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For the first time,I let myself recall the hospital.
When they stripped and humiliated me,a madwoman shielded me,wielding a knife against those demons.
Her embrace was warm,like Mom’s used to be.
She’d protect me from Dad,saying,“Lily,don’t be scared.Mommy’s here.”
But the madwoman was shoved down,her head striking a cabinet.
Blood flowed like a river,endless.
That day,my mind was clear.
A thought was born:They deserve to die.Kill them all.
I planned to destroy that place,but Ethan showed up.
His presence always unsettled me,then and now.
I didn’t want to go back.
I’d already fed them enough slow poison.I didn’t want to see their rotting ugliness.
I closed my eyes,arms spread,savoring the cool breeze.
Next life,let someone love me—a lot.
I’d love them back,so much.
Someone grabbed me from behind,hair wild,panting heavily,their breath thick with panic.
“Let go!”
The man’s arms were iron,unyielding.
I writhed,fear surging,memories of the hospital flooding back—my limbs pinned,helpless under their torment.
My teeth chattered.
“I won’t let go,”he said,trembling,as if he’d nearly lost something precious.
“Lunatic!”I bit his arm.He groaned but held on.
“If I let go,I’ll never see you again.”
“Let go!I wasn’t going to jump!”
“Lily,please don’t die,”he pleaded,his voice breaking,head buried in my neck.Cold tears burned my skin.
I froze,turning.
My pupils shrank.
“James?”
James Dawson—a name buried deep in my heart,a faded dream I tried to forget.
Forgetting eased the pain.
Senior year,someone posted online that Mom was a homewrecker who drove Ethan’s mom to her death.
Classmates whispered I’d grow up to be a mistress,too,sneering like I was vermin.
I explained Mom married Dad after his divorce,but my voice drowned in their curses.
I hated the rumors,hated their attacks on Mom.
I scoured the forum,tracing clues.
The culprit was clever,but a stray like exposed him—Noah Bennett,Ethan’s best friend.
Did Ethan put him up to it?
The thought crushed me.
I confronted Noah after school in the classroom.
At dusk,he leaned back,smirking.“Was it Ethan?”I asked.
He dodged,sneering,“Your mom’s a mistress.That’s obvious.You’re in denial?”
“Stop lying about her,”I snapped.
He laughed.“When your mom seduced Ethan’s dad and killed his mom,you didn’t think that was wrong?”
“Don’t talk about my mom like that.”
He leaned closer,venomous.“You and your mom are the same—shameless,filthy homewreckers.”
Rage blinded me.Words like filthy,shameless loomed large.
When I came to,Noah was on the floor,blood pooling from his cracked skull,groaning.
An ambulance took him away.A clipped video of me attacking him went viral.
The internet branded me a violent lunatic,daughter of a mistress.
Noah’s parents stormed the school,demanding I be jailed.
Mom was called.She burst into the classroom,slapped me,and yanked my hair,screaming why I always caused trouble,why she ever had me.
She kicked my knees.I stumbled but stood tall.
“Kneel and apologize!”
Pain stabbed my heart,tears threatening.“Why don’t you ask what happened?”
Her voice shrilled.“Ask?That video shamed me!”
She glared like I was her enemy,her life’s stain.
I collapsed,kneeling before Noah’s parents.
That moment,I learned a heart could die without tears.
