When I woke up, someone was shaking me gently.
“Candice… sister, wake up.”
Beatrice.
Her face hovered above me, her voice dripping with false concern. “Are you okay? I’m sorry they put you here. I should have told them to let you out. But… why would you do that to Coreen? Now she hates you.”
I blinked at her, still disoriented, but the sharpness of her words cut through the fog. Coreen hates you.
Of course. This was Beatrice’s way—sweet on the outside, poison underneath.
I rolled my eyes, unable to stop myself. After all, hadn’t I known this game for years?
When my mother died, I was still young. Father remarried quickly, desperate for comfort, and with his new wife came Beatrice. At first, we were close. We shared toys, secrets, and laughter. I even believed she loved me like a real sister.
But then… things changed. Slowly, quietly, like a knife pressed against the skin without cutting. She began planting little seeds of doubt in Father’s mind, whispering lies, twisting truths. And little by little, he started turning his eyes away from me—toward her.