Chapter 3

I was imprisoned.

Julian confiscated my phone and locked the mansion's gates.

He was no longer the gentle and empathetic therapist. After shedding his mask, he became a cold-blooded dictator.

Over the next few days, he began to forcibly reduce my anti-anxiety medication.

He was forcing me into an episode.

Without the suppression of the medication, those deep-buried fears surged back like a tide.

Night after night, I had nightmares, dreaming of the fire that took my parents, dreaming of flames licking my skin.

I started frantically scratching myself until my arms were bleeding profusely.

Every time I had an episode, Julian would stand behind the one-way mirror, coldly recording data.

"Heart rate 140, pupils dilated, self-harming tendencies observed..."

His voice came through the loudspeaker into the room, cold and mechanical.

I lay on the floor, looking at the blurry silhouette in the glass. The love in my heart was slowly crushed, turning into bone-deep hatred.

On the fourth day, Scarlett came.

She stood before me, her pregnant belly prominent, holding a cup of hot coffee.

"Tsk, tsk, how pathetic." She looked down at me. "Julian says your threshold is almost reached. Tomorrow, he'll activate the simulated fire chamber."

At the words "fire chamber," my whole body jolted.

That was my Achilles' heel.

Scarlett seemed pleased with my reaction. She deliberately tilted the hot coffee in her hand.

Scalding liquid splashed onto the back of my hand.

"Ah--!"

I screamed in pain, not just from the burn, but because the heat awakened memories of being scorched by flames.

Curled up in the corner like a madwoman, I screamed and trembled.

Scarlett laughed loudly and left.

The moment the door closed, I stopped screaming.

I slowly looked up, staring at the red swelling on the back of my hand, my eyes utterly lifeless.

My tears had dried up.

I couldn't just sit there and wait to die.

If I entered the simulated fire chamber tomorrow, I would completely lose my mind, becoming his perfect experimental data.

I had to escape.

Even if I died, I would die outside these walls.