「故事·听力」My Cousin Was Mentally Ill, And No One Noticed It

My Cousin Was Mentally Ill, And No One Noticed It

Hi! I'm Hailey and I'm 13 years old. Since early childhood, we're all aware of what Good and Evil means. And I want to tell you a story about the darkest evil I have ever faced in my life. It all started after I had undergone heart surgery. I'd been waiting for that surgery since I was born and it went pretty well, so it was actually a very happy moment for me and a fresh start.

I definitely needed a calm space to recover in, so my parents suggested that I spend my summer break at my aunt's farmhouse. Her family lived in a small, quaint town in California. I was really looking forward to that visit and I received a very warm welcome. My aunt is a nice woman who also has two children – Jemmie who is my age and little Luke. I thought we were going to have a lot of fun. But, I wasn't that lucky.

At first, everything was perfect. Everybody was so happy for me and tried to help and encourage me. My uncle was very busy at work, and my aunt spent a lot of time with Luke, because he stuttered when he talked and she had to take him to speech therapy almost every day. So, I spent most of my time with Jemmie. My father used to say Jemmie was a golden child, his mother's first helper and his dad's right hand. And he has always been nice to me too.

So, he showed me around the town and told me about his school. He was so self-confident and fearless. I admired him! He reminded me of Peter Pan, but then... I started noticing some strange things about him. He was so nice at home, but when we were alone he would complain about how annoying his little brother was and how stupid and useless his parents were all the time. I know all teenagers do that, but...

One day we were passing by our neighbors' house and their dog started barking at us from behind the fence. The dog was big, so I got a little bit scared, but not Jemmie. He got closer to the fence, kneeled down, and started barking back at the dog and laughing hysterically! You probably could have taken it as an awkward joke, but I saw his face. He was so pleased that it seemed like there was nothing funnier in the world than to tease this dog. On the way back home he said: "Should we feed some arsenic to that dog tomorrow?" A nervous giggle was the only response I could muster.  I was trying to persuade myself that there was nothing to worry about and decided not to bother my aunt with that story. But I couldn't stop thinking about it every day.

A few days later when we were wandering around, Jemmie suddenly said: "Ugh, it's so boring! Do you want to have some real fun?"  I was about to say no, when he grabbed my hand and dragged me somewhere away from home. We ran for a long time, but then he stopped. I was surprised, because we were standing on a small bridge over a highway, and I could only guess what "fun" we were supposed to have there. Jemmie opened his backpack and I saw that it was full of rocks, really big ones. And then I saw a van approaching us. He squeezed me and said happily: "Watch now!" Everything happened so fast...

He threw one of his rocks and it didn't miss the van. The rock hit the windshield of the car. The driver hit the brakes and the car stopped. I heard a little baby cry. I was just standing there frozen, with my mouth wide open, unable to say a word. And Jemmie was laughing his head off! But then he whispered to me: "Run!" I had no idea what I was doing, I was running and I felt tears flowing down my face. Why didn't I do anything? It was like a horrible hypnosis!

When we finally stopped, Jemmie asked me triumphantly: "How did you like the show?

The show?! There were children in that car and they were probably hurt and scared, and he was calling it, ""A show!"" I told him he had gone absolutely crazy! I also said he had to tell his parents about what he had done or otherwise I would do it. But he remained calm, smiled evilly, and coldly replied: ""I didn't do it alone. You did it with me and didn't even try to stop me. Your mom and dad would love to hear that story."" I was just stunned. From that moment I had no doubt there was something completely wrong with Jemmie and I had to do something. I couldn't find the courage to speak to my aunt. Even if I did, she would never believe me, because Jemmie turned out to be a perfect actor. He's been playing the role of a good son for years. "

"So, I started my own investigation. I had to find some proof of his deeds and expose him, but he was extremely careful. I followed my cousin's every step and noticed that he was spending two to three hours, typing something on his laptop every night. I had to know what was on that laptop, it was my only chance. But I would never be able to do it without a password.

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