Todos los capítulos de I Spent Seven Years in Prison for My Fiancée, All Because She Showed Me a Photo: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 10

I spent seven years behind bars.Sometimes, when the photograph wasn't near me, the fog in my head would thin.I'd wake in the middle of the night, sick over what I'd said about Hazel. I'd told my parents she'd brought it on herself. The memory would leave me bent over my bunk, retching. Then all I had to do was picture Tessa's smile, and pity would seep back into me. Taking the blame for her would feel right again.The two thoughts tore at each other until I could no longer tell which one was mine.My mother came to see me once during my first year.She didn't bother sitting down. She tossed the cremation certificate on the table."You had no right to attend your sister's burial.""Mom."She started crying, but no sound came out."When you had a fever as a boy, Hazel stayed up with you all night. She fell asleep clutching a cup of hot water, her hands red from the heat. She loved you so much. How could you say she had it coming?"I opened my mouth, but I had no answer.The glass door

The wedding was held at the Shaws' old family home.The mahogany doors I'd seen in the photograph had been repainted. Only the scorch mark on the threshold remained. As I stepped over it, I remembered Ellis opening the black grimoire.That was when I finally saw what the blurred shape in the old magazine truly was.A faceless paper effigy had been hidden inside the family portrait. The grimoire called it the Paper Guest.Through the photograph, the Paper Guest hooked itself into love and hatred. The more I loved Tessa, the more completely it could bend me to her will. The more my family hated me, the more resentment it devoured.And the life-transfer ritual did not stop after ruining one person.It slowly siphoned away my family's health, wealth, luck, and years of life, then fed them to the person named in the photograph.That was when I finally understood the truth. Tessa had never pursued me because she loved me.As the eldest son of the Ward family, I was her easiest way into the c

The entrance was hidden behind the family chapel.Gerald refused to show us the way.I drew out the photograph. One glimpse of it, and he stopped arguing.Two bodyguards dragged Tessa downstairs by the arms. She cursed at me the whole way. "Elliot, you'll pay for this! Your sister is dead. Why can't you let it go?"I stopped.Then I slowly turned to face her.One look from me made her falter."Say that again."She glanced at Gerald but still lifted her chin defiantly."Am I wrong? Hazel shouldn't have gone out. If she hadn't been on her way to bring you that cake, would she be dead?"I walked straight toward her.Gerald shouted, "Tessa, shut up!"Too late.I slapped her.My palm went numb from the impact.I'd waited seven years to slap her. But Hazel still wasn't coming back, and the slap brought me no satisfaction.Someone behind me gasped. Everyone else simply held their phones higher.Tessa clutched her cheek and stared at me in disbelief."You hit me?""I should've done that seven

By the time Tessa was taken away, videos from the wedding and the cellar had gone viral.The seven-year-old case was reopened.Hundreds of cursed photographs were recovered from the Shaw family's cellar.Many belonged to people who had gone missing, gone bankrupt, or died in accidents.Reporters gathered outside the hospital."Mr. Ward, why did you take the blame for Tessa Shaw? Is it true that a ritual effigy stole your family's fortune?"I didn't answer.My mother sat in a wheelchair, holding my hand.Her fingers were so thin I could feel every bone beneath her skin.When I was little, her hand was always warm and firm around mine whenever we crossed the street. Seven years later, that same hand was little more than skin and bone. Only then did it truly sink in. She was still alive."Elliot, the past seven years have been hard on you."I crouched down in front of her."Mom, I'm sorry."She shook her head, and a tear fell onto the back of my hand. My fingers stiffened when I felt its

Hazel was laid to rest again on a bright, clear day.A new photo was set into her headstone. In it, she wore her school uniform, her eyes crinkling as she smiled.My mother wiped the headstone and said, "Hazel, your brother's home. He hasn't forgotten you."My father placed a slice of cake in front of the headstone."You always wanted to bring Elliot a birthday cake. This time, I brought one for you."I stood beside the grave, holding the family portrait.The Paper Guest had crumbled into black ash. Hazel's shadow was gone from the photograph.Ellis said her resentment had faded, and she was finally free to move on.I didn't believe in any of that.But that night, I dreamed of her.She stood at the end of an alley, holding a cake box. "Elliot, happy birthday."When I woke up, half my pillow was wet.Later, I burned the family portrait.As the flames curled around its edges, something inside the paper gave a faint, shuddering sound.Like a final breath escaping a throat.My family didn'