"Zelda, do you have any idea what you're saying?"
Julian's face was frighteningly cold.
I didn't say a word. Beside him, Willow suddenly pouted.
"Adrian, Julian, I'm so hungry. If Zelda keeps dragging her feet, I think my stomach's going to act up again!"
The second she finished, Adrian grabbed my arm, his face full of impatience, and yanked me forward.
"Didn't you hear Willow say she's hungry?"
"Come back with us. Now."
My arm burned where he gripped it. I fought desperately to steady myself on my prosthetics.
Then, from behind, Julian kicked one of them out from under me.
Bang.
The prosthetic leg flew off with the force of it, and I dropped to the floor. Blood seeped out where the leg connected to my body.
Bright red, stark against the white floor.
Something like panic crossed Julian's face, but it was gone in an instant, his voice going cold again.
"You had a perfectly good body, and you threw yourself off a building instead, turned yourself into a cripple!"
"You brought this on yourself!"
Every word landed. Then he picked up my prosthetic and held it high.
"Either you come back with us, or you crawl back on one leg by yourself!"
"We'll be waiting in the airport VIP lounge. You've got ten minutes."
"You're not there in ten, then don't ever come back to the Sinclair house again!"
Julian's words rang in my ears as I stared blankly at the cheap, broken prosthetic.
My mind went back, on its own, to when I first came to the Sinclairs.
Back then they held me close, soothing away every fear and every bit of panic in me with the gentlest words.
They said I'd suffered all those years on the outside, and they'd make it up to me twice over.
They said the family was finally whole, now that they had me.
But later, all it took was a few of Willow's lies and made-up stories, and they forgot every word they'd said.
Tears rose without my meaning them to. I lowered my head and quietly wiped them away.
I couldn't help looking at my parents, who hadn't said anything this whole time.
"Mom, Dad, if I really died today—"
Would you be even a little bit sad?
I didn't get to finish.
Willow cut me off again.
"Mom, Dad, let's go to the VIP lounge!"
"I want the fruit they have here. I've been craving it ever since we ate it on our trip over the holiday!"
Listening to Willow coax them, my heart clenched.
So it turned out that during that holiday, when I was locked in the house, starved for three days and three nights, nearly dead—
they'd all gone on a trip together.
"Zelda, just listen to your brothers, and don't go pulling any of these disgraceful stunts."
"We still have to take Willow to buy a bag afterward. Ten minutes is too long."
"We'll give you five."
Mom frowned as she said it, then took Willow's hand, a smile at the corner of her mouth, and walked out first.
I watched their backs as they left, and pushed myself up against the wall.
Tears kept sliding from the corners of my eyes. I reached up and wiped them away, one by one, and forced a smile.
"System, in that other world, my parents and brothers there will love me, won't they?"
I murmured it out loud, and saw the system's countdown to leaving this world hit zero.
Not far off, at the airport security checkpoint.
A middle-aged man, carrying a big black bundle in his hand.
His face blank, he pushed into the crowd, and once he was in the middle of it, he slowly unzipped the bag.
Dragging one leg, bracing on the wall, I stumbled toward him.
