Her Beutiful Hell

Revelations

The next morning, I woke up early and noticed Anna still asleep on her bed. Determined to make things better after yesterday’s tense confession, I decided to surprise her with breakfast. I quietly got dressed, slipped out to grab food, and returned to the dorm, hoping it would lift the mood. When she woke, I smiled and handed her the warm breakfast.

We ate together in comfortable silence, or at least it felt that way to me. Afterward, I decided to clean up our messy room, thinking a tidy space might help lighten the tension that had been hanging between us.

As I was clearing a pile of papers near Anna’s bed, my hand brushed against something small and worn. I picked it up—and froze.

It was a photograph. A small, faded picture of Jane.

My first love.

A wave of memories hit me like a tidal wave, and before I could stop them, tears began spilling down my cheeks. I couldn’t pull myself away from the memories that picture brought back—the good ones and the ones I wished I could bury forever.

Anna, still sitting on the bed, observed me quietly, her gaze unreadable. After a moment, she whispered, her tone edged with sarcasm, “If those are real tears, then the sun can rise from the west.”

Her words struck me like a slap. I looked up at her, shattered. “Why, Anna? Why would you say something like that?”

But she only gave me a cold, hollow stare. I felt anger and hurt twist inside me as I blurted out, “Please… tell me how you know about my past. How do you know about Jane?”

She tilted her head slightly, her expression unwavering. “I know everything, Zoe. Everything that happened back then.”

Her words sent chills down my spine. My heart pounded as she continued, her voice sharp and unyielding, cutting through me with every word.

“I know how you lured Jane in, made her believe you cared. I know how you bullied her, how you blamed her for things she didn’t do, like that theft. And finally…” she paused, her eyes blazing with anger, “I know how you pushed her off that building to hide your guilt. I know it all, Zoe.”

Each word hit me like a dagger. I could barely breathe, my mind reeling. “That’s… that’s not how it was,” I stammered, choking on my words, tears streaming down my face. “Please, Anna… just listen. You don’t understand.”

Anna’s face twisted with rage as she continued, her voice laced with venom. “Understand? Understand what, Zoe? You didn’t even try to save her. You destroyed her, and then you moved on, like she meant nothing to you.”

I clutched the photograph tighter, my fingers trembling. “I can’t forget her, Anna. I’ve never been able to forget. I… I’m sorry, I am. But I love you now, Anna. Can’t you see that?”

Anna let out a bitter laugh, her tone dripping with disdain. “And you think that matters to me? You think I’d ever love someone like you?”

I looked at her, my heart breaking further with each word. “But… why, Anna? Why are you doing this?”

Her expression hardened, and she spoke with a cold, detached fury. “Because I’m Jane’s twin. Her non-identical twin. I’m here because I’m going to make sure you know what it feels like to suffer the way she did. To know what it feels like to have everything ripped away.”

I felt the room spin, the weight of her words crushing me. “You… you’re her twin?” I whispered, barely able to get the words out. I searched her face, trying to see any trace of Jane in her. The realization hit me like a punch to the chest.

“I knew exactly what you were doing,” she continued, her eyes narrowing. “You tried to lure me in the same way. You thought you could take care of me, make me trust you, just like you did with Jane.”

“No!” I cried, my voice cracking. “This is different, Anna! I love you. I would never hurt you.”

Anna sneered, her gaze filled with contempt. “So you say. But what about Jane? You forgot her so easily, didn’t you? You only care now because I’m confronting you.”

I shook my head desperately, clutching her hands, pleading with her to understand. “I swear, Anna, I haven’t forgotten her. I live with it every day. I didn’t mean for any of it to happen. It was a mistake—”

But Anna didn’t let me finish. Her face twisted in anger, and before I knew it, she grabbed me by the neck, her grip iron-tight. In one swift, fierce movement, she slammed me against the door. I cried out in pain, feeling the shock of the impact reverberate through my body.

“Anna, please—” I managed to gasp, but her grip didn’t loosen. Her eyes, filled with rage and pain, bore into mine. The fury she had kept hidden for so long was finally unleashed.

The sound of my cry must have been louder than I realized because we suddenly heard shuffling outside. Moments later, there was a loud knock, and voices called out, concerned.

Anna’s expression shifted immediately. She let go of me, and as quickly as her anger had appeared, she masked it. In a single, fluid motion, she wrapped her arms around me, pressing my head against her shoulder as the door opened.

“Is everything okay in here?” one of our dorm mates asked, eyes wide with worry.

Anna spoke up calmly, her voice soothing. “It’s fine. Zoe just lost her balance and fell off the table. She’s a bit shaken up.”

They looked at us, skeptical, but Anna’s grip on me was so steady and comforting that they eventually nodded, believing her story. “Be careful, you two,” one of them said, offering a small smile before closing the door.

Once they were gone, the room fell silent again. Anna turned to me, her face expressionless as she reached for some ointment. She dabbed it on the red marks around my neck, the remnants of her earlier anger.

As she applied the ointment, her voice was low and cold. “I’m not like you, Zoe.”

Her words were like another slap. She finished applying the ointment, then turned her back to me and climbed up to her bed without another word. She lay down, pulling the blanket over herself, leaving me standing there, lost and broken.

I sat down slowly on my own bed, my heart heavy and my body aching. The weight of everything—her anger, my guilt, the memory of Jane—pressed down on me, and for the rest of the day, I couldn’t shake the emptiness I felt.

Eventually, the exhaustion took over, and I drifted into a fitful sleep, haunted by the memories of my past and the reality of what I had lost… maybe forever.