CHAPTER 17: GOLDEN FINGER

Late at night, Zara was lying on her bed as she looked at the beautiful night sky. The RV had a sunroof, but Zara didn't like using it during the day as she found looking at stars more intriguing than the sun.

It was already late, and everyone should be sleeping, but she couldn't sleep.

As she mostly did nothing and slept a lot, she was slowly getting tired of sleeping.

Her only dream was to get well one day and just live like a normal human being.

She looked away from the sunroof and looked at the tablet that was by her side.

She picked it up and began to swipe the screen and soon found her way into her inbox.

She didn't have a lot of friends that she talked to, especially via direct messages. There were several online friends of hers she had been talking to for years, but everything was done through Chat Line. Chat Line was another pretty famous chat app.

She preferred that app over several others, so her circle was quite small.

However, her friends seemed to be pretty busy, so it's been a while since they all chatted.

Checking her direct messages, her eyes stopped at a certain chat. Seeing the name of the person she had been chatting to an hour ago, a smile blossomed on her face.

Zara clicked on the chat before she started rereading the chat once again. She did that for several minutes before she stopped.

Checking the time on the phone, excitement suddenly overwhelmed her.

"It's time!" she said to herself as she placed the tablet away.

After placing it away, Zara drew her left hand closer to her mouth before she stuck out her tongue and licked her forefinger.

She closed her eyes as she felt that familiar cooling and refreshing liquid making its way from her tongue, throat and after that, it spread throughout her body.

The feeling was quite addictive and thrilling.

She sensed that for a while before her eyes snapped open with a smile on her face.

"As long as I have this, I can survive a bit longer, but this won't guarantee me to live as long as I want. I hope that the golden book didn't lie to me!" she muttered as she pulled a teddy bear to her side.

Talking about the golden book and the liquid she had just licked from her finger; she would have to recall what happened roughly five weeks ago.

Zara was never born sick. She was healthy, just like other children. She was spoiled and loved, and that was something that everyone knew but couldn't do anything about it.

She also greatly prided herself on that, despite the hate she got from her siblings from the favoritism that her dad and grandparents showed over others.

When she was eight years old, and playing with her fourth sister, who was thirteen years old at the time, a fight broke out and the two of them got physically involved.

She was young, so she couldn't win over Ashley no matter what, and that was a fact that they all knew.

However, something unexpected happened that day. It wasn't like that was the first time the two of them had fought. They had fought several times and the adults usually just let them be, but on that fateful day, Zara collapsed.

And that was the beginning of an unending nightmare.

What should have been a mere collapse from a fight she didn't win resulted in something that shook the whole family and sentenced Zara to an early death.

That was when Zara started getting sick and got diagnosed with an unknown disease that doctors and spiritualists could deal with.

She lost all hope, and that lasted for fifteen years. She knew that her death day was nearing and there was nothing that she could do to stop it.

So instead of wallowing in what was coming, in the past few years, she had done what she wanted, despite being locked in the house and living online.

Five weeks ago, Zara was counting the days she had remaining to live. Her birthday was going to be her funeral. She knew it and her family knew it.

They even purchased a grave for her, which was very funny but realistic after all. Who would waste time to prepare when the truth was just out in the open?

Five weeks ago, Zara had roughly one hundred and twenty-something days remaining until her birthday and as much as it pained her that she was going to die, she had accepted that hard, cold truth for years.

Lying on her bed, thinking of what she could have done if she was alive, the things she couldn't do and mostly how she wasn't able to show filial piety towards her beloved family.

She was playful and unruly when she was a kid. She barely listened to the adults and caused trouble from morning till night.

There wasn't a day where it was peaceful at home, and yet everyone tolerated her in their own way.

And then she got sick at age eight. It got worse. In other words, just as she said during her LIVE earlier that day, she had never done anything for her grandparents, parents or siblings. It was always them giving while she received.

She didn't want to die without doing something tangible that would make them remember them. She at least wanted to die as a filial daughter rather than a rebellious, sickly, and pampered girl.

Even if she could do a small thing for them, she wanted to do it.

Who would have known that her wish would make the deities feel touched, that they decided to grant her a chance to grasp, a chance to live, in her own hands?

Five weeks ago, Zara who was wearing a bracelet that she was given by her favorite foster brother, Quinn, suddenly felt a zap in her hand which electrocuted her to the extent that she hit her hand hard on the side bed resulting in the bracelet shattering.