Pain Is a Family Matter Chapter 06
I froze. For years, I had dragged a ruined leg and a useless right hand behind me, convinced this was my life now, permanent and unchangeable.
And now the Shared-Sense System was telling me those injuries could be transferred to someone else
Joy surged through me so violently that my hands began to shake.
“I accept,” I said without hesitation.
[Option accepted.]
The operating room doors slid open.
Nelson, Stefan, and Amber, still sobbing, all turned at once as the doctor pulled off his mask.
“He’s alive,” he said. “But there’s a high chance he’ll never wake up. He needs to stay in the ICU for observation.
Justin was wheeled away.
During visiting hours, I went in once. He lay motionless on the bed, tubes snaking across his body, machines humming at his sides.
The doctor said he still retained consciousness and that familiar voices might help. Family members were supposed to speak to him, call his name, and remind him of the past.
So I did.
I said softly at his bedside, “Justin, do you remember? Back then, the Ritualist said living past 18 was Amber’s destiny, and forcing someone else to bear her misfortune violated the natural order.
“It was you who threatened the Ritualist with his apprentice. You forced him to bind her destiny to mine.
“I cried and begged you. You told me, coldly, that this was repayment. That I owed Amber. I still don’t know what I owe her.”
He did not move.
“I hope you never wake up,” I said.
Then I turned, left, and never went back.
A little over a month later, Justin stopped breathing.
Nelson, Stefan, and Rayden, trapped in his wheelchair, lived in constant fear. They were convinced the next one to die would be them.
They no longer worked. They watched Amber as if she were a bomb with a live timer. At one point, they even tied her to the bed with soft ropes.
They searched everywhere for experts. This time, they actually found one a very powerful Ritualist.
He took one look at Amber and declared that she had undergone a Destiny Transplant Ritual more than a decade
ago.
Then his gaze snapped to me. He lifted his chin, certainty burning in his eyes. “The source of the calamity is her.”
Had he discovered the Shared-Sense System? My heart slammed so hard I forgot how to breathe.
If the Shared-Sense System disappeared, I would become Amber’s blood bag again. I would never allow that.
The Ritualist circled me twice, then suddenly thrust his scepter straight at my chest. “Demon!”
I flinched.
Then the Shared-Sense System spoke, lazy and unbothered.
[Don’t be afraid. He can’t touch me.]
The Ritualist waved the scepter around me a few more times, then turned to my brothers with barely contained excitement. “I’ve found the solution. You all suffered misfortune on the same day, didn’t you?
“I’ve calculated the location. A high cliff. That is where everything began. As long as the source reenacts that day everything will be resolved.”
The “source” meant me. He claimed that because I failed to block Amber’s misfortune that day, the calamity
rebounded onto them.
My brothers were ecstatic and started making preparations immediately.
Something felt wrong, but I warned them anyway.
“The cliff is too high,” I said. “I’ll die if I fall. What if the Ritualist is wrong? If I die-”
Stefan cut me off with impatience, “The expert already said your life is tough. Worst case, you’ll end up like Rayden. Crippled, but alive.”
Nelson adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and patted my shoulder, his tone gentle and reassuring. “Viola, don’t be afraid. Even if something really happens to you, we’ll support you for life. But we all have careers. We can’t live like this forever.”
He added quietly, “Don’t force us. Otherwise, we’ll help you jump.”
I laughed once, said nothing more, and stepped toward the cliff.
I had warned them. Every warning had mattered.
They refused to listen. Now it was time to reclaim everything that belonged to me.
I stopped at the edge and looked down at the jagged rocks below. Perhaps they feared another miracle, because they had removed the safety net entirely.
They had prepared only two endings for me. Either I would become like Rayden, alive but broken, or I would be reduced to nothing but meat paste.
I lifted my foot and asked silently, “System, are you ready?”
I spread my arms and jumped off the cliff.
