Chapter 8

I finally stepped out of that hell, but when I returned to my room, I found Vanessa living in my bedroom.

Vanessa was wearing a loose white shirt, her legs exposed. Seeing me, she pretended to be surprised and hugged me:

"Oh my God, Lily, how did you get so thin?"

"Have you not been eating well? When Luke gets back, I'll scold him for you!"

I didn't have the energy to play act with her. I looked past her into what should have been my room.

"Where are my things?"

Vanessa took a small step back, seemingly at a loss:

"Oh... were those your things?"

"What should we do... I asked Luke and he said they were useless trash, told me to deal with them myself."

"I threw them all away!"

"Threw them away?"

"Those were my things, what right did you have to throw them away?!"

Having not eaten properly for several days, this shout made my heart ache terribly.

"What's all this shouting about in broad daylight?!"

Luke had appeared behind me at some point, passing by me to embrace Vanessa.

"Lily, what are you doing blocking the way?"

"Luke, what should we do? I think I threw away all of Lily's things."

"Did I make a mistake? I didn't mean to! Those things really looked like..."

Luke glanced at me, carelessly wiping his still damp hair with a towel:

"If it's thrown away, it's thrown away. It was all useless trash anyway."

"The house is so big, you can just sleep in any guest room."