Chapter 4

For three whole days, Mom and Dad refused to tell me where Grandma was.

On the morning of the fourth day, before dawn had fully broken, a rotten stench jolted me awake.

I pulled the blanket over my face, but the smell still seeped through.

In the hallway, the air felt even heavier. The sour reek clung to the back of my throat, sending a wave of nausea through my stomach.

Holding my breath, I walked downstairs. Halfway down, I saw it.

Sour, foul waves surged from a big bag, making my eyes sting and tears well up.

The rash on my arms instantly flared up from my wrists.

Sofia walked over, her hair messy, dressed in Owen's shirt and barefoot on the floor.

"You're not living here for free. Start doing your part." She grabbed my wrist and dragged me toward that pile of stinking clothes.

I struggled but couldn't break free. My feet slipped on the floor, and Sofia yanked me forward, sending me stumbling.

I snapped, "What are you doing? Let go!"

Her other hand reached around from behind, slamming into the back of my head and forcing my face down into the open bag.

The stench hit me full in the face.

The smell of mildewed fabric, fermented sweat, and a damp musk that had been festering for who knew how many days slammed into me like a wall.

My stomach churned, and bile rose to my throat.

I thrashed wildly, trying to break free, but Sofia's nails dug into my scalp, sharp and painful.

"Don't move. Owen told me all about it. Let me help desensitize you. This illness of yours just comes from not touching dirty things enough. Smelling and touching it more will fix you right up."

My entire upper body was forced down over that pile of foul, moldy clothes.

The red rash surged from my wrists up to my forearms. It rose in thick welts as if someone were branding my skin with hot irons.

The itch and pain fused into an agonizing burn, leaving me suffocating.

Owen stood at the foot of the stairs with his arms crossed. "Sofia's doing this for your own good. If you're always having allergies like this, what are you going to do once you get married? Just bite your tongue and push through it."

One person stood in front, gripping my wrist and forcing my head down, while the other blocked the way behind me.

I was trapped between them.

The rash had already crawled up my neck, and my throat began to tighten, as if my airway were being pinched half-shut.

I couldn't breathe. I was suffocating.

Gathering every ounce of strength, I jerked my head back fiercely and tore free from Sofia's grip. As I pitched forward, my knees slammed hard onto the floorboards with a bone-jarring pain.

"Meds… My meds…"

I scrambled up and rushed toward the coffee table. The pill bottle was sitting right there.

The bottle was knocked off and landed on the floor. I instantly reached out to grab it.

Suddenly, a bare foot stomped directly onto the bottle.

Under my desperate gaze, the plastic bottle cracked open, and pills burst out like popcorn.

Sofia towered over me, looking down with cold indifference. "No taking medicine. I told you, this is your treatment."

Owen looked down at me kneeling on the ground with a sneer plastered on his face. "Taking it is a waste anyway. I really don't get how Grandma could favor a worthless brat like you. You deserve this."

As I lay flat on the floor, my breathing grew fast and shallow. "My meds… Grandma…"

My vision began to blur. The ceiling spun above me while the white pills scattered across the floor dissolved into smudged spots of light.

I reached out blindly toward the crushed powder on the floor, but Sofia stepped down hard right onto the back of my hand.

It hurt so much. I tried to pull back, but my hand wouldn't obey.

My arm went limp, and my cheek pressed against the cold floor. My sight faded further, the outline of the living room blurring bit by bit.

Sofia took half a step back. Her voice sounded as if it were drifting from miles away. "She passed out already? For real?"

Owen's voice sounded even further away. "Just ignore her. She woke up on her own last time. She's just faking it."

A loud ringing filled my ears, cutting off all sound.

In the final second before total darkness took over, I caught sight of Owen's lips trembling violently.

His pupils shrank to tiny pinpricks, and every trace of color drained from his face in an instant.

"G-Grandma…"