Chapter 3
I woke up to a lot of noise,
I opened my eyes, and the pain in my
stomach made me scream.
“My sister’s being so good to me, I really have to go see her.”
“Why would you want to see her? You’re still really weak. We’ll have her come see you.”
“That’s right, you’re not feeling too good, let’s go!”
I heard my family trying to talk Susie May out
of it and my beert
<
Susie May seemed really determined.
The door to the room opened, and I grabbed
the vase on the table and threw it at the door.
The vase shattered on the floor.
Shawn shielded Susie May, and his shirt was
wet.
“Ashley, are you out of your mind? Susie May
is just being nice, and you treat her like this!”
Chapter 2
“How could your father and I have raised a
daughter like you?”
“Ashley, what happened to you? You’ve
become so cruel, it’s disgusting.”
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The three of them kept piling it on, one after
the other, like Susie May was the real
Sullivan.
Pete, though, just stood at the door, quiet.
But his eyes were full of impatience towards
- me.
“Sis. Don’t be mad at Mom and Dad. It’s just my body’s the problem.”
“If you want to blame someone, blame me.”
Susie May waited for the right moment, then threw herself off the wheelchair.
Sean rushed forward and yanked me off the bed.
<
He didn’t care that my wound ripped open.
Blood stained the whole bed.
Sean froze, and my parents stopped in their
tracks.
“It hurts so bad…”
Susie May cried out, and they snapped back
to reality.
“Ashley, apologize to Susie May, now.”
I pushed past the pain and slapped him
across the face.
“Why should I apologize?”
“My baby’s gone! I had surgery! What did I do
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“You all should die! I hate you. I’ll never
forgive you!”
My screams echoed through the room.
Sean grabbed my hand. It was shaking a little.
Then Pete patted him on the shoulder.
He instantly snapped back to being calm.
“You’re too worked up right now. Calm
down.”
Pete said coldly. My arm suddenly burned.
When I wasn’t looking, he shot me with a
sedative.
I fell back on the bed, unable to talk.
I could only stare at the man with cold eyes.
Seeing me like that, Pete felt like something
had changed.
Pete pulled away, trying to hide how guilty he
felt.
He turned and left.
I thought about how often Pete looked at
Susie May.
My dad forced Pete to hire Susie May and she would bug him every day at work and I would hear him complain over and over.
Slowly, the complaints turned into sweet
endearments.
Г
Too late, I realized,
Maybe Pete wasn’t worried about me getting
independent.
He was just trying to justify his own change
of heart.
The room went quiet again.
After a while, I heard a man’s voice.
“Need some help, Ms. Sullivan?”
Jeremiah’s cologne filled my nose.
I looked at him and whispered,
“Take me away from here. I can’t stand to
ملحم
く
Jeremiah stroked my cheek, his eyes dark.
I couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
He didn’t say anything for a long time.
Just when I was about to give up, Jeremiah laughed and leaned in close.
“Leaving isn’t enough. They all need to
suffer.”
