The Scars Time Cannot Heal

Two years after I die, my husband, Devin Pollard, kidnaps my best friend, Vanessa Harper's, son. He stands before her with the arrogance of a man in power. "Nicole is sick and urgently needs a kidney transplant. Tell me where Shirley is, and you'll get your son back. "She's perfectly healthy even after donating blood to Nicole for three years, so I'm sure giving up a kidney isn't an issue." My brother, Scott Weber, tags along. He gives Vanessa an annoyed look and says, "Shirley always has to make trouble. We wouldn't have sent her to a psychiatric hospital if she hadn't maniacally stabbed Nicole back then. "But now, it's bad enough that she refuses to show remorse, but she also runs away. "Tell her that if she comes back and donates her kidney to Nicole, I'll consider her my sister again." Looking at the way they arrogantly demand my kidney, Vanessa suddenly laughs. "You want Shirley's kidney, don't you? She's been dead for two years, so search through these ashes and see if you can dig up a kidney!" Chapter 1 The air instantly froze. Scott Weber let out a cold laugh. His voice was full of irritation as he snapped, "Stop playing games and tell Shirley Weber to get out here right now! We've checked with the psychiatric hospital. She escaped from there two years ago. "You're her only friend, so she wouldn't go to anyone else but you." Devin Pollard frowned deeply as he scanned Vanessa Harper's apartment with eyes full of annoyance. "This is a matter of life and death, Vanessa. Nicole needs a kidney transplant as soon as possible, and Shirley is the best match. "Tell her to come back with us, and I'll write you a big check." After a pause, he added, "You won't want your son to keep suffering with you, do you?" Vanessa curled her lips into a mocking smile. "She did come to me, but it's a shame she's dead." Traces of anger flashed across Devin's face. "You won't stop lying, huh? We did Shirley a great mercy by not sending her to prison when she stabbed Nicole back then. "She owes Nicole her life, yet now she stands by and watches her die. She's truly malicious." Standing behind him, I let out a self-mocking laugh. I was branded evil and malicious ever since Nicole Weber appeared, but I never imagined that even after two years, I would still be labeled evil just for failing to appear in front of him. I couldn't help but marvel at how deeply Devin treasured Nicole. When they stubbornly refused to believe Vanessa's words, she didn't bother arguing. Instead, she turned her back on them and went back to plating the fresh fruits and pastries on the desk. Scott's voice turned cold when he spotted the milk cookies in her hand. "You claim Shirley is dead, so who are these pastries for? Are you preparing her favorite snacks for a ghost?" Devin cast an impatient glance at the desk before looking away. Despite being dead for two years, seeing their reaction still made my heart throb painfully. They were Devin and Scott, the same people who used to cut business trips short and rush home overnight just to celebrate my birthday. But now, they had completely forgotten that today was my birthday, and they didn't have the slightest clue that today was my death anniversary. Vanessa's expression darkened. She set the pastries down with a sharp scoff and snapped, "Can't I pay respects to the dead?" Devin coldly stared at her for a long while until his patience wore thin. "We're only asking Shirley to give Nicole a kidney. It's not like we're asking for her life. "If you don't tell me where she is hiding right now, we're taking your son." Vanessa took a deep breath, nearly laughing out loud. "Go ahead. Jordan is your son and Shirley's anyway. I couldn't care less even if you strangle him to death." The room plunged into a dead silence. I watched as Devin's hands trembled at his sides before he let out a cold laugh and said, "It looks like you've gone just as mad as Shirley." "I'm perfectly sane!" Vanessa snapped, cutting him off. "Shirley barely survived escaping that psychiatric hospital and bled out during labor three months later. She died without getting to look at her baby even once." Scott stood frozen to the spot. He whipped his head around to look at Jordan Pollard, the baby cradled in the bodyguard's arms, with shock written all over his face. As Devin stared into the raw hatred surging in Vanessa's eyes, a trace of sheer panic flickered across his face. He was just about to open his mouth and press further when he was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone. It was a text from Nicole. "Shirley must still hate me, Devin. I'm sure she'll do everything she can to make things difficult for you, just to avoid giving me her kidney. "Please don't go through all that trouble. Just take good care of yourself when I die." The brief sentences were enough to turn the pain in Devin's eyes into mockery. His hands shook as he typed back a reply. "This is what she owes you, so what right does she have to hate you? "I'll bring her back and make her give you that kidney. I'm not letting you die." Then, he raised his head to glare at Vanessa with eyes full of threat. "Stop putting on an act, Vanessa. Shirley is coming with me today, and we're not leaving until we find her." Vanessa smiled. "Fine by me. Your premature son cost me a fortune in medical bills, and he's a nightmare to take care of anyway. You can start by reimbursing me." With that, she handed him a ledger and continued, "Every single expense is detailed right here, Mr. Pollard. I expect a prompt payment." Without waiting for a reply, she turned around and walked out onto the balcony to tend to her chores. Her attitude pissed Devin off. He hurled the ledger away and snapped, "Why should I believe anything you say?" He threw his arm out with so much force that he accidentally knocked over something on her nearby shelf. My heart missed a beat as I watched my diary drop onto the floor. Chapter 2 The diary was a memoir I had written. After escaping from the psychiatric hospital, my mind was blurred and dazed. I didn't want to go anywhere, so I holed myself up in Vanessa's apartment and poured everything into that diary. Scott bent down and picked up the diary from the floor. The moment he flipped to the first page, his expression turned ugly. "Scott's and Devin's attention shifted to Nicole ever since she moved into our house. Scott promised me that I would always be his closest sister and that bringing Nicole home was just to fulfill Dad's dying wish. "Devin couldn't stand Nicole at first. He called her an uncultured, low-class, illegitimate daughter. But later, all it took was Nicole to shed a single tear and her claim that I had bullied her, and they would easily believe her words. They turned their backs on me and condemned me." Reading up to this point, Scott lost all patience to continue. He tossed the diary into the trash can, gritted his teeth, and hissed, "Shirley has grown some nerve, hasn't she? First, she faked her death, and now she leaves a diary behind to drive a wedge between Nicole and us. "Everyone knows that Shirley was the one who treated Nicole the worst. Would I ever have dared say a single harsh word to her if she hadn't gone too far?" A look of deep disgust appeared on Devin's face at the mention of the past, and bitterness filled my heart. There was a time when Scott would never have spoken a harsh word to me. Back then, he was famous in our social circle for doting on me, his little sister. When I went on a diet during my teenage years, he would sit beside me with a bowl of oatmeal and coax me to eat. He would tell me that my body was perfect and that I didn't need to lose weight, and even if I did gain weight, Devin would still marry me anyway. Sitting at our dinner table back then, Devin had laughed along and said, "He's right, Princess Shirley. You'll be the only one I'll ever love, no matter what you look like." But I never changed. They were the ones who turned into unrecognizable, terrifying strangers, all because of Nicole's framing lies. Whenever Scott came downstairs, Nicole would intentionally throw herself down the steps, clutch her bleeding forehead, and sob, "Save me, Scott! Shirley wants to kick me out of the house!" To make sure that he wouldn't doubt her story, she left her wound unbandaged, limped over to the dining table to fix him a plate of food, and pitifully said, "I have no one left except you and Shirley, and I'll even be your maid, as long as you don't send me away." When Devin got into a severe car crash and was hospitalized for a month, I cooked medicinal soups for him every single day and brought them to him myself. But on the day he was discharged, Nicole stood outside his door on purpose, slapped herself hard across the face, and dropped onto the floor. Then, she whimpered, "Don't worry, Shirley. I'll keep your secret. I won't tell Devin that I was the one who made all those medicinal soups for him." One calculated accusation after another, Scott and Devin slowly grew disappointed and lost all faith in me. At last, when Nicole fell ill, they ignored my struggles and breakdowns, forcing me into the blood donation chair to give her my blood. The sound of the doorbell interrupted my thoughts. Scott beat Vanessa to the door and opened it to see Nicole standing outside. Her makeup was flawless, and anyone could tell she was well-cared-for at a glance. My eyes fell on the amulet hanging around her neck, and I dug my nails deep into my palms. I had dropped to my knees and prayed for that amulet when Devin was in a coma after his car crash, when the doctors said he might never wake up. He had never taken it off. The first time he forced me to donate blood, I had collapsed from the emotional shock, yet he had never once thought about giving that amulet back to me. But when Nicole heard that I had donated blood and put on a look of guilt, he took it off and handed it over right before my eyes. Both Devin and Scott looked stricken with worry the moment they saw Nicole. "What are you doing here, Nicole?" She bit her lip, and her eyes were red-rimmed as she said, "I'm here to beg for Shirley's forgiveness." Vanessa stepped forward and sized her up from head to toe before ruthlessly saying, "You played the victim and framed Shirley when she was alive. Now that she's dead, who are you putting on this act for?" Chapter 3 Right after the words left Vanessa's mouth, Scott shoved her hard and snapped, "What nonsense are you talking about?" Caught off guard, Vanessa stumbled backward and scraped her arm against the edge of a cheap table, leaving a bloody gash. I panickedly lunged forward to catch her, but my hands passed straight through her body. I still wasn't used to being dead, even after two years. Jordan burst into loud, terrified wails, but no one came forward to comfort him. Both Scott and Devin were too busy fussing over Nicole. Once they managed to soothe her, Devin turned to Vanessa with a dark expression. "You know how weak Nicole is, yet you still upset her on purpose. You're really just as vicious as Shirley." Vanessa slowly got to her feet. The hatred in her eyes intensified when she heard his taunts. "If saying a couple of words to her makes me vicious, what about everything you did to Shirley? Doesn't that make you 100 times worse?" She pointed at Nicole and laughed until tears welled up in her eyes. "Look at her. She has rosy cheeks and doesn't look sick at all, yet the Shirley you call vicious was skin and bones when she died. She didn't even have enough money to cover emergency treatment when she bled out." "That's a lie!" Devin shot back without a second thought. "We never took away Shirley's cards, even when we were punishing her." He sounded completely certain, but I could see his hands shaking uncontrollably. Even a flicker of complicated emotion flashed in Scott's eyes. Were they worried about me? I shook my head and immediately dismissed the thought. The first time they forced me to give Nicole blood, they had reacted the same way when they saw how pale my lips were, but they eventually got used to it. Whenever I resisted and refused to donate, Scott would say, "It's just a little blood, and you'll recover after a bowl of chicken soup. Stop being so dramatic." When I went to Devin and showed him my bruised arms from the frequent blood draws, he simply said, "Bruises fade in a few days. You've been doing this for a year now, so how are you still not used to it?" But when I was injured and needed a blood transfusion to survive, the two of them stepped in to stop Nicole from giving her blood to me. "Giving blood takes a massive toll on the body," they had said. "We spent two weeks nursing you back to health when you'd just scratched your finger. There's no way we'd ever let you do something that could hurt you. "Shirley is healthy and strong. She'll survive a minor injury like that." I couldn't stand the way they were blind to my suffering, trying to force me to be just like them, accustomed to sacrificing everything for Nicole. So after leaving the hospital, I ran away from home, but they tracked me down and dragged me back. For the next two years, they kept me under tight lock and key, for fear that if I escaped, Nicole would lose her blood bank. After three years of blood transfusions, Nicole was finally nursed back to health. While Devin and Scott happily threw a huge celebration for her, I weighed less than 90 pounds and was admitted to the hospital, but they never cared at all. As I lay alone in the hospital bed, Nicole entered the room. She looked radiant, and there was a triumphant smile on her face as she said, "Neither Scott nor Devin cares about you anymore, Shirley. There's no point in you staying with the Webers, so why don't I help you disappear for good?" With that, she picked up a fruit knife from the bedside table and stabbed her shoulder. Scott and Devin rushed into the room. Under Nicole's calculated frame-up, I became a murderer who had attempted to kill her. Refusing to believe a single word I said no matter how much I sobbed and explained, they sent me to a psychiatric hospital that night. I desperately fought against it and gripped Devin's arm tightly, begging through tears, "We grew up together, Devin. Can't you trust me one more time?" Devin shot me an indifferent look and pried my fingers off, one after the other. "You've hurt Nicole way too many times, Shirley. How am I supposed to trust you?" I screamed for Scott, but he wouldn't even spare me a cold glance. With that, they walked away and left me abandoned in the dark, hopeless psychiatric hospital. I was locked away with psychotic patients and suffered brutal beatings every single day. Whenever I tried to escape, I was punished with electric shocks. It wasn't until four months later that I had a chance to knock out a nurse delivering medication and escape. Vanessa had sorrow written all over her face as she looked at Devin and asked, "Do you know why Shirley hated you so much yet still chose to give birth to your son?" Chapter 4 Nicole's eyes widened as she looked at Devin, her voice shaking with hurt. "I can't believe you secretly had a baby with Shirley, Devin." He soothed her by saying, "Don't listen to Vanessa's nonsense. Shirley would've shown up with the baby to make a scene a long time ago if she really had one." Still, he didn't sound as certain as before. Vanessa ignored the interruption and continued, "She couldn't because she had no money! She had blood drawn from her for years and was abused for months in the psychiatric hospital. She only discovered she was pregnant after she escaped. "The doctor strongly advised against keeping the baby, and she didn't want him either." A sharp, bitter ache tightened in my chest as I remembered the day I found out I was pregnant. I had desperately wanted an abortion, but the baby was already five months along, and the cost of an induced labor procedure was more than what I could afford. Vanessa's family had gone bankrupt and was buried under a mountain of debt, while my bank accounts were frozen the day I was thrown into the psychiatric hospital. I was terrified of being taken back there, so I never once considered turning to Devin or Scott for help. In the end, I had no choice but to keep the baby. Three months later, I collapsed from severe malnutrition, which triggered a premature delivery. The cruelest irony of all was that after years of blood loss, I ended up bleeding so heavily that my blood completely soaked the delivery bed. Vanessa had dialed Devin and Scott to save me, but they were so busy setting off fireworks for Nicole that they hung up at the mention of my name. Later, they even blocked her number. Vanessa wiped away her tears as she recalled that day. Devin stood frozen. There was a vacant look in his eyes as he instinctively clenched his fists, while Scott's eyes were bloodshot. He was about to open his mouth to speak when Nicole cut him off. "Vanessa, I understand that Shirley hates me and that she'd rather see me die than give me a kidney. But why would she have you make up stories and curse her life? "Could you please tell her to come out here? The three of us are her family. Whatever issues we have, it's best that we talk about them face-to-face." When Devin heard her words, the brief flash of sadness in his eyes vanished. He grabbed Nicole by the arm, and his gaze turned sharp. "Tell me where Shirley is right now, or make her come back. Otherwise, don't blame me for what I do next." Scott pulled out his phone and coldly chimed in, "I always knew Shirley was full of tricks. Good thing we prepared for this." He turned the screen to Vanessa to show her comatose dad lying in a hospital bed. Two bodyguards in black suits stood beside him, and one of them was reaching out to detach his oxygen mask. Her whole body shook as she screamed, "Was driving Shirley to her death not enough for you? Do you have to kill my dad, too?" Scott calmly replied, "If you keep making up stories and wasting our time, you'll be the one responsible for your dad's death." Devin violently shoved Vanessa away and threatened, "I heard you work at a nightclub. How will you pay your dad's hospital bills if you lose your job and your income, let alone buy formula for your son?" Vanessa trembled uncontrollably. Her eyes locked on Devin and Scott with a deathly stare. Standing right beside her, I panickedly cried out, "Please don't fight them anymore, Vanessa. Just take them to me." Just when I thought Vanessa was going to push them further, her shoulders suddenly slumped. "Fine. I'll take you to her." Devin was briefly stunned before a smug, satisfied smile spread across his face. "See? Wouldn't it have been easier to say so from the start? "Tell Shirley that as long as she gives Nicole her kidney, I'll forgive all her past mistakes and take her home." Vanessa rubbed her bruised shoulder where he had gripped her. "You can tell her all of that yourself, face-to-face." Scott finally relaxed, while a look of triumph flashed in Nicole's eyes. Vanessa led them up to a small attic on the second floor. They were in an apartment far from the city center, where rent was cheap. She had rented it for me when I was still alive. No one usually visited this attic, which left the air smelling damp and stale. Vanessa walked ahead at a brisk pace. When she appeared again, she was carrying an old, faded cookie tin. Devin's frown deepened. "I came here to see Shirley, not some junk tin." Scott sounded equally annoyed as he snapped, "Shirley never ceases to amaze me! I can't believe she'll even hide in such a dump to avoid us. The moment I see her, I'll—" The rest of his sentence died in his throat, and the expression on his face slowly froze. As Devin followed Scott's stunned gaze, his eyes fell on my memorial portrait. Then came Vanessa's hollow voice. "You're here to harvest Shirley's kidneys, aren't you? Well, both of her kidneys are in this tin."