3.
“Get out! Get out, all of you! I don’t want to
see your faces!”
The shouting and yelling were coming from a
hospital room. Doctors and nurses were being
kicked out left and right.
Who else would act like that besides Brittany?
I strutted into the room, my right leg as good
as new and a big smile on my face.
“Brittany, you seem to be doing okay. Mom
and Dad said you were in bad shape. so I
く
came to see you.”
Man, what I saw made me jump.
Brittany’s pretty face was a mess of raw,
burned flesh, all open and nasty.
The rest of her wasn’t much better. They’d
left her back bare to keep it from getting
infected, and a huge scar ran down her entire
back.
I put on my best shocked face and covered
my mouth. “Brittany, what happened to you?
That’s awful. Good thing I got out of there!”
Brittany already hated my guts, but this sent
her over the edge.
With those nasty burns all over her face, she
<
looked like a demon that had crawled out of
hell, screaming like a banshee.
“You did this to me! You planned it! I’m going
to tell Mom and Dad what you’re really like.
They’ll kick you out!”
The more she screamed, the more worked up
she got. She even grabbed a fruit knife from
the bedside table and hurled it at me.
I ducked, then dropped to the floor, crying.
“Brittany, I know you hate me. I’m a coward.
You’re brave and selfless. You’re the one who
should be a Miller. I’ll leave. I won’t bother
your family again…”
“We’ll see who’s kicking you out.”
く
Ethan strode into the room, his eyes cold as
he scanned Brittany, then pulled me up off
the floor.
Mom and Dad were right behind him, not
believing how mean Brittany could be.
She’d said all that terrible stuff about me, and
everyone had heard it, and there was the
knife, sticking right in the door.
She really meant to hurt me.
Mom and Dad weren’t dummies. They looked
at each other, frowning.
“Brittany, you’re badly hurt. You need to calm
down. It’s not good for you.”
Brittany realized she’d messed up, and her
face went white.
Then, she covered her face and started
sobbing like her heart was breaking, tears
streaming down her face.
“Mom, Dad, I didn’t mean to yell at Ashley. In
the fire, I told her to run and left myself
behind. I know I’m not really your daughter,
but I treated Ashley like my own sister.
“But she’s always acting like I’m not good
enough. I know I’m ugly now, and I shouldn’t
have scared her. But she just started slapping
me, and I was in so much pain, I lost it…”
Big tears kept falling.
I raised my eyebrows, ready to put on my own
pity party, but Ethan pointed to my hand, his
く
voice calm.
“You’re saying she slapped you with that
hand?”
Everyone looked at my bandaged paw.
I couldn’t even touch anything without hurting.
Brittany was lying, plain and simple.
Chapter 2
Her little stunt backfired, big time.
The look of disappointment completely wiped
the tears from Mom and Dad’s eyes.
“Brittany, you just focus on getting better.
Your mom and I will see you tomorrow.”
Г
The reality was they were ditching all their
work to shuttle back and forth between my
room and Brittany’s.
It was clear they still had some kind of soft
spot for Brittany, not ready to drop the
hammer just yet.
I wasn’t about to give up.
I gave Brittany a sweet little smile, while she
just stared with her mouth open.
Even a dog you’ve had for over ten years gets
under your skin.
How much more a daughter you raised from a
toddler?
Sooner or later I was going to rin that mack
<
Sooner or later, I was going to rip inal mask
right off her face.
I’d show everyone the black heart she was
hiding under that innocent act.