“Then just get out!”
I clung to the bedsheets, the drug’s effect too fast.
Griffin, frustrated, turned to leave, only to find the door locked.
“I love you, but… I’m sorry Griffin… I’m sorry…”
Cora’s crying faded away outside the door.
Griffin’s face was filled with towering anger.
“Nora, you’re really surprising me.”
03
The drug took effect quickly. No matter how I knocked, no one responded. I had to ask Griffin for help.
At least they’d have some fear of him.
“Griffin, please, I’m begging you! Help me, please…”
Heat coursed through me, making me growl like a small beast, Leaning against the cold door kept me barely sane.
C
8:47 AM
<
“Nora, when you drugged me back then, did you think you’d end up like this?”
Griffin sneered, watching me beg at his feet.
“Nora, how can someone be so cheap?”
“You schemed to marry me, and now you want to drug me.”
“Do you feel no shame trying to climb into my bed like this?”
“The drug–I drank it for you, you can’t do this!”
I ignored his insults and accusations. My body’s unquenchable thirst made me want to bash my head in.
“Griffin! You can get out, I know you can. I don’t care if you stay faithful to Cora, but please… I don’t want to die like this!”
“Just get me to a hospital, just this once! I’m really… about to die…”
I clutched Griffin’s hand, begging shamelessly.
It felt like he touched my face, but he just threw me into the bathtub.
It was just a fleeting illusion.
The cold shower shocked me, but I lost all strength and couldn’t crawl out.
“It hurts…” I whimpered instinctively.
“Hurt? If you shed a few tears, I might believe you.”
“Stay here and keep cooling off.”
The icy water soaked me, while he watched from the door, arms crossed.
I swallowed back the words I wanted to say.
It was useless; he wouldn’t save me.
“Griffin, I really regret it, regret ever being so foolish to like you.”
“Your kind of love only scares me.”
Seeing me stop struggling, Griffin left the bathroom.
I heard him laughing with his friends on the phone.
“Unmoved by temptation, Griffin, a modern–day Saint, our role model!”
“Oh my, Griffin, your wife must be head over heels for you…”
“But Griffin, won’t leaving Nora like that cause problems?”
“What could happen? She drugged me last time, and I soaked in cold water too.”
“Let her learn her lesson.”
The cold water and my body’s heat tormented my senses. Even biting my knuckles was futile.
Griffin noticed I had stopped resisting and left the bathroom.
I overheard him on the phone, laughing with his friends.
“Griffin, you’re a paragon of restraint, truly admirabbedin
8:47
<
I overheard him on the phone, laughing with his friends.
“Griffin, you’re a paragon of restraint, truly admirable!”
“Wow, Griffin, your wife must be absolutely enamored with you…”
“But seriously, Griffin, just leaving Nora there, won’t she be okay?”
“What could possibly happen to her? She tried to set me up last time, and I ended up soaking in cold water.”
“Let her learn from her mistakes.”
The mix of cold water and feverish heat overwhelmed my senses, and biting my knuckles didn’t help.
My mind was clouded, and the sensation of needles piercing my nerves was relentless. I felt myself sinking, suffocated by the sensation of drowning, unable to escape.
But I couldn’t accept it. I was so close to being free.
04
The pain was unbearable…
That was the only thought echoing in my mind.
“Cold…”
When I regained consciousness, I was wrapped in a blanket in a car, held by a man. I knew my body was burning with fever, yet I felt cold.
“Nora, just hold on a bit longer, we’re almost there!”
Hearing my words, he held me tighter and asked the driver to turn up the heat.
Was I being rescued?
The itch, like ants gnawing at my bones, made me squirm. If not for the man’s firm hold, I might have moved more.
But it was unbearable. I instinctively tried to bite my hand, which was already raw and bloody.
The expected pain didn’t come, but the metallic taste of blood filled my mouth.
It took me a moment to realize I was biting the man’s hand.
“Don’t worry, you’ll be okay, you’ll be okay.”
I didn’t know him, but his worried expression seemed genuine.
That night, I had a persistent fever in the hospital, and the man stayed by my side, talking to me incessantly.
I could feel my life slipping away, vitality draining from me bit by bit.
“Sir, could you tell me your name?”
The man paused for a moment.
“Ezra, my name is Ezra.”
Before I completely blacked out, I thought that when I woke up, I must thank him for saving me.
But I didn’t anticipate that this would be my last coherent thought,
I seemed to have a dream.
8:47 AM
<
I seemed to have a dream.
I was curled up on the ground crying, and the child version of me approached.
Back then, she was innocent and kind, resilient and brave.
“If you’re tired, just rest for a while.”
She held me, and it felt like being back in my mother’s warm embrace, so I fell asleep peacefully.
05
Griffin couldn’t understand how things ended up this way.
He didn’t know why soaking in cold water left Nora so pale.
He didn’t know why a stranger kicked open the door and took Nora away.
“What right do you have to take her? Nora is my wife!”
Griffin felt an inexplicable rage.
