She Burned His World and Chose Another Man

The doctor let out a sigh. "Mr. Delgado warned us well in advance. To keep you from killing yourself, Miss Donaldson, nothing sharp is allowed in this room. That ballpoint pen has no refill in it. Even if you managed to puncture an artery, the worst that happens is you end up a vegetable."

"Is that what you want, Miss Donaldson? To be a vegetable?"

Lindsay went blank for a moment, then tossed the pen into the trash and turned to look at the sealed window. She gave a soft laugh. "He won't let me die, and he won't let me out. So if I never admit to it, what then? He keeps me locked in here for the rest of my life?"

The doctor called in two nurses. "Day one of treatment. Electroshock."

Lindsay's wrists and ankles were strapped down tight, and the electrodes were fixed to her temples.

When the doctor flipped the switch, the current tore through her whole body. The pain made her shake all over, like iron nails being driven into her marrow.

In front of her eyes she saw the face of Benjamin as a boy, the evening light on his face as he lifted his head and said, proud, "Lindsay Donaldson, you're my rival for life."

Because of that one line, she had spent twelve years matching herself against him.

"Second round..."

Her face was bloodless, fine cold sweat beading at her brow. The searing pain ran through her veins like molten rock, every inch of her skin melting away with no escape.

This time Benjamin seemed to be standing in the center of a great hall, in a black formal suit, his face as heavy as a man at a funeral.

He said, "Lindsay Donaldson, between you and me there is only hatred, never love. Not until one of us is dead."

"Third round..."

The cold sweat slid down her forehead, her vision went black, and she sank fully into unconsciousness.

When she woke, the doctor's voice was flat. "Miss Donaldson, are you ready to apologize to Miss Barnes?"

Lindsay didn't even bother to open her eyes.

What waited for her was bucket after bucket of ice water.

The third time, she was locked in the pitch-black isolation room for seven days and seven nights.

On her fifteenth day in the psychiatric ward, Benjamin and Vivian finally appeared in front of her.

Benjamin looked at how thin and worn down the torture had left her, and something strange flickered deep in his eyes.

Vivian peeled an apple as she leaned in and murmured at Lindsay's ear. "Lindsay Donaldson, you really are a tough nut to crack. Keep refusing, and who knows. Maybe your brother's body turns up in a dump. Maybe the strays eat it."

She said it lightly, her eyes full of delight.

Lindsay's fists clenched, her voice so hoarse it was barely audible. "Miss Barnes, before, I smeared you on purpose. It was my fault."

Benjamin said nothing. He only watched her, his gaze dark and heavy.

This time, the doctor finally let her go.

The first thing Lindsay did after her release was bury her brother.

In the funeral home, his body was pale and cold, the old warmth gone from it for good.

She remembered before the surgery, how he had held her hand, his eyes full of hope for the life ahead. "Sis, once my operation's done, I'll get to be with you longer, right?"

She had smiled and pinched his cheek. "Right. I'll take you to see the ocean, chase the northern lights, do all the things you never could before."

She had never once imagined that a single surgery would put her and her brother in two different worlds.

Lindsay chose the plot for him herself, a place by the sea, under a lush green tree.

Before they lowered him in, she kissed his forehead one last time, tears sliding down her cheeks. "There's the ocean here. You'd like it..."

A sudden burst of fierce barking broke the quiet, and she turned on instinct.

Vivian stood there in a red dress, a tall hunting dog on a leash, humming happily to herself. "Three days with no food. Time to eat. Go on!"

At her command, the blood ran backward in Lindsay's veins. She lunged to shove the coffin shut on instinct, but she was too late.

The dog had already leapt into the coffin, its drool about to drip onto her brother's face.

Her eyes split with rage. She seized the collar around its neck and screamed, out of control, "Somebody! Help me!"

The cemetery staff who had been helping with the burial were already pinned down by the men Vivian had brought.

Vivian walked slowly up to her, smug. "That's the finest hunting dog I could find. Let go, unless you want to die..."

The collar cut bloody lines into Lindsay's palms, and the pull dragged her hard into the coffin.

In the space of a breath, the dog sank its teeth into her brother's arm.

She heard Vivian's grating laughter and the frantic pounding of her own heart. On instinct she yanked the hairpin from her hair and drove it into the dog.

The pain made it let go. It turned and fixed its eyes on her, a furious, unwilling snarl rising in its throat.

In a flash it lunged at her.

She drove the pin into its artery with brutal precision, once, twice, three times.

Even after it died with a whimper, she did not stop.

When Lindsay climbed up off the ground, her face was streaked with crimson blood, and she walked toward Vivian one step at a time.

Vivian clapped a hand over her mouth, the picture of grief and outrage. "Miss Donaldson, how could you be so cruel, killing my pet?"

She thought that with the bodyguards there, Lindsay wouldn't dare touch her.

Lindsay stopped and spoke to the bodyguards beside her. "You all just saw it. She wanted to destroy my brother's body. I always pay back what's owed to me, so I'm going to settle it with her. If you don't want me remembering you, you'd better act like you saw nothing. Otherwise..."

Maybe it was how monstrous she looked just then, maybe it was the words that frightened them, but the bodyguards truly did not move.

Vivian had no time to run before Lindsay grabbed her. Lindsay raised the sharp pin and drove it hard into her arm, a deranged smile spilling from her lips. "You can't get away."

Vivian screamed like a madwoman, real terror in her eyes. "You've lost your mind!"

Lindsay's smile only deepened. She gripped Vivian's face tight and dragged the pin across it, opening a deep bloody line. "Yes. I've lost my mind."

Her eyes were full of murder. She raised the pin and stabbed down, hard, straight at Vivian's heart.