my life." The moment I finished speaking, the hospital room door opened. Mom walked in carrying a takeout container. I quickly clipped the hidden camera to the brooch on my shirt. She didn't even look at me. As she poured some soup into a bowl, she asked, "When did the doctor say you can go home?" I was still clutching the results of my psychiatric evaluation. Without a word, I flipped to the final page and held it out to her. She barely glanced at it before her expression darkened. "Severe depression?" I nodded. She slammed the spoon down on the table. "Did you lie on the questionnaire? Make everything sound worse on purpose so they'd keep you in the hospital longer?" "I didn't." She pointed to one of the questions on the evaluation. "This one asks if you've ever thought about ending your life. Why didn't you check 'never'?" I froze. To her, my silence must have looked like guilt. She let out a long, irritated sigh. "Your brother told me that people with depression have physical symptoms too. They can't sleep, their hands shake, they lose their appetite... There's a word for it. Somatization, I think. You don't have any of that. Don't think I haven't noticed." "I haven't eaten in three days," I said quietly. Mom paused, then her mouth tightened into a disapproving frown. "There you go, lying again. I saw you throwing out a takeout container yesterday." She pushed the bowl of soup toward me. I shook my head. "I really can't eat." The words had barely left my mouth when her chest rose and fell sharply. Then her hand struck me across the face. My head snapped to the side. My cheek burned, and for a second, my ear rang. "Weren't you just eating candy? There are wrappers all over your table! Do you think I'm blind? "What's the difference between candy and a real meal? If you can eat one, you can eat the other!" I parted my pale lips, but I didn't have the strength to argue. Mom grabbed the bowl and tried to force the soup into my mouth. My stomach lurched almost immediately, and I gagged twice. Her face lit up as if she'd just proven her point. "See? You can eat! I don't know who let you get away with all this lying for so long." Then my brother's voice came through Mom's phone. "You can't fake the physical symptoms of anxiety, Mom. Don't let her fool you. She's just trying to make you waste more money on her." The livestream chat exploded again. "Exactly! Someone who's actually depressed wouldn't act like this. This girl lies about everything. Good thing her mom caught her pretending she couldn't eat." "Just discharge her already. She's taking up a hospital bed someone else actually needs." Mom took a deep breath and gave me a stern look. "Don't try to fool me with some bogus evaluation. Hospitals hand you a questionnaire, you check a few boxes, and suddenly that's a diagnosis? It's ridiculous." She picked up the psychiatric evaluation from my bedside table and tossed it straight into the trash. "And don't bother with any more of these tests. I'm not going to hold this whole pretending-to-be-sick thing against you. Now come on. Eat something, and then we're going home." The livestream comments kept rolling in. "Her mom is way more patient than I would've been. She even brought her homemade soup. Depression? Please. She's just got too much time on her hands." "Kids these days spend all day glued to their phones, and suddenly they're convinced they have mental health problems. Half the time they just want attention! Didn't you guys hear? She has a younger brother. Bet that's what this is really about." In the end, I agreed to go home. When I was discharged, Mom brought me a dress to change into. It was pink, with a full, flared skirt. The moment she handed it to me, my entire body began to tremble. I hadn't worn a dress since the night I'd turned 18. Mom seemed to have forgotten that. When I didn't move, she even helped me put it on herself. Then she took me by the arm, led me out of the hospital, and ushered me into the car. But we didn't go home. The car turned onto a street I knew all too well and pulled up outside a familiar restaurant. Chapter 2 "I set you up on a date," Mom said. "He's from a good family, and his parents own a successful business. You're not getting any younger. It's time you started thinking about settling down." "I don't want a relationship." My voice trembled despite my best efforts. Mom sighed. "I'm only trying to do what's best for you." "Besides, didn't you write about it in your diary? You said there was a boy you liked. So, why are you suddenly claiming you don't want a relationship?" My hands went still. "My diary?" She looked completely unapologetic. "What? I'm your mother. Since when am I not allowed to read your diary?" A sudden chill swept through me. I was ushered into a private dining room. A man was already seated across the table. He had deeply tanned skin and a gold ring on one finger. Before we walked in, Mom had given me the basics. He was divorced and had a son. He'd gone to community college. According to Mom, that made him a perfect match for someone like me, since all I had was a high school diploma. I'd never gone to college because, during my senior year, someone reported me for cheating on my final exams. I swore I hadn't done it. But the security footage showed me looking at a cheat sheet. Mom was so ashamed of me that she pulled me out of school before I could graduate. The moment I walked in, the man's eyes traveled slowly from my face to my feet and back again, as though I were something he was considering buying. Mom immediately launched into an enthusiastic introduction. "This is my daughter. She's never even had a boyfriend. She's very innocent." My hands were shaking as I sat down. "She's pretty," the man said, looking me over again. "A little too skinny, though." He poured me a glass of water and slid it across the table. "If you're willing to marry me, I'll give your mother ten thousand dollars to help with the wedding." That was a lot of money in a small town like ours. I gave him a smile that didn't reach my eyes. "I've never had a boyfriend," I said. "But I'm not a virgin." Under the table, Mom pinched my thigh hard. Her nails dug painfully into my skin before she let go. "Don't be ridiculous," she said with an awkward laugh. "She doesn't know what she's talking about." The man's expression changed instantly. My thigh still stung where Mom had pinched me, but beneath the pain came a strange flicker of satisfaction. "My stepfather assaulted me when I was 18." The man clicked his tongue and shot Mom an annoyed look. "You should've told me that before. That changes things. Ten thousand is out of the question. I'd give you… maybe a thousand." From ten thousand dollars to one thousand. Mom's face went livid. She rounded on me, furious. "What is wrong with you? Why do you have to lie about everything? Are you trying to humiliate me?" "I'm not lying," I said. Mom was so furious that she slapped me again. Then, as if nothing had happened, she turned back to the man with an ingratiating smile. "Please, don't listen to her. My daughter is still a virgin. She just has a terrible habit of making things up! I'm her mother. I know everything there is to know about her." The man saw how desperate she was and gave a contemptuous little smile. "Forget the thousand. I'm not paying anything upfront anymore." He looked at me as he spoke. "Tell you what. Once she marries me, I'll give her four hundred dollars a month for expenses. That's more than enough to keep her fed. "Can't say I'm not being generous." I picked up the glass of water in front of me and threw it in his face. He shot to his feet and slapped me across the face. The impact sent me stumbling back two steps. My lower back struck the edge of the table, and a dull ache shot through me. The half-closed door to the private room swung open. Several people outside peered in, drawn by the commotion. Mom's chest heaved as she pointed a trembling finger at me. "Why do you have to lie? Why would you say something like that and ruin your own reputation?" The man wiped the water from his face, muttering something about me being crazy and this whole thing being a waste of his time. Then he turned and headed for the door. Mom hurried after him, trying to stop him, but he shoved her aside without so much as a backward glance. Voices drifted in from the hallway, one after another. "What's wrong with that girl?" "Her mother went to all this trouble to set her up with someone, and that's how she behaves?" "And saying something like that about herself in front of everyone? Has she got no shame?" Mom looked like she was at the end of her rope. She glared at me with a mixture of anger and bitter disappointment. "She's always been like this! Ever since she was little, it's been one lie after another. She lies about everything!" The livestream chat was moving so fast I could barely read it. "Oh, my God. So, she's not just a compulsive liar. She's completely unhinged too. Her mom was nice enough to set her up on a date. If she didn't like the guy, she could've just said no. Who says something like that about themselves?" "And she's still accusing her stepdad? The newspaper literally reported that he was out of state the night she claimed it happened. He couldn't have done anything to her." "Honestly, she deserved that slap. I'm getting angry just watching this. Her poor mother must be at her wits' end." In the end, Mom dragged me home. She locked me in the utility closet with the same practiced ease she'd done it countless times before. It had always been my punishment room. Whenever Mom decided I'd told a lie, that was where she put me. Chapter 3 I stayed locked in there all day. It wasn't until the following evening that the door finally opened. The livestream comments were still coming in. "She said she'd show us her life for three days, and she's already spent almost all of day two locked in a closet. This is getting boring." "There's still one day left. I want to see what this big reveal she promised us is supposed to be." "Come out and change your clothes," Mom said. "Your dad's home. It's his birthday, so don't ruin tonight for everyone." I nodded and followed her into the living room, moving as if I were barely there. Mom looked at me and sighed helplessly. "Lie after lie, every single day. I honestly don't know who you take after." Richard Cole smiled when he saw me come out, the deep lines around his face shifting with the expression. He even pretended to take my side. "She's grown up. She's bound to have an attitude sometimes," he said mildly. "And you shouldn't keep locking her in there every time she acts out." The sound of his voice made my stomach turn. That night, the clock had just struck midnight when we sat down for his birthday dinner. The dining table was covered with food. Richard sat at the head, with Mom and my brother, Jared Cole, on the other side. And somehow, the seat beside him had been saved for me. He carved off a piece of roast beef and placed it on my plate. My fingers began to tremble uncontrollably. It looked exactly like the piece he'd put on my plate four years ago. Except that night, he'd drugged it. "Go on, eat," Richard said. "I remember how much you like it." His eyes narrowed as they traveled slowly over me. Then his mouth stretched into a grin, revealing yellow-stained teeth. Mom and Jared didn't notice, but the livestream did. "Okay... Did anyone else see the way he just looked at her? That did not look like a father looking at his daughter." "You're reading way too much into it. Don't tell me you're actually starting to believe this girl." My stomach churned again, acid burning its way up my throat. I doubled over. And without warning, I threw up all over the platter of roast beef. Richard's fork froze halfway to his mouth. Then he shot to his feet and kicked the table over. It happened so fast that Mom and Jared didn't even have time to react. Plates crashed to the floor. The birthday cake went with them, leaving frosting and food scattered everywhere. Richard pointed at me, his face twisted with rage. "I put a roof over your head! I feed you, I pay for everything you have, and this is how you repay me? By doing something this disgusting at my birthday dinner?" I stood there, white as a sheet, unable to get a single word out. Jared rounded on me, practically spitting the words in my face. "What is wrong with you? We're trying to have dinner! Did you seriously do that on purpose just to ruin Dad's birthday?" Richard let out a cold scoff before turning his anger on Mom. "Look at the daughter you raised. I never should've agreed to let her live under my roof in the first place." Mom glared at me, resentment written all over her face. More and more viewers were flooding into the livestream now, and the few comments questioning Richard's behavior were quickly buried. "This girl is disgusting. Who deliberately ruins someone's birthday like that?" "I actually feel sorry for her stepdad. Imagine taking care of someone for years just for her to treat you like this. Kick her out already!" My stomach was still cramping. I pressed a hand against it and tried to explain. "I feel sick. I really can't eat." The words had barely left my mouth when Mom grabbed me by the ear and hissed furiously, "You're lying again! You did that on purpose! How could you treat your father like this? How did I end up with a daughter like you?" She shoved me to the floor. My palm came down on a shard from one of the broken plates. When I lifted my hand, a thin line of blood had already begun to seep from the cut. Mom brushed my hand aside without a second glance, then turned to Richard with an apologetic smile. "Richard, don't let her ruin your birthday. I'll go get you another cake." Richard rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Then, out of nowhere, he pulled some cash from his wallet and handed it to Jared. "Here. Run to the store for me. Buy me some cigarettes." I barely noticed the pain in my hand anymore. With trembling fingers, I caught hold of Mom's sleeve. "Mom, please. Don't leave me alone with him..." Then I looked desperately at Jared. "Jared, please. Stay with me." He hesitated, but Mom grabbed his arm and pulled him toward the door. The moment they were gone, I ran to my bedroom and locked the door behind me. I found the notebook, pulled it from its hiding place, and held it up to the hidden camera. "Everything I've been hiding… It's all in here." The words had barely left my mouth when Richard called from the other side of the door, telling me to come out. I opened it and found him waiting there, watching me with a look that made every instinct in my body scream at me to run. I tried to slip past him and head for the living room, but I only made it a few steps before his hand clamped around my wrist. Goosebumps broke out across my skin. He leaned in too close, then reached for the collar of my shirt. "Don't play innocent with me. You weren't putting up much of a fight when you were eighteen." I struggled desperately, doing everything I could to keep the hidden camera recording what was happening. When Richard turned his attention away from me for a moment, I seized the chance to dodge past him. But I stepped on one of the broken pieces still scattered across the living room floor and lost my balance. Richard shoved me away. I fell hard, striking the side of my head as I hit the floor. Pain shot through me, and everything seemed to blur. I tried to move, but my body wouldn't cooperate. Richard looked down at me and cursed under his breath. By then, whatever he'd been planning to do had clearly been forgotten. The front door opened. Then I heard Mom's voice. "What happened?" Richard answered before I could. "She started throwing another tantrum. I tried to stop her, but she fell." I forced the words out. "He... pushed me..." Mom immediately snapped at me, "Another lie! You obviously fell on your own! What if this leaves a scar? Have you even thought about that?" I wanted to tell her how badly I was hurt. But those two words had taken every ounce of strength I had left. Mom called out to Jared. "Help her into bed. She just needs to rest for a while. I'm not paying for another trip to the hospital." And just like that, Jared helped me back to my room and laid me on the bed. Outside the door, I could still hear Mom complaining. Calling me a liar. Saying all I ever did was cause trouble for her. Her voice gradually faded. So did everything else. When I became aware of my surroundings again, something felt different. I was looking down at the bedroom from somewhere above, at my own motionless figure lying on the bed, my face unnaturally pale. But Mom had already closed the door. She had no idea how badly I was hurt. I could still hear Mom outside, muttering angrily to herself, complaining that I was the same compulsive liar I'd been since I was a child. I gave a bitter smile and turned my attention to the livestream. After a stunned silence, the chat suddenly erupted. "Wait, she wasn't lying this time! She's seriously hurt!" "Medical student here. This is really bad. Someone needs to get to her now." "I've been saying this since the beginning! She never ate that candy! The wrappers were there, but we never actually saw her eat any of it. She was telling the truth!" "I called the police. What is wrong with this family?" I didn't know how much time passed before someone began pounding on the front door. "Police! Open the door!"