Semua Bab Wasn't I Supposed to Be Everyone's Favorite?: Bab 1 - Bab 7

The moment the scalding Cajun gumbo splashed onto my leg, I heard the sizzle of my own flesh cooking. Scalding red oil trickled down from my knee, instantly flooding into my shoe.I shot up from my chair, but it tipped over, and I lost my balance. The back of my head slammed against the edge of the table, and my vision went dark for a second.I fell to the floor and instinctively reached for my leg. The skin showing beneath the hem of my dress was as red as boiled shrimp, and blisters swelled before my eyes. Over a dozen of them spread from my knee all the way down to my ankle.The largest blister was about the size of an egg; the skin stretched so thin that I could see the liquid inside wobbling.It hurt. It didn't just hurt in a normal way. It was the kind of pain that felt like it burned straight through skin and into bone.My mouth hung open, but no sound came out. Tears streamed down my face as if a dam had burst."Oh my God! I'm sorry, Daphne! I didn't mean to!" my sister,

The fluorescent lights in the hospital were blinding.An ER nurse rushed out with a gurney. She gasped when she saw my leg and wheeled me straight into the treatment room without a word.The sharp smell of disinfectant rushed up my nose, mixing with the greasy scent of the gumbo still clinging to my burned leg. It was nauseating.The doctor had a mask on. He took a pair of scissors and cut open the skirt stuck to my leg. The fabric had already fused with the burned skin. When he peeled it away, I heard a tearing sound, like ripping off a piece of charred chicken skin.I bit down on the pillow as silent tears streamed down my face."Deep second-degree burns covering about 15% of the body, mainly on the right calf and knee," the doctor said calmly to the nurse, like he was commenting on the weather. "Prepare for debridement."Debridement. That meant popping every blister on my leg one by one, tearing off the dead skin piece by piece, and cleaning out the pus and the leftover oil.

Elliott finally spoke. "Daphne, what do you actually want?"What did I want?"Do you have any idea what a wreck your family has been these past two weeks?" he snapped. "Your mom cried every day, and your sister had nightmares every night. How can you be this heartless?"The comments rolled by.[Elliott is right! Daphne is way too selfish. She only ever thinks about herself!]I looked right at him."Elliott, the day your mom came from out of town, my leg got burned raw. All you told me was to run it under cold water. Your mom mattered, and my leg didn't. Your pride mattered, and my life didn't," I said flatly."I… I didn't know it was that serious…""You never know anything. You don't care, so you're oblivious. You knew when Emily's hand turned slightly red, but you didn't know when my flesh was burning."His face flushed.The comments said that he was just bad with words and that he didn't mean it like that.I ignored them. "What gifts have you ever given me?"Elliott was t

A year later, I changed jobs.I started working in accounting at a small company, making 6,000 dollars a month. The owner was a friend of Cara's. When she heard I'd come to Handelon alone from out of town, she helped front the deposit when I rented a new place.The comments said that I was really lucky, always meeting kind people.It wasn't that I was lucky. It was just that the world didn't only have bad people in it.I rented a small one-bedroom apartment with a balcony. On the balcony, I kept a pot of pothos, a gift from Cara.Comments occasionally drifted by.[Daphne, are you doing okay now?][Your mom is in the hospital. She really wants to see you. You should go home.][Emily lost a lot of weight, and she's been crying every day. How can you be so heartless?][Elliott is still single. He's clearly waiting for you. Look, I'm begging you. Just go back already.]I read the words and calmly watered the pothos in front of me. It was growing well. Its vines had already traile