To save the boy who had stolen my life, the girl I loved forced me to give him my skin. She was the one who personally strapped me to the operating table, ordering the surgeons to flay me alive. To ensure the graft would be a success, they denied me even the mercy of anesthesia. I screamed until my throat was raw, passing out from the agony only to be jolted awake by it again and again. When they were finally done, the operating room floor was slick with my blood. I was left there, a flayed, bleeding mess, my breaths so shallow they were barely there. Through the haze of pain, I heard her voice from outside the door. “Don’t let anyone tend to him without my order. A little pain is nothing. He needs to feel every last drop of it, and then some.” My blood seeped away, drop by drop. Infection festered in the open wounds. In my final moments, I tried to call her, just to say one last thing. But all I heard on the other end was her cold, sharp voice. “He’s making a fuss over a little piece of skin? Did he ever stop to think how much it would hurt Jeffrey when he was the one doing the hurting? He wants to see me? He can wait until he’s dead.” But when she learned I truly was dead, my childhood sweetheart, Nicole, finally broke. 1 When Mrs. Gable carried my urn back to the orphanage, the place was in chaos. A team of men was tearing everything apart, ransacking rooms as the children sobbed in terror. Standing off to the side, a beautiful, elegantly dressed woman watched with a frown of disgust. It was Nicole. The girl I had grown up with. Mrs. Gable rushed to shield the children, her voice raw. “Nicole, you’ve already tortured Ethan to death. Why won’t you leave his life’s work in peace?” Nicole scoffed, her expression dripping with scorn. “Playing dead to scam some money, are we? I guess you can’t sell that ruined face of yours anymore.” “You tell him this,” she snapped, her voice like ice. “Playing dead won’t work. Jeffrey’s arm is a mess because of him. If he doesn’t get his ass out here and give Jeffrey a skin graft, I’ll tear this entire orphanage down, brick by brick!” Mrs. Gable swayed, barely able to stand. She clutched my urn to her chest. “He can’t. Ethan is gone. He’s dead. He’ll never have to suffer at your hands again.” Nicole shot the urn an impatient glance, then suddenly lunged forward, slapping it from Mrs. Gable’s hands. It shattered on the cold floor, my ashes spilling out in a gray, formless cloud. But that wasn’t enough for her. Nicole raised her foot and ground the heel of her expensive stiletto into the pale dust, grinding my remains into the floorboards. Mrs. Gable screamed, her eyes wide with horror, and threw herself at Nicole, trying to push her away. “You’re insane! Ethan protected you his whole life! You swore you would always be good to him!” “I don’t know anyone so vile!” Nicole shoved Mrs. Gable to the ground, then brought her stiletto down hard on the old woman’s fingers, twisting her heel with vicious force. “He was so wicked. Shouldn’t his ashes be black?” “You’ve got some nerve,” she sneered. “First, you were on your knees begging me for money like a dog. Now you’re trying to scam me with fake ashes? Pathetic.” A spasm of agony shot through Mrs. Gable, but her gaze never left the scattered remains of me. Her tears had run dry; all that was left was a hoarse, repeated question. “You said he was the person you loved most. My Ethan was so kind… why can’t you even let him rest in peace?” Nicole kicked Mrs. Gable aside, venting her frustration on the old woman’s frail body. “I wish he’d died sooner. But that monster doesn’t get to die until he’s paid for his sins.” With every kick, her shoe scattered my ashes further. She only stopped when a bodyguard reported that they couldn’t find me anywhere in the orphanage. Disgusted, she wiped the dust from her shoe on Mrs. Gable’s clothes, then pressed her heel into the woman’s shoulder, as if trying to crush her bones. “Still trying to protect him, are you? Tell him to show his face by morning. Otherwise, this orphanage, and every child in it, will pay the price for that monster’s existence.” The venom in her eyes was unmistakable. As she turned to leave, she made a point of stomping on my ashes one last time. Her dozens of bodyguards followed suit, their shoes tracking my remains all over the courtyard. My heart, or what was left of it, shattered. I lunged forward, desperate to help Mrs. Gable as she tried to shield what was left of me with her own body. My soul passed right through her. The pain that hit me was so intense it stole my breath. That’s right. I’m already dead. And even if I were alive, I no longer have any skin left to give Jeffrey. So please, Nicole. Just leave her alone. Silence finally fell over the courtyard. Mrs. Gable carefully pushed herself up and began to gather my ashes, particle by particle. The urn was splintered, its sharp wooden shards digging into her palms, drawing blood. She didn’t seem to notice the pain. She painstakingly pieced the box back together and, as if handling a priceless treasure, placed every last grain of me back inside. When she was done, she acted as if nothing had happened, busying herself with making dinner for the children. It was only later, when she was alone, that she allowed herself to cough up a mouthful of blood. Her hands trembling, she lifted her shirt. The bandages wrapped around her abdomen were soaked through with fresh red. I wept, throwing myself at her. It was an old wound from when she’d sold her own blood, over and over again, trying to raise the money for my surgery. But it still wasn’t enough. That was why she had knelt before Nicole, begging for a loan. Nicole, however, had been busy buying a gift for Jeffrey. Annoyed at being blocked, she’d kicked Mrs. Gable without a second thought. It took Mrs. Gable a long time to get up that day. A pool of blood formed beneath her, but she was still determined to beg for a chance for me to live. She knelt from morning until night, only to be met with the news of my death. Old wounds torn open, new ones added. Mrs. Gable’s face was ashen, her lips pale. I wrapped my ghostly arms around her, my tears flowing as ceaselessly as the blood from her wound. This woman, only fifty, looked like she was at the end of her rope. Her hair was completely white, making her look eighty. I held her tight, my silent soul screaming with a grief that had no voice. When I was five, lost and disfigured, no one dared come near me. Mrs. Gable took me in. When I was eighteen, bitten by a venomous snake and left for dead, my family cast me out. It was her, again, who fought tooth and nail to pull me back from death’s door. After that, I stopped asking for anything for myself. All I wanted was to help her keep the orphanage running. But in the end, that one simple wish became the very thing that destroyed it all. 2 Before the sun was up, Mrs. Gable was already dragging her broken body around, helping the children pack their things. The next second, the roar of an engine shattered the morning calm as a bulldozer smashed through the front gate. Without a moment’s hesitation, Mrs. Gable threw herself in front of the machine. “You’ll have to run over my dead body first! You will not destroy this place!” A dismissive scoff came from a nearby luxury car as the window rolled down. It was Nicole. “Then hand over that animal, Ethan. You don’t actually think I want to be anywhere near this filthy place, do you?” Mrs. Gable was so weak she could barely stand. She dragged a chair over and sat down, her white hair whipping wildly in the morning breeze. “Ethan is ashes now. The same ashes you trampled under your heel yesterday.” Nicole covered her mouth and let out a derisive laugh. “Still so stubborn? Did Ethan find some rich old lady to crawl into bed with this time? Or did he move on to rich old men? How much is he paying you to protect him like this?” Mrs. Gable’s shoulders trembled violently. Finally, she raised a shaking finger and pointed it at Nicole. “You monster! He protected you his whole life! You grew up together! He’s dead, Nicole, why must you humiliate him even now?” “I have no such childhood friend,” Nicole spat. “The only one I love is Jeffrey!” Beside her, Jeffrey, looking pale and fragile, gently tugged on her sleeve. “Nicole, don’t be angry. I’ll just… I’ll kneel and apologize to my brother like I used to. He always forgave me when I did that…” As he spoke, he made a move to get out of the car. Nicole immediately pulled him back, her eyes filled with a tenderness I had never seen from her before. Her own eyes reddened as she hugged him tightly. “My poor Jeffrey, you’ve suffered so much. It’s all my fault. I didn’t protect you.” Jeffrey forced a brave smile, though his eyes were red-rimmed and tears streamed down his face. “No, Nicole. Every day I get to spend with you is a happy one.” He carefully lifted his sleeve, revealing a bandage on his arm that was faintly stained with blood. He winced, trying to look strong. “It doesn’t hurt at all, Nicole. I just want to be by your side. I just wish… I wish my brother could find it in his heart to accept me.” His tears were all it took. Nicole’s fists clenched. She slammed her designer handbag against the steering wheel, screaming my name in a fit of rage before turning to soothe Jeffrey. “Don’t worry. He will never mean more to me than you do. When I find him, I’ll make him wish he were never born!” But I already wished I were never born. I floated beside Mrs. Gable, my soul feeling like it was being ripped apart. I couldn’t breathe. I had long given up on any hope of family affection. But Nicole… Jeffrey only needed a small patch of skin. Why did you have them take so much? So much that I couldn’t possibly have survived. After comforting Jeffrey, Nicole gave the order. A swarm of men poured into the orphanage. The bewildered children were thrown outside. The tables and chairs Mrs. Gable cherished were smashed to pieces. The floor was a sea of splinters and broken memories. Amid the children’s wails, Mrs. Gable desperately tried to intervene but was knocked to the ground, a spray of blood erupting from her lips. She didn’t bother to wipe it away. Her hand trembled as she pulled a piece of paper from her pocket. “Nicole, if you won’t believe me that Ethan is dead, surely you’ll believe this! It’s a death certificate from the hospital!” For a split second, I could have sworn I saw Nicole’s body jolt. She finally stepped out of the car. But before she could take the paper, Mrs. Gable’s phone lit up in her hand. It was an email. A scheduled email I had set up to send to her. The sender’s name—Ethan—glowed on the screen like an irrefutable piece of evidence. Nicole let out a short, sharp laugh. And then, without a second thought, she grabbed a nearby watering can and hurled it at Mrs. Gable. “You two should be actors!” she shrieked. “I almost fell for that bastard’s tricks again!” “Since you’re both so determined to die, fine! I’ll grant your wish! Men, do it!” At her command, the monstrous machines roared to life. The building, filled with the laughter of children and all my happiest memories, collapsed in on itself with a deafening groan. Mrs. Gable, small and withered, threw her body against the demolition, trying to stop the unstoppable, her frail form quickly covered in cuts and bruises. “No! It’s not… that was…” Her voice was swallowed by the thunderous crash. Forgetting I was dead, I flew towards the machines, trying to block them. But they passed right through me, again and again. In my desperation, I fell to my knees, pounding the ground with my spectral fists. Tears of pure anguish hit the dirt. Nicole, why? Why wouldn’t you just look closer? You would have seen it. They were all scheduled emails. And every single one of them was my last will and testament. Mrs. Gable and the children were held back by the bodyguards, forced to watch as the orphanage was reduced to rubble. I cried until my entire being went numb. Through my tears, I saw a flicker of triumph in Nicole’s eyes. I always knew. She didn’t just hate me. She hated this place. Because once, long ago, it was the scene of her deepest, most shameful humiliation. 3 “Cough, cough…” Hearing Jeffrey’s faint cough, Nicole immediately rushed back to the car and shut the window. “Ugh, this place is as filthy as Ethan himself. Jeffrey, just hold on a little longer. We’ll be back at the hospital soon.” Jeffrey coughed the entire way back. Nicole was frantic, calling the hospital director and demanding he be waiting at the entrance. All the while, she cursed my name. “Ethan is a plague. If it weren’t for him, you wouldn’t be coughing like this!” When the test results came back, Nicole leaped from her chair. Jeffrey was having a rejection reaction to the skin graft. It could be fatal. The most effective solution was a full blood transfusion… from me. Before Nicole could even speak, Jeffrey weakly sat up, his eyes full of tears. He looked so fragile, so considerate. “Nicole, no. We can’t hurt my brother again because of me.” “It was my fault for taking his place. This is what I deserve. Please, Nicole, don’t make things difficult for him on my account. Just let me go… It’s just… I can’t bear to leave you.” He buried his face in her shoulder and sobbed, as if he were already on his deathbed. Nicole’s heart broke. “Don’t say such foolish things. How could I ever watch you die? You’re the love of my life. If you die, I’ll die with you.” “Don’t worry,” she vowed. “I’ll find Ethan, dead or alive. I will drag him here to give you his blood.” I watched their melodrama with a cold, hollow laugh. So, Jeffrey did know he had stolen my place. When I was five, I was lured away from home, fell down a ravine, and a branch tore a gash across my face, deep enough to expose the bone. Mrs. Gable found me and raised me for five years. When I finally returned home, I discovered that ‘I’ had been there all along. His name was Jeffrey. My parents claimed they had brought him in to avoid gossip while they searched for me. But when they saw the ugly, centipede-like scar that twisted my features, they never mentioned switching us back. From then on, I was called Ethan. It meant burden. After I came home, my parents couldn’t hide the disgust in their eyes when they looked at me. It only got worse when a group of rich girls shrieked and cried at the sight of my face. I was officially kicked out of the main house and forced to live with the servants. All the while, I saw him, Jeffrey, hiding behind a pillar, smiling. At first, Nicole would stand up for me. But slowly, the elite school, the lavish parties, the coming-of-age ceremony… everything that should have been mine was given to him. And the girl who once stood by my side, who promised to always protect me, would just tell me coldly that it was what I owed Jeffrey. The day I was supposed to register for college, Jeffrey informed me that my spot had been given to him, too. I didn’t believe it until he showed me the acceptance letter. My name was gone. His was there instead. Before I could explode, he leaned in close, his eyes glinting with triumph. “Everything that’s yours will be mine,” he whispered. “Including that pretty face. After all, I was the one who ruined it in the first place.” The forgotten memory hit me like a physical blow. It wasn’t a branch. It was a rock. He had done this. I finally snapped and slapped him across the face. The next second, Nicole shoved me to the ground. My hand landed on something cold and slithering. My parents rushed Jeffrey to the hospital, not even sparing me a glance. A searing pain shot up my arm. I looked down and saw a snake latched onto my flesh. I tore it off, but the venom was already spreading. With my last ounce of strength, I called for an ambulance. When I woke up, the person by my bedside was Mrs. Gable. A few days later, my parents paid me half a million dollars to disappear. Nicole stood by, watching me with cold fury, telling me I got what I deserved. And just like that, Jeffrey had taken everything from me. So, was this part of his plan all along? My skin, my blood, my very life? Fine. Let her search. I was suddenly morbidly curious to see Nicole’s face when she finally realized there wasn’t even enough of me left for a proper burial.
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