Zoe's only wish is to be able to run barefoot through grass, but she knows it'll never happen. Ever since she was born, she's been unable to touch anything living without it instantly dying. It's a curse she would do anything to get rid of, but that...
While she had been unconscious, I had gone through all of the lies she had told me. Laid out the magnitude of her betrayal for myself. Done everything to feel anger and resentment and it had worked. I was angry at her. I was unbelievably, undeniably pissed off. She had known all the time who I was. She had lied, and she had manipulated, and I had been too damn stupid to even suspect anything. Rare skin disease my ass. And she had shown her true colors that day by trying to remove her glove.
I couldn't look at her, though. I knew that if I did, the anger I had managed to summon would risk disappearing. So I kept my eyes glued to the floor.
As soon as she woke up, she started pleading with me. Sorry, listen, would never hurt. I tried to block it all out, but Zoe could whisper on the other side of a football field and I would still hear her voice.
"Kill me then. Just kill me."
She sounded like she meant it, really meant it. Like nothing in the world mattered anymore, that she had given up, and my body turned ice cold.
Zoe, my beautiful, innocent Zoe that I only wanted to see smiling, had given up on life.
No, I had to remind myself. She wasn't my beautiful, innocent Zoe. She was a witch, a serial killing witch that most likely was just waiting for the right moment to kill me.
Dad asked the question I both wanted the answer to and dreaded to know the truth about. How could Zoe kill with a single touch? In the park, she had claimed it was a curse. For a moment, I had believed her. But it had to be lies, right?
Her reaction terrified as well as calmed my nerves. Her maniacal laughter could freeze the sun. But her words...
"You think... You actually think that I made myself this way and that it's something to be happy about?"
It was the same as in the park. Was it actually true?
Of course it wasn't. I had to stop believing her words. It just couldn't be true. Hell, if it was true, that it was a curse, how could she not have managed to figure out how to break it? If she so desperately wanted to be rid of it, she must have been able to figure it out. It was all an act.
I was deep in my thoughts and not paying much attention until I heard the sound of a slap. My head turned so I could see Zoe and white-hot rage filled me, but not against her. No. Against my dad. He dared to hit her. He dared to hit my Zoe.
Once again, I had to remind myself that she deserved it. She deserved all that was coming. But... I didn't want to see her in pain.
My mind was split in two and a never-ending argument went on inside of me. My knowledge about witches against what I knew about and felt for Zoe. I tried to keep myself logical. Tried to convince myself that she still had to have me under some spell. But it got harder by the second.
I still tried to make my scrabbled mess of a head ordered when Dad went to get something from his collection of torture devices. I was confused when I saw what he had gotten, though. It was simply a crown made of sticks that had been woven together. His explanation did nothing to help me understand.
"It is the Son's crown. God sent his son to walk the Earth and help mankind from being corrupted by your kind. But you didn't like that, so you decided to kill him in the most painful way you knew, and this crown was a part of it. People now might portray it as the thorns being the painful part of this crown. But we both know that's not true."
After that, he put it on Zoe's head. She closed her eyes and seemed to tense up. But there was no other reaction from her.
"She's impressive to not scream," Dad mumbled from where he was in front of her.
"What do you mean?" I was completely cold, like an ice statue, as I looked at her still figure that rather was a statue made of stone. "What does that crown do?"
"Imagine the worse pain you've ever felt and multiply it by a thousand and you won't even be close to what she's feeling."
Dad was too focused on her to notice any of my reactions, which was good. I took hold of the back of the armchair Dad had sat in to not fall to the floor. My eyes were wide as I looked at Zoe's tensed figure. She had her eyes shut and her face was scrunched together. My heart beat so fast and my thoughts flew by even faster.
"Her silence sure is impressive," he added, and I knew one thing for sure.
He wanted her to scream. I didn't know what would be best, if she remained silent or gave in. But I wanted nothing else but to have her know, so she could make up her own mind. Among the millions of thoughts, that was the one and only thought that made sense. Dad wanted her to scream. Hearing the sound of her pain would please him, but just thinking about what she had to be feeling made me sick to my stomach.
She's a witch that lies, manipulates and kills, I tried to tell myself, but the conviction in the thought had crumbled.
Dad sighed before lifting the crown off her. He was so close to her he obscured her face from my vision.
"Very brave to suffer without screaming. Or stupid," he said. "Are you ready to tell me the truth?"
"I already did!" she screamed, but he just shook his head and put the crown down on her head again.
I wanted to be able to do something to help her, but I couldn't. In my head, I begged her to not scream, though I knew there was no reason for me to do that. It wouldn't help her one bit. But it was the only desperate thing I could think of, as well as cursing myself for letting my dad get his hands on her.
She's a witch, I repeated to myself once again, but my mind was made up. Fuck that she's a witch. She had never been anything but kind and gentle. My beautiful, innocent Zoe.
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