Silas let me go, saying that it was my own fault.
I hid in my father's ward for those days and never went out.
"Here you are! Thanks to your blow, Silas is so good to me now."
"Is this your father? Why isn't he moving?"
Sue Larson, basking in Silas' favor, walked with a new arrogance.
She kept fiddling with my father's oxygen tube, asking me curiously what it was.
"Don't touch that!"
I pushed her away and she stumbled back a few steps, clutching her head.
The next second, she rushed forward and unplugged my father's oxygen tube. She laughed as she held it in her hands and played with it.
"Do you think Silas will blame me for this?"
Before I could get an answer, Silas walked in.
He was taken aback by the scene before him, his eyes sweeping back and forth over me.
After a long pause, he finally said.
"Sue is still young and naïve. Your father's condition was beyond saving. Maybe ending things sooner was a mercy."
"I'll make sure to give your mother more money in the future."
The beeping sound from the monitor continued, each beep announcing my father's death.
I stood there, rooted to the spot. Besides the sadness and grief, there was also a sense of relief.
Silas ignored me and walked away, carrying Sue.
I collapsed on the ground, exhausted and kept apologizing to my father. Still, I wondered who had ever been sorry to me.
I pulled out a business card and made the call.
"Mr. Fox, please come pick me up tonight."
The same crematorium, the same ceremony.
This time, I left my father's ashes in the memorial hall.
When I returned to the Gills' residence, Silas wasn't back yet.
Those nine girls kept whispering in my ear that Silas was furious and I was doomed.
I paid them no mind. They persistently followed me, asking if I was really going to get a divorce.
I didn't answer, simply opening the bedroom door.
"Choose. Everything in here is yours."
When I said that, they swarmed in and the room was instantly emptied.
Only a few old photos of Silas and me from our younger days lay scattered on the floor, ignored by everyone.
I locked myself in my room and didn't come out all evening.
Silas sent Aunt May to ask about me then, but I simply had her hand him my divorce agreement.
"Another divorce."
"It's been a hundred times already, Juliette. Aren't you tired of playing this game?"
Silas tore the divorce agreement to shreds.
"Let her starve! Don't give her food until she stops acting up!"