Chapter 8X
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“Genevieve! After murdering all those top scorers and going on the run, you came here just to dig up your father’s grave?”
Captain Shelton’s voice was thick with disbelief and anger.
And he wasn’t the only one.
The crowd around us began shouting and cursing at me.”
“That’s disgusting! I almost believed she was innocent with the way she was screaming and crying before. Turns out, she’s just a monster in disguise!”
“She killed her own sister, and now she’s digging up her dad’s grave? This woman has no soul!”
“Her mom even tried to take the fall for her, and now look at her. No wonder her mom’s collapsing from the stress.“}
“What a cursed child. Poor mother.”
“Seriously, people like her don’t deserve to live. She should’ve died instead.“”
Even the livestream viewers watching everything unfold online were flooding the chat with hate. They called me unfit to be human. Some even wished for my death.”
I looked around at all the angry faces and bitter stares.
And I laughed.
It wasn’t a happy laugh. There was no joy in it, just helplessness.
Letting out a long sigh, I turned to Captain Shelton and hoarsely requested, “Captain Shelton, give me ten minutes. If I don’t find what I’m looking for when i dig, I’ll turn myself in. I’ll plead guilty.”
The night my sister took her own life, I had a dream.
In that dream, we were kids again.”
She was holding my hand, and we sat on the front steps of our house, waiting for Mom to come home.
That day, Mom was unusually late. We waited for hours. We were cold, and so hungry that our stomachs hurt.
Other kids were with their parents, going out to eat, and laughing.”
But we just sat there, drinking water to stop the hunger.
I remember feeling a lump in my throat–frustrated, sad, ready to cry.”
Then my sister spotted something and her eyes lit up.
“Gen, look!” she said, her voice full of wonder, like she’d just discovered treasure.
I turned to where she was pointing.
Two tiny wildflowers were growing together from a crack in the cement. Their white petals were covered in dust, but they still bloomed, stubbom and bright.”
She reached out and gently touched the petals.
“This is us,” she whispered.
I blinked. “But… they’re just flowers. How are they us?”
She smiled, brushing my hair behind my ear.
“Because we’re just like them,” she said. “No matter how hard it gets, we still have to bloom.””
I wanted to ask her what she meant.
But in the dream, the sky suddenly turned pitch black.
The next moment, I was standing alone in a cold, empty hallway at school.
It was already night. The entire building was dark, except for one classroom at the end of the corridor.
A faint light glowed through the half–open door, and I could hear the soft scratch of a pen moving across paper.
Out of curiosity, I approached the room and pushed the door open.
Inside, my sister was sitting alone in the center of the classroom with a test paper lying in front of her.
She kept writing, head down, as if she couldn’t stop. As if she had an endless test to finish.
“Jess?” I called her
But she didn’t respond.
Later, without looking up, she said, “Gen… look. I got first place.“”
I stepped closer, and that was when I saw it.
She wasn’t answering the questions at all.
She had written the same sentence over and over, filling the entire paper, line after line.
[Don’t become the top scorer.]
I froze E
I reached out, trying to stop her, but her skin was ice cold. Her wrist felt like solid metal–unmoving, unshakable.
3:09 PM
“Jess, please stop… Let’s go home,” I begged, my voice trembling.
Finally, she looked up.
Her eyes were bloodshot, exhausted, like she hadn’t slept in days.
Then suddenly, she grabbed my hand tightly and desperately.
There was terror in her voice and a plea I’ll never forget.
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