جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 20

Angela stormed into her room, furious. Her chest was tight, her heart pounding so loud she could hear it. Shame and jealousy were boiling inside her.She stared at her own reflection and scrubbed at her makeup like she was scouring a dirty bathroom floor, smearing lipstick across her cheek. She felt ugly inside, and she wanted her outside to look the same."It's me," she hissed at the mirror. "I'm the one who's going to handle Suzan." Her voice was shaking, not just with anger, but with a deep, painful envy she didn't want to admit.A small voice came from the doorway."Mommy, look! I drew a picture of you!" Maria said, holding it up happily. Her eyes were shining with pure love and pride.Angela didn't even look at it properly. She snatched the paper and tore it straight down the middle. In that second, she wasn't thinking about Maria — she was thinking about how Suzan made everyone love her so easily.Maria gasped. Her lip trembled. Her own mother had just ripped her drawing. Her li

Angela entered the room.It was like the door was about to bang out.Her hair was a wild mess, but she didn't care. Not anymore. She didn't care about anything.All she wanted was to finish the kids.Everything resembling evidence had to be finished and turned to moving air.She pulled on the gloves slowly, deliberately. On the small bed, Maria and Fred were lying side by side. Their eyes were tightly shut. They couldn't move, they couldn't even open their eyes. But they could hear everything. They were listening to every footstep, every word but trapped inside their own frozen bodies.She pulled on the gloves slowly, deliberately. Her hands weren't shaking because they were too numb for that.She was ready to add more chemicals to them. One dose more and the body just shuts down. Automatically. No screaming. No struggle. Easy.She reached out her hand toward Maria ,her own daughter. Her own blood. A faint, broken smile played on her lips."I wish I were you, daughter," she whispere

Jude's crazy smile didn't last for even ten seconds. It was a small, broken smile, the kind a person makes when she thinks she has won, but it died quickly on her lips. Her mascara was running, her chest was still rising and falling fast from shouting, and her hand was still hot from slapping up. Beep. A small sound came from the living room. It was not loud, but in that heavy silence after Kris fainted, everyone heard it. Beep. Beep. The sound was electronic, sharp, coming from near the TV wall. It blinked red twice. Angela looked up from the yellowed paper in her hand. Her fingers were tight around it, the old wedding date creasing in her palm. "What was that?" Kris was still on the floor, unconscious. His breathing was heavy. His shirt was dusty where he had fallen, and a thin line of sweat was on his forehead. He did not move. Jude wiped her tears angrily with the back of her hand, smearing her makeup even more. She was breathing hard, her voice shaking with lefto

The BOOM was not far. It was so close that the windows of Suzan's house shook. A dog in the neighbor's compound started barking like crazy. Suzan and Jonah ran barefoot out of the gate, Paul behind them holding Fred's hand. Maria stayed at the door, holding the curtain tight, too scared to come out. On the road, just past the big mango tree, the white police Land Cruiser was burning. The fire was huge. It was eating the whole car. Black smoke was going high into the night sky, thick and oily, making everyone cough. People were shouting, running with buckets of water, jerrycans, even basins of sand. Motorcycle men parked their bodas and just stared, their phones recording. "No! No! No!" Jonah shouted. Jonah and his parents froze when they saw the scene. The second police car — the one that had stayed behind to take Suzan's statement — came speeding back, its tires screeching on the murram. The policeman inside was shouting on his radio, his voice cracking. "Control! Control! V

After everything that had happened, Suzan's parents and Jonah had decided to stay with her at the mansion. The house felt too big, too cold, and too haunted to leave her alone in it during such a tough time. Her father, Paul, barely spoke. He just sat in the living room with his newspaper unread on his lap, watching the gate. Her mother, Eva, hovered around the kitchen, making tea no one drank. And Jonah, her younger brother, kept checking the doors and windows, as if grief was a thief that could break in again. In the morning, Suzan was already awake, but she was still in bed. She had been awake since 4 a.m., staring at the ceiling, listening to the heavy silence of the house. She had no energy to get up. Her body felt like stone. Then there was a soft, careful knock on the door. It was her mom, Eva. Eva opened the door slowly and peeked inside. She saw her daughter lying there, eyes open, lost. "Honey," Eva whispered softly, walking over to the bed and sitting on the edge. Sh