Chapter 9: Echoes of Their Own Cruelty
It didn’t happen instantly. That would’ve been too easy.
The next day at school, everything looked normal. Bella was back to strutting through the hallways, Gweneth and Tricia trailing behind like lacquered shadows, Margaret applying her lipstick by her locker like it was war paint.
But something... shifted.
It began with Margaret.
She cornered a junior near the drinking fountain, mocking her lisp like it was a comedy bit.
“Thorry, I can’t underthtand a word you’re saying,” she sneered, then burst into laughter with Gweneth.
A second later, Margaret’s voice cracked mid-cackle. She clutched her throat.
“I—I—what the fu—”
Her tongue suddenly twisted. Words refused to come out clearly. She stammered. Stuttered. Her laughter faded as the others stared.
“Are you okay?” Tricia asked, but Margaret just ran to the restroom, face red, mouth trembling.
Gweneth’s turn came during gym class. She tripped someone on the court—standard cruelty—but when the girl fell and scraped her knee, Gweneth rolled her eyes and laughed. “Oops. You’re just clumsy.”
Not ten minutes later, Gweneth slipped on the same court. A clean, brutal fall. But when she tried to get up—her ankle gave way. A sprain. Possibly worse. And no one helped her up. Not even Tricia, who looked pale as chalk.
“It’s weird, right?” Tricia whispered to Bella later that day. “It’s like… karma’s moving fast.”
Bella waved it off. “They’re just being dramatic.”
But then it came for Tricia. During a group presentation, she loudly corrected a classmate’s pronunciation, smug as always.
“It’s existential, not ex-sit-en-shal. Wow. Did you pass fifth grade?”
Seconds later, when it was her turn to speak—her notes vanished. Gone. Her voice cracked. Every word she tried to say felt wrong. The teacher stared, unimpressed. “Tricia, were you even prepared?”
And then finally, it reached Bella.
She walked into the cafeteria the next day and stopped short. Her usual table—the one reserved like royalty—was full.
“Um, excuse me?” she asked the freshmen sitting there. “You're at my table.”
They just blinked.
“Says who?” one boy replied.
She laughed coldly, glancing around. “Is this a joke?”
No one moved. No one cared.
No one saw her.
Everywhere she turned, people passed her like she was invisible. Even her own friends kept walking. She reached out to Gweneth—
“Hey! Gwen—what the hell?!”
Gweneth recoiled. “Oh my God, I didn’t see you. I thought you were behind me.”
Something icy sank into Bella’s chest.
She wasn’t just losing attention.
She was disappearing.
Back by the window, Ysa sat alone, picking at her lunch. She hadn’t said a word to anyone since the party. But her fingers trembled. Her lips, slightly parted, as if she knew.
Something had changed.
And it was her fault.
ns216.73.216.72da2She cursed them…7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHEDlwTu1Di
...and the universe listened.
然後按「加至主畫面」