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From that summer,Dr.Carter had me practice basics like dissection.
He taught me that in order to master human anatomy,I should start with frogs and mice.
I excelled at it,and he said warmly,
"Being a doctor means no mistakes.Patients trust your hands completely."
I agreed deeply.
A lifetime ago,he'd asked the same of Mia.
She'd text me and complain.
"These frogs are so pitiful.Why practice on them?Aren't there enough patients to practice on?"
She called it cruel but in fact she was just lazy,she suck at dissections.
With no respect for life,whether that of human or animals,she'd say,
"Sis,I envy you.No dirty work,just spending money.So nice."
Ha.
Two days with Ethan would've shut her up.
After practice,I checked my phone—a video.
Mia,forced by Ethan onto a bed crawling with snakes,lizards,and frogs,some of the animals she hated the most.
"Think you can sneak into my bed at night?Asking for your own death?"
Mia,legs trembling,faced the reptiles.
"Ethan,I'm sorry!I wasn't thinking straight—I was drunk!"
Ethan sneered,kicking her onto the bed.
"Think I'm blind or think I’m stupid?Didn't you say you're top-notch,no bars,love animals?"
"Kick one of them off,and I burn one of your designer bag!"
Mia lay frozen,snakes slithering over her,her arm now bearing the same burns I had a lifetime ago.
Obedient?
Too obedient.
The video ended with Ethan's caption.
Your own sister's like this,and you're all chill?
He'd been haunting me,hacking into my phone to send me these videos.
My alley slap humiliated him—he wanted revenge.
He wrote,
Don't want her tortured?Come beg me,and I'll spare her!
But why should I care?
Mia chose this.Her own life had nothing to do with me now.
My only goal this life:learn from my mistakes,stay far from her,never let her harm me again.
...
On my first day at college dressed in a white dress,Mia found me.
Disheveled,dressed like a tramp,she'd clearly run away from the Russos.
She sobbed,
"Sis,I was wrong!Please,give me back my old life!"
"The way they treat me,it’s inhuman!Ethan's a monster!"
"I regret it,Sis.I want college,to be a doctor instead.Let's swap back!"
She wailed,recounting two months of beatings.
Her grimy face couldn't hide her bruises.
Hot tears from her fell on my skin,aiming for my pity.
I stepped back warily.
"Stay back,don't come near me!"
"Life's just a game to you?Think you can just swap with someone else on a whim?"
