Burn Me Once, Burn With Me novel Chapter 55

If only I could die in my dreams.

There, life wasn't a daily struggle. There were no endless cold stares or petty malice—just a little girl cherished at her grandmother's knee.

Ruby drifted in and out of consciousness, not even aware that tears were streaming quietly down her cheeks.

Then, through her blurred vision, she saw a small, delicate face appear.

Mira.

Of course. She still had Mira.

If she died, what would happen to her daughter? Without a mother, Mira would be left to the mercy of others, bullied just as she had been.

Ruby gritted her teeth and forced herself to sit up, supporting her weight with trembling arms.

She couldn't give in. She needed to live, to go back home, to watch Mira grow up.

Whatever pain she'd endured, she would never let Mira suffer the same.

Determined, Ruby pushed herself to her feet and went to the bathroom. She ran a washcloth under hot water, wrung it out, and laid it across her burning forehead.

All night, she kept getting up and down, changing the water, fighting the fever. It finally broke in the dead of night, leaving her drained.

Bang, bang—

At dawn, someone pounded on the storeroom door.

Ruby had only just managed to fall asleep as the sky was turning pale. The banging jolted her awake; her body felt like it was stuffed with wet sand—weak, heavy, and aching.

She staggered to the door. Frieda took one look at Ruby's bloodless, ghostly face and recoiled in shock.

"What, you trying to die or something?"

She spat out the words like an insult after a long moment.

Ruby shot her a cold glance and started to shut the door.

But Frieda shoved her way inside, face twisted in anger. "Are you deaf? Can't you hear when someone's talking to you?!"

"What do you want?"

Ruby's voice was hoarse, and just saying those few words sent a fiery pain down her throat.

"If you hadn't insisted on doing something so stupid, do you think Grandma would have died?"

Gennifer's voice sliced through the silence, dripping with mockery as she stood nearby, lips curled in a sneer.

Ruby's eyes reddened in an instant, locking onto Gennifer with a burning glare.

Other people might not know the truth, but Gennifer did—she had let their grandmother die with a broken heart, never correcting her misunderstanding, never once defending Ruby's innocence.

She was the real culprit here.

The realization hit Ruby like a blast of cold air.

"You did this on purpose? Why? Why, Gennifer? Wasn't I always good to you?"

Suddenly, all her pain and fury boiled over. She lunged at Gennifer, seizing her by the collar in a death grip.

Ruby looked like a wild animal, eyes bloodshot and fierce against her pale, drawn face—a shocking contrast.

Gennifer was caught off guard, frozen in fear as Ruby's hands clenched tighter.

She could only stare in terror, unable to comprehend how the once proud, distant Ruby had turned into this desperate, half-mad stranger.