Chapter 2

Greta caught the shock on my face.

She let out a sigh.

She crushed her cigarette out in the ashtray.

"You know exactly what your mind is like."

"Anything close to that old business, and the depression comes right back."

"I love you, Ash. But I'm allowed to have a child of my own, aren't I?"

"But—"

"I know."

Greta cut me off.

"This is because of what he did to you back then. The bullying."

"But he already regrets it."

I laughed bitterly.

"Greta, even you're bullying me now…"

The moment I said it,

I regretted it.

Even my own father had helped them bully me.

What right did I have to say that to Greta?

But in the end, a trace of guilt showed on her face.

"Ash, I…"

"Let's get divorced."

I said it.

Her head came up, startled.

"What?"

I drew in a deep breath.

"A divorce. I'll walk away with nothing."

"The sooner the better."

"No."

Greta's brow furrowed.

"Why not?"

I gave a bitter smile. "Don't tell me you still can't let this marriage go?"

"Our marriage is one part of it, yes."

She sighed.

"But there's something more important."

"Colin can't be branded the other man."

"He already has it hard enough, raising the child on his own."

"If I divorce you now for his sake and marry him, the neighbors will only think worse of him."

I stared at her, dazed.

"Greta…"

"You think about him that much."

She turned her face away.

Her silence answered for her.

I smiled and forced back the tears that were about to fall.

"If you won't agree, that's fine. I'll get a lawyer. We'll do it through the courts."

"Ash…"

She reached for me.

I got to the door first.

It slammed shut with a bang.

Greta stood outside for several minutes.

Then came the sound of her footsteps walking away.

I slid down slowly against the door, my back to it.

That night.

I had the nightmare again.

Colin and his friends, their faces twisting into demons.

The "instruments" in their hands turning into snakes.

Writhing, coiling around my body.

Boring into the gaps between my bones.

Their laughter was shrill and high.

The more desperate I got, the more piercing it grew.

I began to thrash in the bed.

But no matter what, I couldn't open my eyes.

The doorknob seemed to jerk twice under someone's grip.

Then the door broke open.

A pair of arms wrapped around me, tight.

By my ear was Greta's voice, the one that had soothed me out of nightmares countless times.

"It's all right. It's over now, it's over."

"I'm here."

"Ash, it's all over."

"He knows he was wrong too."

My eyes snapped open.

The sheets were soaked through with cold sweat.

The clock ticked on.

I turned my head.

The pillow beside me was empty.

And the lock was just as I'd left it when I shut the door.

No one had come.

My phone buzzed.

It was my psychiatrist.

【Ash, come in and see me. Your last follow-up results are very wrong. Has something happened to you lately?】

I washed up quickly.

I'd slept the whole night.

And still I was exhausted.

Walking down the hospital corridor.

A familiar shout made me stop dead.

"Ash!"

Colin was looking at me.

"It really is you!"