Chapter 4

The pain in my wrist grew sharper, eclipsing the dull ache in the rest of my body. My blood dripped onto the pavement all the way to the car.

My chest felt incredibly tight. I couldn't breathe, and my vision began to blur.

When we got home, Elysia was sitting on the couch with my orange prescription bottle in her hand. She was eating the pills like candy and laughing, offering them to Eleanor and Nikolai.

When she saw us walk in, she smiled sweetly and offered a pill to Pierce and me.

"Why are you taking my medication?" I asked, my voice trembling.

Elysia gasped in mock surprise. "This is your medication? But they're just Skittles!"

She poured a few more into her hand.

"They're so good. No wonder you love them, Chloe. Honestly, as long as you don't get cavities, Eleanor and Richard won't care how much candy you eat."

My heart froze. I didn't dare look at anyone else's expression.

I slowly put one of the "candies" into my mouth. It was the exact same tablet I had been taking for the past two months.

But I had lost my sense of taste weeks ago.

Why were my cancer meds replaced with candy?

Richard, Eleanor, Pierce, and Nikolai looked at me with smug satisfaction. Elysia just stood there, smiling triumphantly.

Nikolai tossed a pill to Pierce. "See? I told you she was faking."

He popped one into his mouth and crunched it loudly.

Eleanor sneered, "You eat this much candy every day, yet you haven't developed diabetes? Honestly, that would be far more believable than your stomach cancer lie."

Richard’s face was dark, his voice dangerously low.

"I don't care if you want to play-act a terminal illness."

"But if you ever interfere with Pierce’s work again, I will personally have you committed to a psychiatric ward so you can experience what real patients go through."

I looked at Pierce. He didn't say a word, but his cold expression showed he fully agreed with Richard.

The cruel, ugly faces of my family began to warp and blur.

I pushed past them, stumbling up the stairs in the dark, desperate to lock myself in my room.

Elysia followed me up, holding the pill bottle out to me. "Chloe, what's wrong? Are you dizzy? Can you not see the stairs?"

Nikolai pulled her back from behind.

"Why do you even bother with her, Elysia? Her little stomach cancer lie got exposed, so now she's playing the dizzy card. It's exhausting."

My hands shook violently as I finally slammed the door shut and locked it.

As the days passed, my vision decayed further. People became nothing but blurry shadows. Headaches, vomiting, and chest pain became my daily reality.

I had fought so hard to survive for eighteen years, hoping to legally cut ties with them once I became an adult. I was only a few months away.

And then, I got cancer.

I returned to the hospital for a check-up, only to run into Eleanor.

"Unbelievable. Are you so desperate that you're bringing your little drama to my hospital now?"

I had forgotten that she was rotated to this branch this month.

"I'm not doing anything."

She stepped closer, her face contorted with rage. "There is a limit to your lies. No doctor in this hospital would write you a fake report."

Before I could answer, her sharp eyes scanned me up and down, making me feel naked and dirty.

"Why are you standing in front of the OB/GYN clinic? Don't tell me you caught some nasty STD from sleeping around at your age?"

Eleanor’s screeching voice echoed down the corridor, drawing the attention of everyone nearby. Only then did I realize I was standing near the women's clinic.

Under the judgmental stares of the crowd, Eleanor continued her tirade.

"I don't have a slut for a daughter. You are absolutely nothing compared to Elysia."

"You act like you're half-dead every day. Why don't you actually go die?"

Her venomous words sliced into me.

I held out my medical report to her and said softly, "But Eleanor... I really am dying."