She's Gone Crazy!

Celeste's POV

I finally let the tears roll down my cheeks as I shook involuntarily on that bed.

Nobody had ever been scared of consequences from me.

Nobody.

It sank right in my chest like a heavy weight.

My nerves frayed at the sound of his footsteps much later as he walked in.

My blurred eyes struggled to drag up to meet him, to look at him the same way.

He had a wide smile on his face, and looking back, I knew who put it there, the reason behind it. He dropped my tray of meds on the nightstand as he always does, like I knew he would.

The exact moment his eyes caught the earring was incredible.

His expression twisted and his smile dissolved. That annoying twitch in his jaw made a fleeting appearance. For a second I saw the flash of panic, then it was gone.

Slowly, in the thick silence, his eyes met mine like he was just seeing me since he walked in.

Forcing a casual tone, he choked out words, scratching the back of his head.

“W-where did you find it? I don't think it's yours.”

I shook my head slowly, tears filling my face.

He still had the nerves to lie unprovoked.

“Tell me I'm crazy. Convince me that I'm crazy, Henry.”

There was a slight shift in his face, his brows slowly rising.

“Excuse me? Celeste?” He then let out a disbelieving laugh.

“W-what are you trying to say? Don't tell me it's because I've been working all night, looking for more connections! For fucks sake, you can't do this to me on your sister's big night. You're already married—”

He was interrupted by his cell. The screen lit up with her name.

I was almost foaming at the mouth.

“Who is Nancy?”

“What Nancy?”

I didn't have a care in the world as I screamed my lungs out in pure frustration, my chest begging the words be let out.

“You're cheating on me! With my own sister!”

“Celeste—”

“I saw you, Henry. The earring, the calls, tonight—”

“Celeste—”

“I tried so hard not to believe it—”

“Fucking hell—”

“I saw the way you looked at her—”

“You saw me do what, you crazy woman?”

He stalked towards my figure on the bed as he cut me short, his face twisting into something so unfamiliar, veins bulged in his neck.

“Fucking doing what?” He thundered.

Who was this man? Why were his eyes bloodshot?

“You're having an affair with her!”

Upon reaching me, he drew in a long breath, and he calmed.

I recoiled when his fingers brushed against my cheeks, but he didn't stop.

“You're out of your mind, my love.” His voice softened.

“I could never ever cheat on you. Despite everything wrong with you, I still married you. Despite you not nearly fitting my perfect requirements, I still made you a wife when no one would—”

There it was. The thing I had been begging to not be true. A quiet kind of grief settled into my bones as I broke down.

"W-what's wrong with me? What's s-so bad about me that... that you'd sleep with my own sister? Someone you knew was everyone's favourite!”

His hand clamped right against my mouth in an instant, the other around my neck. True anger flashed through his eyes.

“Can you stop screaming?”

Smoke escaped his nostrils with a progression that made me shake.

I bit hard into his hand, pushing him off me with all my might as he let out a hiss, then I ran across the bed, putting distance between us.

Darkness fell on the door, and when I looked ahead, I saw none other than my sister.

She was wearing a thin robe. I could see the outline of her skin, and she wore nothing underneath. The moment she met my eyes, she let out a gasp, immediately tightening her robe around herself.

“I thought you were asleep,” She said quickly.

Henry instantly flashed her an irritated look, but I had a feeling he had never given her such a look before in his life.

“What are you doing here?”

“I made a wrong turn…”

They shared another look.

Realization hit like chill water down my spine. On this very bed, nights when I was dead asleep, would they do it…here?

“Nancy,” he called out to her all of a sudden.

“Yes, brother in law?” Her voice conveyed unusual softness.

“Help me tell your sister that I'm not cheating on her with you. I don't know where she got such an idea from.”

Surprise spread across Nancy's features for a second, then replaced by a pity so practiced, it made my skin crawl.

“Oh dear, Celeste, what are you talking about? Are you okay?”

Then she turned to Henry.

“Have you given her her meds?”

Excuse me?

Henry rushed to get it.

“Big sis, what's gotten into you? Aren't you already married? I'm surprised that you'd do something like this, and you know I'm getting married soon. Do you want to ruin my chances with Kade? What did I do to you? Please forgive me…”

Her eyes began to water, her voice softening into something so convincing, she almost had me too.

I let out a bitter laugh, then something sparked in my head.

“Stop lying!” A scream tore out of my throat.

“Then why show up naked? You're naked!”

“I said I made a wrong turn. Please, her meds! Quickly!” I glared at Henry so hard, he halted.

“What's going on here?”

Our heads whipped in the direction of the sound.

My mother.

Before I could speak, Nancy ran and hid behind my mother, bursting into tears and pointing shaky fingers at me.

“Celeste’s gone crazy! She's accusing me of sleeping with Henry! How could I do such a thing? How could she even say that? I'm... I'm shattered, mother.”

My mother's gaze fell on me, and I swallowed. I could never meet her eyes. All I wanted was to do right by her.

“Is this true, Celeste?” I tried to move my body to find it frozen.

“And she doesn't even want to take her medicine, I'm worried. She needs rest.”

Nancy cut in again, and words failed to come out of my mouth when I tried.

My mother shook her head, her eyes suddenly glassy.

“I was looking forward to resting after such a stressful day, Celeste. When are you ever going to let your sister have anything?”

Nausea rolled through me in waves at the weight of her words.

“Mom—”

“You want all the attention, even on your sister's night?”

Stab after stab, her words seeped into my soul, squeezing the life out of me from within.

What attention? I hadn't even experienced that word in my life before.

“Mom please don't yell at her. She's clearly unwell.”

Nancy's eyes burned with fake tears and fake worry. I had never hated a person so much in such a short span.

Why were they doing this to me? Why was Mom so angry and why was nobody listening? My chest felt so heavy.

Mom raged on, her eyes so unkind, I wanted to escape my body and hide somewhere.

“Your sister knows what she's doing and she's a big disgrace! Celeste, aren't you married to a man like Henry? How dare you accuse him of such? What even made you feel you were deserving of such accusations? And you're screaming so outsiders would hear and get the wrong idea about your sister? Is that what you want?”

Something twisted violently in my gut. My eyes floated to Henry for any form of support, but his eyes were on my sister.

It made everything hurt even more.

“Put her drugs into her mouth so she'll go back to her senses.”

Henry began approaching me again, and true terror consumed me. I wasn't crazy! I didn't need medicine!

He tried to force them into my mouth.

“Leave me! Get off me!” I screamed my lungs out.

The moment Nancy rushed to my side to hold me down and the pills were forced into my mouth, all the anger I had been holding channeled through my hand, and it sent a hard slap across Nancy's face. It happened before I could even register.

Whilst Nancy let out a scream, I saw the exact moment something sinister moved through Henry's eyes as he forced water down my throat.

My mother let out a shriek as she rushed to Nancy's side, soothing her reddened cheek like I was the one who's done something irreparable. She didn't care that Henry just assaulted me!

Something in my chest just…cracked.

“I'll tell everyone! I will!” My voice rose, hoarse in defiance.

“No one would believe you, so why bother?” Nancy stopped pretending, her voice cold and cruel.

Before I knew what was happening, I was kicked down, and I couldn't recover fast enough to even register who'd attacked me. I was thrown into the bathroom after being dragged by my hair.

“Let's see how she wants to tell anyone anything when she's locked up. I've had it with her. Rehab, first thing in the morning.”

I heard my mother say, and my shoulders dropped, my whole body in splitting pain.

How had I been living like this?

I tried getting up, and it was right at that moment that the first wave of something strange hit, and my hands instantly latched onto the counter so I wouldn't fall.

A sharp burning sensation from the depths of my stomach consumed me. It made its way up my throat like a wild fire spreading, heating up my entire system.

I gasped as I saw my reflection, my skin already paling.

What's happening?

I tried to make a sound, to cry for help, but only a weak sound escaped my lips.

My knees gave way instantly, and I fell to the cold ground, which was a sharp collision against my feverish skin.

My hands circled around my throat as another spasm hit me, like claws were ripping my entire system from inside out, locking up my airflow.

I coughed out painful fits, blood spattered around me.

Fresh tears started to roll down my cheeks at the discomfort.

I tried to let out another scream for help, but only cough after cough of thick blood clot kept coming out of me, drowning me until my vision blurred.

I struggled on that floor, the realization chilling.

What…who did this? Did I overdose? How many pills did I swallow?

Panic spread through me as my body fought tooth and nail to breathe. Each exhale only caused me to choke more.

I curled into myself, my hands still harshly scratching against my throat as though I could scratch the poison out.

My heartbeat grew louder, faster, and my eyes shook as right then, the sound began to slowly fade.

The burning feeling caught up with my whole body, and my legs jolted a couple of times before they stilled.

The cold from the floor melted deeper into my skin, and I shut my eyes, my whole body numb.

My eyes barely opened up to the clicking of the door and in my blurred vision, I saw a figure leaning over me.

A scoff. A grand perfume wafted into my nostrils, worsening my condition.

“Finally, this bitch is dead.”

My soul died.

Who…wanted me dead?

Unfortunately, the possibilities were endless. The figure retreated as my eyes gave up on me.

Then everything went quiet.