Page 12 of Abundance of Obsession

I couldn’t understand what was happening or how to fix it.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and called Dad, who was abroad. He was working a lot back then. I wouldn’t see him for weeks, sometimes even longer.

He came back two days later. The sound of the front door opening brought immense relief. I felt lighter. My legs moved to welcome him, yet his facial expression caused me to freeze. Something was wrong.

For the first time in my life, I saw fear on his face. Restless eyes looked at me, though they seemed distant. He didn’t smile either; he didn’t welcome me. After setting his suitcase down near the coffee table, he was at my side in an instant.

“Where is she?” My father’s voice was hoarse.

“Upstairs,” I answered. She hadn’t left the bedroom for five days in a row. Or at least I hadn’t seen her.

My father nodded, ruffled my hair, and headed toward the stairs.

A stony silence echoed where a greeting should have been, leaving me adrift in his unspoken indifference. I was like a ghost.

I shuffled after him but stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Something was holding me back from going upstairs. Maybe it was fear, or maybe something else entirely. Resting on the bottom stair, I waited.

And I didn’t move an inch.

A quarter of an hour later, footsteps reached me, first in the hall, then on the stairs.

I couldn’t turn around. I didn’t want to. My heart was pounding, ears ringing.

Then his face appeared. He blinked a few times, thinking. With a sigh, he finally said, “You did the right thing.”

The phone in his pocket vibrated, and he snatched it out. After turning, he replied to the incoming call. “Dr. Reeves, I need an immediate consultation.”

Once again, I ceased to exist.

Chapter 4

Zoe

With a single press of the Enter key, you can change someone’s life.

Turn it upside down. Destroy it...

It takes so little.

And it leaves nothing but ruins in its wake.

This key is directly beneath my fingertip. Twenty-eight hours spent in front of the screens. Without sleep. Eyes locked on the target. Everything has led to this precise moment.

Once, I begged for mercy. They ignored it. No one listened to my pleas back then. The only response was the laughter of my tormentors.

That memory is like a signpost for my actions.

I hear their laughter in my head. Like nothing has changed at all. Like they’re still standing over me. It’s getting louder and louder. Ringing in my ears, blocking out everything else.

I can’t listen to it anymore!

Not even my eyelids twitch as my middle finger falls onto the keyboard. Click.

Rows of numbers start moving across the screen. In one window, the sequence of numbers decreases, counting down to something magical. A new window pops up next to it with a confirmation. And then another, and another.

“What the fuck?” A muffled man’s voice calls out in the background.

The corners of my mouth turn up in a smile. It grows with every second.