It's My Turn

Prologue

ChunHua panted heavily. Her breaths came out as white puffs. Her hair stood on its ends. She could barely feel her hands and feet in the cold, but she still sweated buckets.

'I must survive. I must survive! Only then can I have my revenge!'

Although her heart and lungs felt like they would explode, she pushed on. She dredged through the snow and leaf litter. All of a sudden, a sharp snap was heard, like a trap that was triggered. A shrill cry shot through the night. ChunHua fell down, clutching onto her leg. Hot tears streamed down her numb face.

"God damn them!" She hissed while she struggled to pry open the bear trap. 

However, her frozen stiff fingers refused to cooperate with her. The murmur of a crowd got closer and closer. The more she panicked, the more her fingers slipped. "Shit, shit, shit, shit."

It did not take long for the crowd to locate her.

"Damn! Open! Open! Fuck! Fwarghhh!" She exclaimed in frustration.

"Stay away! Stay away from me!" She shrieked as she swung her arms around crazily. "Don't touch me!"

However, it was easy for a crowd to overpower a single person. They held onto her firmly, bound her wrists tightly together, then dragged her like that. As hard as she flailed, she could not break free of their hold.

"Hoist her up!" A voice that she couldn't be more familiar with, but now sounded alien, ordered.

She got pulled up by her arms so roughly that her shoulders almost dislocated. Someone had freed her leg of the bear trap while she struggled earlier. Now, she hung helplessly from a high tree branch by her wrists. The rope dug deep into her wrists. Her struggles quickly caused abrasions. Blood slowly dripped from the wound on her leg and dyed the brilliant white snow a deep red. 

"Fuck you! Fuck you all! Let me go! I'm innocent! I didn't kill them! You're the monsters! You're all monsters!" She shrieked over and over while kicking her legs wildly. "Let! Me! Go!"

"If you're innocent, why did you run away?"

"Like you gave me a choice!" ChunHua stared daggers at the man talking. 

Everything had felt and seemed perfect. How wrong she was. 

'If only I had found out about his true nature earlier.'

'If only I had listened to them. '

'If only I was smarter.'

Several hypothetical situations filled her mind within a second. There were just that many regrets. 

'They would still be alive. They wouldn't have died. It's my fault. It's all my fault.'

Her heart shattered more every time she thought about it.

"ChunHua ah, ChunHua. Please don't look at me like that. I already did everything I could to help you, but everyone here feels the same. You're only getting what you deserve."

"I'll never forgive you..." She whispered through her clenched teeth and salty tears. 

The woman beside the man put her hand to her head and swayed. The man showed genuine concern and caught her in his arms. While it drew envious gazes from the crowd, it only made ChunHua sick to her stomach.

"Can we go now? She's already wasted enough of everyone's time and effort." The woman spoke sweetly.

"Mm. Of course. Thank you very much for your help, everyone! So sorry to have bothered you! You're all so generous!"

Although everyone said that it was no issue, it was easy to see how pleased they felt about getting praises heaped onto them.

ChunHua shrieked at their backs, "I'll never forgive you! I'll have my revenge! I swear to God! No, the devil! To anything! That I'll kill you! All of you! Every single one of you!"

She screamed and shouted until her voice was hoarse and the lights from their torches disappeared.

"Even if I die, I'll be back! I won't rest until your blood drips like mine!"

Tears poured down her dirty face. Her snot-filled nose made it hard to breathe. She was losing feelings in her hands but she pressed on. She tried to untie the knot, but her fingernails only got torn out of her flesh. She pulled on her hands so hard that one of her wrist dislocated, but it did nothing to help her situation.

The howls of wolves signalled the urgency of her situation. ChunHua tried to swing herself up but she was only getting weaker. She panted hard. She felt cold. Very cold. Each swing became smaller and smaller. Soon, her breathing slowed too. 

Several footsteps were heard around her. ChunHua knew that she would die. Whether she died by the cold or the wolves depended on how fast the wolves could figure out how they could reach her. 

ChunHua had almost lost consciousness but was rudely awakened by painful tug on her leg. When she looked down, she realised with horror that she had still underestimated the viciousness of the savage bastard. She had been tied low enough for the wolves to nip, bite, and yank on her. She was to die by both ways.

She screamed out in frustration with all the energy she had left. 

"Qi. Bai. Qiao! I HATE YOU!"

In the end, only pain, cold, and vengeance accompanied her to death.

»»————-　♔　————-««

Photo credit: https://stock.adobe.com/sg/search?k=dark+snowy+forest&asset_id=234248109