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Todos los capítulos de When My Hands Were Ruined: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 10

10 Capítulos

Chapter 1

The delivery driver handed me a stiff cardboard envelope. "Joshua Wood, sign here, please. It's from the visa center."My hand tightened around the pen, and for a second, it trembled. In my previous life, I had only glanced at this envelope. By that very night, it was gone, along with my passport.I tore the house apart looking for them, sweating so badly that I could barely think. My mom's eyes were red from crying as she said, "It's my fault. I should've kept them somewhere safe."Then, the fire came.After that, I never had another chance to find them.This time, after signing for the envelope, I held it tightly against my chest."You got it?" My mother stepped out of the kitchen with flour still on her hands. The moment she saw the passport, her eyes lit up. "Let me see."I closed the passport. "I put it away."She froze for a second, then smiled. "I just want to take a look. It's not like I've never seen your documents before."I did not move. The smile on her face slowly

Chapter 2

My mother did not speak to me again that night.I stayed in my room, packing my bags. I uploaded copies of all my important documents to cloud storage, then sent them separately to three different email accounts.Finally, I emailed my program coordinator, Ms. Jessica Harris.[Ms. Harris, please make a note in my file. Effective immediately, any request to withdraw from the program, defer my enrollment, or give up my scholarship must be confirmed by me personally over video. [Any request made solely through email or based on statements from a family member is invalid.]Ten minutes later, Jessica called me. Her voice was calm and alert. "Is something going on at home?"I stared at the light spilling out from beneath the living room door. "Maybe."She did not press me for details. She only said, "Send me the documents. I'll forward everything to the college's international office."After a brief pause, she added, "Joshua, don't try to handle this all by yourself."My throat tigh

Chapter 3

Outside the airport hotel window, the lights on the tarmac stayed on all night.After taking a shower, I slipped my passport and boarding pass into the money belt around my waist.My laptop sat open on the desk. On the screen was a live feed from my house.My mother had not gone to the hospital. When the ambulance arrived downstairs, she told the paramedics that she had only gotten emotional after an argument with her son. She even smiled and apologized."Sorry. My kid was just being overly worried."After the paramedics left, she sat alone in the living room for a long time.At 11:06 pm, she changed clothes and left the apartment. She came back at 11:34 pm. This time, she was carrying a black plastic bag.I zoomed in on the feed. Inside were candles, a lighter, and two bottles labeled 'Heavy-Duty Stain Remover'.My fingertips went cold.It turned out that the fire in my previous life had not been some spur-of-the-moment decision. She had bought everything ahead of time.At 1

Chapter 4

By the time the firefighters arrived, the flames still had not reached the living room. With the gas shut off and the flammable materials removed beforehand, the fire was much smaller than it had been in my previous life.Building management knocked on doors and evacuated everyone on the same floor. Their voices carried through the hallway and came through the security feed.My mother finally panicked.She rushed toward the door first, trying to rip down the camera. However, the flames crept closer, and she backed away.When the firefighters broke down the door, they found her sitting outside the bedroom, coughing. Her face was blackened with soot, and there was a small burn on the back of her hand. However, she was not in any real danger.At 3:00 am, I returned to the apartment complex. I was not there to put out the fire. I was there to hand over the evidence.A crowd had gathered downstairs.The moment Hannah saw me, she rushed over. "Joshua! How could you only be getti

Chapter 5

At the police station, my mother gave them three different stories. The first was that she had accidentally started the fire while cooking.The officer stared at her. "At midnight? You were cooking with a candle?"She fell silent.The second story was that she had had an emotional breakdown and was trying to hurt herself.However, the preliminary fire investigation had already come back.The fire had started on the floor near the entryway, not beside her. She had been standing a safe distance from the flames, and neither the doors nor the windows had been blocked. Her story about being 'trapped' did not match the evidence.The third story was that I had driven her to it.She claimed I had looked down on her for years, deliberately provoked her before leaving the country, and installed security cameras just to push her over the edge.I submitted the original video files, the emergency call recording, and the cloud timestamps.In the footage, she could clearly be seen removing t

Chapter 6

The family group chat exploded the next morning.[Whatever your mom did, she's still your mother.][She just couldn't bear to lose you. What mother could accept her son moving so far away?][The fire didn't even reach you. Why can't you just let it go?][You've had all those years of education. How can you still not understand something as basic as family?]Uncle Chester even brought my aunt to the hotel and waited downstairs while I met with them. He dropped a stack of papers in front of me. "Sign them."I glanced at the first page. It was a statement asking the prosecutor to show my mother leniency and making it clear that I did not want to pursue the matter any further.My aunt's eyes were swollen from crying. "Joshua, we're not asking you to cover for her. We just want to give her a chance. She didn't sleep at all last night. She kept calling your name. Your mom isn't in good health. If you let them lock her up, she could die in there."I looked at her. "Before she started

Chapter 7

After my mother was officially taken into custody, I went home to collect the rest of my things.A large section of the living room wall was black with soot. The floor near the entryway had warped and lifted, and the sharp smell of smoke still hung in the air. The old piano was still sitting by the window, its lid covered in dust.My father had bought it secondhand when he was still alive. I could still remember him bringing it home, carrying it himself until he was drenched in sweat, yet grinning as if he had just won the lottery.He had said, "My son is going to play on the biggest stages someday."I sat down at the piano and pressed a key. The strings were badly out of tune, and the note came out dull and cracked.However, the moment my fingers touched the keys, I almost cried. My hands were still okay.In my previous life, I had heard piano music countless times in my dreams. Then, I would wake up and see only my twisted fingers.My mother would bring a glass of water

Chapter 8

Fall came quickly to Parish.During my first week, I practically lived in the practice rooms.The academy's practice building was old. The wooden floors creaked beneath every step, and the sound of street musicians playing accordions often drifted in through the windows.The first time I sat down in front of the Steinway, I held my hands above the keys for a long time without playing a note.My classmates probably thought I was nervous, but only I knew what I was really doing. I was trying to convince myself that this was real, that I was not dreaming, that I had truly been given another chance.When the first note finally rang out, tears nearly spilled onto the back of my hand. I played for four straight hours, moving from Bach to Debussy, from basic exercises to the audition pieces I had spent two years preparing.By the time I finally stopped, my fingertips were aching and my wrists were burning. However, that kind of pain made me feel safe.It was not the pain of a burn. It

Chapter 9

After that, I threw myself into a life that felt full and deeply satisfying. My days were filled with piano practice, classes, rehearsals, competitions, and tours. Every morning at seven, I was already in the practice room, and late at night, I would walk back to the dorm with my sheet music tucked under my arm.People often said I looked as though I were racing against time. They had no idea how right they were.I really was chasing something. I was chasing the nine years that had been burned away from my life in my previous life, trying to make up for every moment I had lost.The first time I won an award at an international competition, Ms. Harris flew all the way to see me. She sat in the very last row of the audience.When I took my final bow, I saw her give me a small nod.After the performance, she handed me a cup of hot coffee."How are your hands?""Great.""What about your heart?"I froze for a second, then smiled. "It's thawing."She did not ask anything else.

Chapter 10

The year my mother was released from prison, I had just finished my tour across Eurona.My lawyer warned me ahead of time."She's been released. Based on the risk assessment, there's a chance she may try to contact you directly. You can continue providing financial support through a third party. You don't need to have any private contact with her."I said, "Keep the existing arrangement."That night, Uncle Chester called. I did not answer.A long voice message appeared a few minutes later."Joshua, your mom is out. Her health is terrible. She gets out of breath just walking. You're famous now. You have your own career, your own life. But don't let having a good life make you forget where you came from."She just wants to see you once. What would it hurt to go home and see her? Are you really unwilling to give her even that much of your time?"I forwarded the voice message to my lawyer.The next day, my lawyer sent Uncle Chester a formal letter making it clear that all communic

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