Chapter 2

My head lolled helplessly, my forehead knocking hard against her arm. A wave of dull, throbbing pain bloomed across my skull, and the black spots dancing in my vision began to multiply.

"Move!" Marie hissed through gritted teeth, her voice low and toxic with vitriol. "Stop humiliating me out here. Just wait until I get you home."

She dragged my limp body down the corridor, hauling me toward the vacant classroom at the far end of the hall.

Passing students slowed their steps, forming a loose circle. They pointed and murmured among themselves as we passed.

"What's happening? Why is that doctor dragging her like that? It's terrifying. Look at her arms and legs twitching!"

"Oh, you don't know? That's Ashley Wilcox, the school's most notorious faker. That doctor is her mother. What else would it be? She just wants to skip class, so she's staging another one of her dramatic episodes."

"Seriously? That's pathetic. No wonder her mom is entirely fed up with her."

The biting whispers drifted into my ears, growing clearer and sharper with every step. I lay on the floor, my eyelids feeling as heavy as stone, practically glued shut.

I desperately wanted to open my mouth and scream that they were wrong, but my vocal cords refused to cooperate. Only my tears flowed faster, soaking into the linoleum tiles.

I wasn't faking. I couldn't control this, and I felt like dying. Unfortunately, not a single person tried to step in, not to mention offering a helping hand.

Right then, a voice cut through the noise. "Dr. Wilcox! Where are you taking Ashley?"

Our homeroom teacher, Hailey Lowery, came rushing through the crowd. The moment she took in the scene, her expression fractured into utter shock, and she threw herself forward to block Marie's path.

She added anxiously, "Look at the state of this child! She's having full-body convulsions, and her face is as white as a sheet. This isn't an act. You need to get her to a hospital immediately!"

"Ms. Lowery, this is none of your business. Stay out of it," Marie replied, her tone a freezing wall of indifference. "She is my daughter, and I will discipline her as I see fit. She's intentionally staging this spectacle to play the victim and embarrass me in public. Am I not allowed to manage my own child?"

"But she is clearly in severe distress!" Hailey argued, her voice trembling with rising panic as she reached down to support my weight.

Marie shoved her away, but Hailey persisted. "Feel her hands. They are ice-cold! That's not a good sign. If you keep dragging her like this, something catastrophic is going to happen! How can you be so merciless to your own flesh and blood?"

"Merciless?" Marie let out a harsh, mocking laugh.

Bending over, she grabbed the back of my collar and yanked me up off the ground. "If I were truly merciless, I would have abandoned this ungrateful wretch years ago!"

The words flew from her mouth, thick with venom, her grip tightening until it restricted my airway.

She continued bitterly, "I slave away at the hospital to fund her education. And what do I get in return? A child who spends every waking hour concocting fake illnesses to skip school!

"She's lazy, fragile, and utterly incapable of handling a single second of hardship. How did I ever give birth to such a useless, spineless disappointment?"

She violently shook my limp body to emphasize her rage. My head snapped back and forth, the entire world spinning in a nauseating blur, as a thick, metallic taste of blood began to pool at the back of my throat.

I finally gathered all my remaining strength and squeezed out a weak whisper. "Mom, I'm not..."

My words hit a raw nerve. Her eyes flared with blinding fury. "You still dare to lie to me?"

Her hand whipped through the air, delivering a brutal slap across my cheek. The sheer force of the blow snapped my head to the side.

My skin burned instantly, a sharp, deafening ring filled my ears, and the sheer shock of the impact temporarily froze the tears in my eyes.

"Look at you! You can't even stand upright, and you're still trying to deceive me?" Blinded by anger, Marie raised her hand once more.

Hailey threw her weight forward and firmly locked onto Marie's arm.

"Dr. Wilcox! Stop this!" Her voice was tinged with desperation as she tried to reason. "Even if she really made a mistake, you can't assault her like this. She is so weak. It could kill her."