Chapter 9

hat evening, the live stream started on time.

Tonight, my mom had given me a bag full of leaves. She’d picked them from the locust tree downstairs at the apartment building on her way back from the bank. Many of them still had dirt clinging to them. But my mom said that made them fresh, more interesting.

【Is this girl eating leaves today? Is she crazy?】

【Her pica is so severe, someone help her see a doctor.】

【She’s probably just using this for clicks! So shameless!】

I smiled, reading the comments, repeating my usual lines, but still, no one seemed willing to send gifts. My mom’s face grew anxious. She even stood up, as if she wanted to rush to the camera herself and urge the viewers to send gifts.

“Eat! Eat first!” she mouthed to me.

My smile didn’t falter. I immediately picked up a leaf, choosing the one with the most dirt on it, put it in my mouth, and chewed it with relish.

【Holy crap, she really ate it! Savage!】

【Won’t that cause health problems? Doesn’t she have family to stop her?】

【You must be new. Didn’t you watch last night’s stream, LOL?】

The strong, earthy taste of dirt spread in my mouth, but I didn’t even flinch. I had eaten dirt before, the gritty sand from our old village home. Because there was simply nothing else to eat.

My sister had just been born then, and my dad, working out of state, had been furious on the phone, yelling at my mom. So my mom was in a bad mood too. She ignored my sister’s wailing for milk and instead bought half a chicken to make soup for Caleb.

All I had was half a chicken head, earned with a slap to the face, which I traded with the grandma next door, who raised two sheep, for a small bowl of goat milk for my sister.

But I was so hungry. So, in my desperation, I scooped up the dirt from the ground and ate it. That’s when my pica tore open its first crack.

In front of the camera, just as I swallowed the leaf, someone finally sent a sports car. My mom’s face lit up with delight, signaling me to quickly thank them. So, I stretched my throat, hoarse from the dirt, and recited the long string of thank yous without pausing for breath. My mom wanted me to press on, to keep eating, but then, my stream was suddenly shut down.

In the end, my mom didn’t hit me, probably because of the sports car. She just gave me a cold glare and muttered “worthless good-for-nothing” as she closed the door. I sat in the chair, staring blankly at the black screen of my computer. The room was eerily quiet.

But not long after, I heard my brother’s cursing from his video game, followed by my mom’s solicitous fussing over him, and then, a faint aroma of chicken drifted in. I sniffed for a while, then couldn’t hold it back anymore and started to vomit. My stomach churned and lurched until I thought I’d thrown up all my stomach acid, then it finally stopped.

My phone, its screen cracked like a spiderweb, lit up. It was that person from yesterday, sing.

—I reported it just in time, right? ₍˄·͈༝·͈˄*₎◞ ̑̑

I ignored the message, then reopened my computer and posted in the fan group.

[Alice]: Darlings, I got reported! See you in three days, don’t miss it!