All Chapters of Pain Is a Family Matter: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

8 Chapters

Chapter 1

The day the Shared-Sense System came looking for me, Amber was 1,000 feet in the air, gripping a steel cable on a via ferrata course.The wind cut hard enough to make the platform sway. Everyone else who had signed up clutched their safety lanyards like lifelines.Amber Tandham wore nothing to protect her.She grinned at her phone, livestream active, waving at the screen as if she were chatting in a warm café instead of hanging over open air. "1,000 feet. No safety gear the whole way."The comments exploded. Emojis and shrieks of worship flooded the screen.Amber laughed. "What is there to be scared of? I've got a second life."She stepped onto the first rung. The metal ladder shuddered beneath her boot. The cable quivered. The space below looked clean and empty, as if the city itself had been erased.My knees weakened on their own. My legs turned to water. Tears slipped down my face before I could stop them.Ever since my brothers listened to that so-called Ritualist, the one

Chapter 2

My body felt as if someone had taken me apart and snapped me back together wrong, bone by bone, joint by joint. I coughed and spat blood as consciousness dragged me up from the dark.A white ceiling came into view. The sharp smell of antiseptic flooded my senses. I was in a hospital ward.Voices echoed from the hallway. Amber's voice cut through them all, loud and theatrical. "It hurts so bad, Rayden! Did I break a rib or something? How else could it hurt this much?"Rayden groaned. "The doctor said nothing's wrong, didn't he? But my head hurts like hell too."Amber clung to his arm, her tone turning syrupy. "I wanted to stay hospitalized so I could film a ward vlog for my fans, but that annoying doctor said there were no beds and refused."The curtain was yanked aside.Rayden strode in and rapped his knuckles against the metal railing of my bed. "Since you're awake, stop playing dead. Get up and give the bed to Amber. Didn't you hear her?"He did not care that I was injured. He

Chapter 3

It was the kind of pain that split me open from the inside, as if someone had taken an axe to my body and kept swinging.[Second pain threshold detected above 90. Pain transfer increased to 65% for bound targets.]I lay curled on a stretcher, barely aware of where my limbs were or how they were positioned.Voices collided beside me. My brothers argued with the doctors."This young woman is critical," a doctor snapped. "You don't have a single visible injury. You can wait for the next ambulance.""She's about to die," a nurse added."But we're in pain too," one of my brothers insisted. "What if it's internal bleeding? I can barely stand."The doctors stopped listening and wheeled me straight into the ambulance.Anesthetic flooded my veins, and the world dissolved.-After two hours of surgery, I surfaced slowly, as though hauling myself up from the bottom of deep water.Outside the ward, familiar voices drifted in. My brothers and Amber sounded confused and uneasy."The doct

Chapter 4

My body suddenly felt light, as if someone had ripped a massive wad of cotton from my chest. The pressure and pain vanished. I felt clean, almost unreal.My brothers clustered together a short distance away. I could not tell who had died. I saw only a mangled shape at the center of them, flesh torn apart, blood pouring down in thick streams around his feet.I walked toward them.Amber stood outside the circle. She looked like a wooden doll pinned in place, her face drained of color."That's impossible," she whispered. "How could this happen…"When she saw me standing upright and completely unhurt, she screamed, "Viola, how are you fine?"Her voice cracked. "The one injured should've been you. Why is it Rayden?"She lunged forward and grabbed my collar, her fingers shaking. "What did you do? What did you use to kill him?""So you admit you meant to get hurt," I said calmly.She froze. Her eyes darted away. She gave no answer.The others finally noticed the commotion.Justin w

Chapter 5

I worried for more than 10 days before Justin finally returned.He opened the car door. No Ritualist was inside."I couldn't find him," Justin said flatly. "The other Ritualists all said they've never seen anything like this. From now on, we're on our own."He paused, then went on, his tone measured, as if he had rehearsed every word, "I've thought it through. The Misfortune Vessel spell on Viola is what's malfunctioning, but the source is still Amber. As long as we protect Amber properly, no one's life will be in danger."The irony cut deep.When I was the Misfortune Vessel, they encouraged Amber to be free, passionate, and fearless. They urged her to chase danger, to "live fully," to find meaning through extremes. Now that the pain transferred to them, they locked her away completely.When Amber slipped on the stairs, Justin immediately ordered her room to be moved to the first floor.When she burned her mouth on hot water, Nelson snapped at the staff. "No more hot drinks for

Chapter 6

I froze. For years, I had dragged a ruined leg and a useless right hand behind me, convinced this was my life now, permanent and unchangeable.And now the Shared-Sense System was telling me those injuries could be transferred to someone else.Joy surged through me so violently that my hands began to shake."I accept," I said without hesitation.[Option accepted.]The operating room doors slid open.Nelson, Stefan, and Amber, still sobbing, all turned at once as the doctor pulled off his mask."He's alive," he said. "But there's a high chance he'll never wake up. He needs to stay in the ICU for observation."Justin was wheeled away.During visiting hours, I went in once. He lay motionless on the bed, tubes snaking across his body, machines humming at his sides.The doctor said he still retained consciousness and that familiar voices might help. Family members were supposed to speak to him, call his name, and remind him of the past.So I did.I said softly at his bedside, "Ju

Chapter 7

Cool wind rushed past my face. For a split second, I felt like a bird spreading its wings.Then I slammed into the mountainside.The impact was brutal. Hard stone crashed into my body, as if it meant to tear me apart.I bounced, rolled, and slammed again. This time, a jagged ridge tore across my chest, splitting my skin open. By the time I finally reached the bottom, my clothes hung in shredded rags.From the viewing platform above, one of my brothers screamed. I could not tell which one.I leaned against the rock wall and forced myself upright.The Shared-Sense System's voice echoed in my ears.[Severe injury detected. The host has reached a near-death state. All accumulated old injuries will now be randomly transferred to one bound target.]Another scream rang out from the platform.I looked down at myself. Beneath the torn fabric, my body was intact. I had no broken bones or twisted limbs.I started walking. Step by step, I climbed back up toward the viewing platform. Thic

Chapter 8

Stefan dragged the limp leg he had taken from Viola and lured Amber out. He claimed he had once promised to buy her a crown and invited her to browse jewelry.Amber suspected nothing.As the car traveled farther from the city center, unease crept in. Amber sensed something was wrong.Panic surged, and she grabbed Stefan's arm and cried, "Stefan, what are you doing? Did you forget? I'll always be your little princess. I'm your sister, Amber. Your Amber."Stefan snapped, seizing her by the throat."I don't have a sister who brings only misfortune," he said hoarsely. "My sister is Viola. Only Viola."Amber fought back with everything she had. Years of extreme stunts had sharpened her survival instincts.Stefan's body was also weak. His life revolved around touring, piano practice, and caution. He could not match someone who faced danger daily.Amber overpowered him with ease.Stefan screamed for the driver.The driver, frozen with terror, had already sped away.Stefan lay bound

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