Chapter 3
The very next second, everyone was stunned.
Zora didn't defend herself. She didn't argue back. Her expression barely changed. She simply turned and walked over to the dining cabinet.
On top sat a freshly boiled kettle, steam still rising from its body.
Jacob frowned and barked coldly, "What are you doing? Didn't you hear me talking to you?"
Zora ignored him. She reached out with her uninjured right hand and unplugged the kettle.
Then, in utter shock, Jacob, Jane, and Winston watched as she grabbed the steaming kettle, spout facing down, and poured the entire liter of boiling water straight onto the back of her left hand.
The sickening sizzle of flesh cooking echoed in the dead silent living room, chilling everyone to the bone.
Scalding water streamed down her hand, over her wrist, and soaked into her loose sleeve. Her once flawless skin turned a deep, almost blackened red, covered in clusters of blisters. Some burst instantly, revealing raw, bloody skin underneath.
Jacob's pupils shrank. He felt a chill run through his veins, standing there frozen, barely remembering to breathe.
Jane's sobs got stuck in her throat. Her eyes went wide as she stared at Zora's mangled hand, her whole body trembling uncontrollably. It felt like ice was crawling up her spine.
The all thought Zora was insane.
Even Winston, standing at the doorway, gasped and instinctively started to rush over, but Zora's cold glare pinned him right where he was.
Zora kept her eyes down, staring at her left hand, ruined by the burn, as if she felt nothing at all.
She gently flexed her fingers, watching the blisters pop and blood ooze out. A barely-there smile, laced with madness, curled at her lips.
She looked up at Jacob, whose face was ghostly pale and body stiff as a board. Her voice was so soft and calm it sent chills down everyone's spine, each word landing with terrifying clarity.
"Jacob, look," she said.
"See, I even dare to scald myself with boiling water.
"If I really wanted to push her or splash milk all over her, do you think she'd still be standing there, crying safely in your arms?"
The living room was dead silent.
The rain kept hammering against the windows outside, but inside, not even a breath could be heard; it was suffocating.
Jacob parted his lips, trying to speak, but his throat closed up, and not a single word came out.
He stared at Zora's hand, still steaming and horribly burned, then at her eyes, which were hollow, icy, and even tinged with a twisted smile. An unfamiliar, bone-deep chill washed over him.
It was as if he'd never truly known his sister.
Zora watched him freeze, and her smile twisted a little more.
This was only the beginning.
She'd survived 730 days in hell. She'd make every ounce of pain, every moment of agony, every shred of despair pay back twice over, every single bit.
Everything the Ralph family owed her, she'd reclaim with interest, not leaving a single thing behind.
She turned, pushed open the villa door, and walked straight into the pouring rain.
Behind her, Winston finally snapped out of it and ran after her. "Zora! Your hand..."
Zora didn't look back.
The rain hammered her face, blending with something else that had been falling unnoticed.
She couldn't tell if it was rain, or something else entirely.
It didn't matter anymore.
The cold rain battered her face, soaking her washed-out cotton dress through.
She didn't look back, didn't pause for a second. Her left hand dangled at her side, the skin beneath the bandage kept spasming in pain, like needles were being driven into her flesh. But she moved as if she felt nothing, her steps eerily steady, each one kicking up tiny splashes in the puddles at her feet.
"Zora!"
Winston rushed to the doorway, popped open a black umbrella over her head, blocking the pouring rain. He stared at her left hand; the bandage was soaked, turning yellow from the fluid seeping out of her burns. His heart clenched, and his voice shook.
"Your hand... You need to go to the hospital. If you wait any longer, it'll get infected. I'm begging you, Zora, please?"
Zora stopped in her tracks.