Chapter 9
My mom’s face went ashen with fear as she rushed to calm me down.
“Sweetie, please let go of your father. You want to see the study? Then we’ll take you there again.“]
Again?
What did she mean?]
I’d never been inside that study before–not once![]
While I was completely lost in confusion, my parents led me into the study.
This should have been my first time ever stepping foot in here, but some weird sense washed over me. Like I’d been here countless times before. Everything–the layout, the decorations–felt like I’d arranged them with my own hands.[]
Mom sniffled, her finger tapping the projector button softly. The image that flashed on the screen? It sent a chill down my spine. I gasped, breath catching in my throat.
5
was security camera footage–filmed right inside my bedroom.[]
The man sleeping peacefully in bed was none other than Kael Voss, my first boyfriend.[]
There he was, completely lost in dreamland, snoring away–while I loomed over him, grinning like a maniac, gripping a kitchen knife so tight my knuckles turned white before slamming it into his skull with everything I had!
I screamed at the top of my lungs and squeezed my eyes shut, refusing to watch another second. My heart practically leaped into my throat–I swear it almost burst right out of my chest.]
With tears streaming down her face, Mom turned off the video and walked over to me. She rolled up her sleeve, then motioned for Dad and my sister and brother–in–law to do the same. Their arms were covered in bite marks–some deep, some shallow, all of them horrifying to look at.[]
My heart dropped like a stone.[]
“What… what is all this?“]]
Mom let out a heavy sigh.]]
“The truth is, you’ve been married before. Kael Voss was your first boyfriend. When you brought him home all excited and happy, your dad and I gave our blessing for the marriage.“]]
“After the wedding, you two came to stay with us for a weekend. That night, you started sleepwalking. You went to the kitchen, grabbed a knife saying you wanted to cut watermelon, and then… well, you just saw what happened next.” “0
“Kael Voss? He was badly hurt–almost didn’t make it. Your father and I drained our bank account to pay off his family, just to keep them quiet. But after that… your behavior got so off–the–wall. You’d ramble about nonsense, see things that weren’t there, and constantly scream that we were beating you. We took you to every doctor under the sun, and it was months of treatment before you started acting like yourself again, “[]
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t remember any of this.[]
She told me that after divorcing Kael, I’d dated four more men.]
Each one swore they’d love me and protect me forever, but whenever things got serious enough to talk about marriage, my dad would honestly tell them about my schizophrenia.[]
The moment these guys found out I was sick–that I might hurt someone–they all bailed. Every single one.]
All those promises of forever love fell apart the moment my illness became real.]
My parents, didn’t want me to feel like I was stuck in a hospital, so they brought me home with my pills and looked after me themselves–no nurses, just them.
At first, I took my pills regularly, and my condition was under control.
But then one night, 1 flushed all my pills down the toilet. After that, I completely lost it–my brain went into overdrive with all these wild theories, like everyone was plotting against me, like I couldn’t trust a single person.[]
Those bite marks on my family’s arms? They happened when they tried to stop me from running away. [
They weren’t restraining me to torture me–they were desperately trying to make sure I got the treatment I needed, so I could live like a normal person, happy
and healthy for the rest of my life.]
