I finished packing my things when Amanda White spoke coldly, “You’re moving your stuff out? Where are you going?”
“I hired a cleaning lady to help with the laundry. As for these papers, I’m heading to the university library later.”
Only then did Amanda let me go.
I fled back to the apartment I had rented, my heart still pounding. The thought of touching that banded krait snake earlier terrified me. If it had bitten me then, and Amanda refused to let me go to the hospital, I would’ve been doomed.
The next day, after my early morning class, I went back to my apartment and collapsed into bed.
By dusk, I headed to the campus cafeteria for dinner. Just as I stepped out, Amanda and her two friends walked up.
I noticed Emily Brown’s neck bore a bluish-black bite mark. Her steps wobbled, her body weak.
Bitten by the snake?
In my past life, I would have urged her to see a doctor immediately. But this time, I only wanted to see how she would suffer.
“Lily, you didn’t come back to the dorm last night again?” Amanda blocked my way.
I smiled lightly. “A friend came to visit. We went to see a movie and missed the dorm curfew, so I stayed at a hotel.”
Amanda’s eyes narrowed. “You haven’t slept in the dorm for days. Are you avoiding it because you think the snake is poisonous?”
Emily cut in viciously. “Why waste words? Drag her back to the dorm!”
I bolted at once. They chased after me.
Just as I ran out of the cafeteria, someone stepped in front of me. “Lily, where are you going?”
It was my boyfriend, Jason Miller.
The sight of him made my chest tighten.
In my past life, when I was bitten by the snake, I begged him for help. He ignored me, told me to reflect on myself, then took Amanda to watch the sunrise in the mountains—while I bled to death.
Later, he even helped Amanda forge evidence, accusing me of promiscuity and disease.
I hated him so much that my teeth clenched painfully.
Amanda ran up, panting. “Jason, take her back! She suspects our snake is poisonous!”
Jason grabbed me, dragging me toward the dorm.
“Jason, what are you doing?” I cried.
“What does it look like? We’ll talk in the dorm!”
My heart raced with panic. I begged for help from several girls passing by, but Amanda shouted at them, and they turned away.
I was dragged upstairs.
There, I saw a fresh snake bite on Sophia Davis’s arm, swollen and dark.
Why hadn’t Emily and Sophia gone to a doctor, knowing full well it was venomous?
“Sit down,” Amanda ordered once I was inside. “So, you really think it’s poisonous?”
“No.”
“Then why are you living outside?”
“Because the AC is cooler.”
That was true—I hated the heat. Amanda never allowed the air conditioner below 82°F, and I often sweated through my clothes, especially during my period.
Emily sneered. “She clearly thinks it’s poisonous. Amanda, let the snake bite her a few times.”
Venomous indeed.
Amanda nodded. “I was just thinking the same thing.”
I shivered. “Getting bitten hurts—I don’t want to.”
“You don’t get a choice.”
Amanda grabbed me, ordering Emily to fetch the snake.
Hisssss—
The snake flicked its tongue, vertical pupils fixed on me with icy malice.
“No!”
I ripped free, trying to dash out of the dorm.
But Jason caught me again.
