Chapter 8

By the time Silvia came to, she was blinded by the harsh white lights of the hospital.

Fighting the splitting headache, she tried to get up but soon realized she couldn't move at all.

She lowered her head to find that her body was bound tightly by restraint straps.

She had seen the same thing when she went for her treatments. It was used to prevent agitated patients from hurting others and themselves.

Still, that didn't explain why she was bound there.

Just then, the door opened.

Gregory slowly appeared before Silvia. He didn't say a word. Instead, he just gazed at her with a complicated look in his eyes.

Silvia said, "Gregory, let me go."

Gregory shook his head. "Silvia, Ella was deeply traumatized. The doctor said that there's very little chance of her recovering."

Silvia retorted, "And so what? I told you, I have nothing to do with what happened to Ella. I had no reason to do those things to her."

The last shred of guilt in Gregory's eyes disappeared. "I see you're still stubborn as always, and you're not showing any remorse. If that's the case, there's no need for me to show any mercy, either. Why don't you experience the pain of psychiatric treatment yourself? Treat it as your compensation to Ella."

With that, Gregory signed the consent form the doctor had handed to him. "Thanks, doctor. You may begin the treatment."

He didn't spare Silvia another glance.

Silvia watched the doctor prepare the ECT machine, her eyes wide in fury and anguish.

She screamed Gregory's name at the top of her lungs, but the man didn't even turn around or hesitate as he opened the door and left.

Silvia could only watch as the doctor approached her with a twisted smile on his face. He was holding the paddles of the ECT machine in his hands. "Ms. Robinson, right? Someone specially asked me to take care of you. Don't worry. I guarantee that when you leave this place, not a single mark will be left on you."

She watched as he gradually brought the paddles to her temples. Then, a sudden jolt of electricity hit her.

She couldn't help but let out a scream.

She never knew that it would be this painful. She was always under anesthesia during her ECT sessions, so she didn't feel it one bit.

She screamed in her mind, "It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!"

She wanted to struggle, but she couldn't budge an inch.

Her mind was filled with questions and curses, but when she opened her mouth, she realized she was completely drained.

She thought, "Who am I cursing? Who am I questioning? Do I curse Gregory for being unfaithful or Ella for being selfish? Or do I curse my mother, who made me suffer yet raised me all the same? Or should I curse my father, who abandoned Mom and me to elope with his lover?"

Silvia had spent most of her life in hatred and suffering. Now, she had grown weary of it, and she didn't want to think about these things anymore.

The next surge of electrical current came as expected. She couldn't stop her body from twitching at all.

After the electric shock stopped, she lay back down, completely drained. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

She told herself that she just had to endure it, and she would be out in no time.

Seven days later, Silvia was finally released.

She was in a daze, and she didn't offer much of a response when she saw Gregory.

Gregory softly called her name and draped a jacket over her. "Silvia… Let's go home."

Silvia's expression was blank as she flung the jacket onto the floor and shook off Gregory's hands.

She opened her mouth and said in a hoarse voice, "Go away, Gregory. I don't want to see you ever again."

As Gregory stared at the jacket on the floor, he couldn't quite put his feelings into words. "I know you'd get mad at me, but trust me, I'm doing this for your own good. You have to pay the price for the things you do. I can't just sit by and watch you bully your own sister. Silvia, I swear I'll make it up to you…"

Silvia didn't say another word. After all, anything she said would be futile.

She didn't want to see Gregory ever again. She was racking her brains for a way to stop him from following her around, but then his phone rang.

Gregory was about to decline the call when he caught sight of the caller ID. He picked up the call instead.

Ella's voice rang out, "Gregory, where are you? I just woke up, and I can't find you anywhere. I think I'm panicking… Are you going to abandon me as my parents and Silvia did?"

Gregory's voice was gentle as he replied, "Of course not. I just… had something urgent to take care of. I have an appointment I can't decline. I'll be right back to be with you, okay?"

Silvia could clearly hear Ella's sobs coming from the other end of the line. "Gregory, I'm really, really scared…"

Gregory couldn't bother with anything else anymore. He said, "Hold on. I'm coming."

After he ended the call, Silvia could sense him looking at her and hesitating to speak.

So, she said, "Go ahead. I can just take a cab."

Gregory could see that Silvia didn't care at all. He wanted to say something, but then he remembered that Ella was on the verge of a breakdown.

In the end, he chose to hurry back to the hospital.

Silvia hailed a cab to the treatment center for her final ECT session.

After she closed her eyes, the nurse gently said, "Ms. Robinson, relax. This will be your last treatment. I hope this is the last time I'm meeting you here, and I wish nothing but good things for your life in the future."

Silvia didn't say a word. During the final moments, as the anesthesia started kicking in, a single tear escaped her eye.