CHAPTER EIGHT: THE ATTEMPT

CAMILLA'S POV

“Useless!”. He screamed in my face as he threw the plate of food on my body. The hot food scorched my skin but I didn't flinch. I knew that would only make him angrier.

My face burned and I tried so hard not to cry.

“I asked you to cook one meal for me! And you add garlic? I'm allergic to that! I made it clear to you. Are you trying to poison me?”. Baron screamed at the top of his lungs.

I didn't move. I stood there frozen, my eyes fixated on a particular pattern on the wall behind him. I couldn't look him in the eye. He walked towards me and held me by the neck.

As if the burns on my skin weren't enough punishment, this man wanted to kill me.

I held his hands begging to be released. I could feel my life slipping away, slowly.

“I regret taking you!”. He said and dropped me on the floor. I gasped for breath.

“Take her back to her room!”. He said to one of his security men and then walked away angrily.

I watched as his silhouette disappeared into the hallways. The security man dragged me to my room and locked me from the outside.

I burst into tears and fell flat on the floor.

“Why me? What did I do to deserve this?”. Since I woke up in that dungeon I've known nothing but pain. I couldn't understand how a human being could be so cruel. He had no iota of kindness in him.

To him, letting me live was a privilege that I shouldn't take for granted. I was sick of this place, I was sick of my life and I was sick of him!

I cursed my father under my breath. He was the cause of all this.

I cried and wailed but I knew help wasn't coming. Who would help me? I was here so that I would help my mother.

How was I even sure that she was being treated?

For all I knew she could be dying. Or… already deaf. The mere thought of it brought me to tears. If anything happened to her I'd hate my father more than I already do.

Baron’s words resounded in my head.

“Useless”

“I regret taking you!”

The day my mother was taken to the hospital kept replaying as well. It was overwhelming. I just wanted to disappear.

I could see her lifeless looking body being wheeled into the hospital with a wheelchair. I could remember how I watched as the doctors went in and out of her hospital room. I felt so helpless and useless.

My father's expression remained stock and unchanged. I blamed him even more.

My mother was sick. And he still abused her countless times. I would never forgive him.

Before I knew it I slept off and woke up in the room.

The guards must've taken me away from the dungeon while I was sleeping

I walked towards the mirror. The sight of myself made me cringe. My fair skin had gone pale. My once puffed cheeks had reduced drastically. I had lost so much weight and I had only been here for a month.

A tear escaped my eyes as I looked at my body that had been rid of different scars and bruises. Even my curvy figure had began to disappear due to malnutrition.

I was a shadow of my former self. I couldn't take this pain and torture anymore.

I wanted to end it. I wanted to end everything. But my mother. Who would pay for her treatment?

Was I even sure that Baron was paying for her treatment?

What if she was dead already and I was just here being tortured for nothing.

The thoughts were getting to me, they were becoming unbearable. This mansion… this mansion was becoming more unbearable each day that passed.

I didn't deserve this treatment. I didn't deserve this brutality. What was the point….?

What was the point of living?

I took another look at my broken self. I felt disgusted. But my hatred for Baron surpassed my disgust for what he had done to me. I had to escape this place before he did anything worse or more inhumane.

But I couldn't escape…

I stared at the ground, almost devoid of all my emotions.

If I couldn't escape, I'd just end everything… After all, I had nothing to lose anyways.

I looked around the room for something useful. I finally found a rope after scattering the entire room. A part of me wondered why there would be a rope here but the other part didn't care.

I wouldn't be here soon anyways.

I stepped on the stool to tie one end on the ceiling fan and held the other end.

Do I really want to do this?

What if mother is still alive? What if there's a way to escape here alive?

But when? And how? And what if she's dead?

I held my head and let out a groan. My head hurt from the thoughts racing in my mind.

I suddenly remembered how the past month had been. The bruises were still fresh on my body. The cold hard floor of that dungeon still sent shivers down my spine.

“Death is better than living in this mansion. I can't spend another waking moment here. I'd rather die by my own hand than by the hands of that monster!”.

I tied the other end to my neck firmly and took a deep breath. A part of me didn't want to go through with it.

Mother wouldn't want this

I frowned.

There was a possibility that she wasn't even alive. She also wouldn't want me to suffer like this. I took a step backward getting ready to jump from the stool that I stood on.

My mind racing with thoughts.

I shouldn't go through with this!

The door suddenly opened and I stepped back in fright, losing my balance in the process.

I fell off the stool and the rope tightened around my neck.

I struggled for a few seconds and then everything went blank.