I closed my eyes as tears slipped down my cheeks.
Willie, do you know how I've been cyberbullied and mocked by strangers these days? People spat at me in the street, calling me the daughter of a murderer.
How can the boy who once promised to stand up for me join them in bullying me?
[Please make your choice.]
The system repeated mechanically in my mind.
[Ten.]
[Nine.]
[Eight.]
…
[Zoe, I accept.] With that final decision in my chaotic mind, I lost consciousness.
I didn't want to face the strange looks of the one I loved, nor did I want to live in a world devoid of hope.
Perhaps, death was my only release.
When I woke up, a familiar face was before me.
Willie leaned against my hospital bed, propping his head up with his hand, eyes closed as if asleep, yet his brows were tightly furrowed as if he was trapped in a nightmare.
There were dark circles under his eyes; he must not have slept well for several days.
Willie, was that just a dream?
As if in a trance, I reached out to touch his face.
His eyes suddenly snapped open, bloodshot, and filled with a mixture of sorrow and anger that nearly consumed me.
In an instant, his expression turned cold again as he swatted my hand away.