Chapter 1

A horrific car crash left me paralyzed.

The doctors said I'd never walk again. With no family left, my Aunt Martha and Uncle Thomas took me to their isolated farmhouse.

They cared for me, promising their treatments would help me walk again. After everything I'd been through, I thought I'd finally found safety.

Until today, when the feeling in my legs suddenly came back—but something told me not to tell them.

——

A sharp prick shot through my thigh.

I gripped the wheelchair armrests. The sensation spread fast—muscle pain I hadn't felt in weeks flooding back all at once. I pushed myself up.

My knees buckled. I hit the floor hard, but my heart was racing with pure joy.

I could move.

Bracing against the wall, I stood. I needed to get out of these pajamas and tell Aunt Martha.

Dragging my stiff legs, I stumbled toward the wardrobe—unopened since I'd arrived. I grabbed the first pair of jeans and pulled them on, fumbling with the zipper.

Something crinkled in the pocket.

I fished out a crumpled piece of paper and smoothed it flat.

[Don't tell them you've recovered the feeling in your legs. Keep your mouth shut!]

I scoffed. What kind of sick prank did the previous patient leave behind?

I crumpled the note back up, tossed it into the trash can, and reached for another pair of pants.

My fingers hit the edge of another piece of paper stuffed deep in the bottom of the pocket.

My breath caught. I pulled it out. The exact same warning.

Frantic now, I started tearing through the wardrobe.

The third pair, the fourth... Deep inside the pockets of nearly every pair of long pants, the identical message was waiting for me.

The handwriting on the first few notes was relatively neat, but as I kept searching, the words dissolved into chaotic, frantic scratches.

The last few tore right through the paper, reeking of absolute desperation.

The blood in my veins ran cold.

Whoever left these had predicted this exact moment flawlessly.

They knew that the second a paralyzed person regained feeling in their legs, their very first instinct would be to walk over to this specific wardrobe to put on real clothes.

My joy completely evaporated, replaced by a suffocating dread.

Martha had strictly forbidden me from going anywhere near the stairs, insisting it was a "safety protocol." Clutching the handful of warnings, I stared at my half-open bedroom door.

I had to know what was down there.

Every step felt like my newly awakened muscles were ripping apart.

Clinging desperately to the banister, I held my breath and crept down to the first floor, slipping into the shadows near the kitchen archway.

A wet, sickening slurping sound echoed from the kitchen.

I peeked around the corner.

Caleb, the caretaker with severe burn scars twisting across his face, was standing over the stove.

A massive, deep pot was bubbling away, the source of the strange, metallic stench that always haunted the house.

"Perfect leg bones..." Caleb muttered nervously, his voice a raspy wheeze. "I just know slicing the muscle off these will be beautiful."

He used a large ladle to fish something heavy out from the bottom of the pot.

It was a jagged chunk of bone, still clinging with half-cooked, bloody raw meat.

Caleb leaned in close. He stuck his tongue out, greedily and forcefully licking the bloody flesh off the bone, his milky eyes rolling back into his skull in pure ecstasy.

Stomach acid burned my throat. I clamped both hands over my mouth, suffocating the violent urge to throw up.

Then I heard it—tires skidding violently on the gravel driveway outside. They were back.

A jolt of pure terror seized my heart. Ignoring the excruciating spasms in my thighs, I practically crawled up the stairs on all fours.

I threw myself into the bedroom, hurled my body back into the wheelchair, and aggressively yanked the blanket over my legs.

Almost instantly, the front door downstairs clicked open.

Gasping for air, I leaned my head back against the chair, trying to force my chest to stop heaving. As my eyes sought the ceiling, they locked onto something.

Behind the grates of the air conditioning vent, a tiny red light blinked steadily in the dark.

A camera feed.

The lens was pointed directly at my bed and the wheelchair. The only blind spot in the entire room was the corner right in front of the wardrobe.

I stared dead at that red dot, a cold sweat breaking out across my back. The warnings in the pockets saved my life. If I had screamed in excitement on the bed five minutes ago, I would already be a corpse.

Footsteps echoed down the hall. The door swung open.

"Elena, sweetie, any feeling in those legs today?"

Martha walked in carrying a tray, her tone as maternal and soothing as always.

I forced my lower body to remain completely limp, a sack of dead weight.

I slapped my thighs in fake frustration and let out a sob. "Still nothing. Martha, am I ever going to get better?"

"Oh, you poor thing." She leaned down and wrapped her arms tightly around me.

I instantly held my breath. Beneath the overpowering, eye-watering scent of bleach she always wore, there was something else.

Martha pulled back and set the steaming bowl of soup in front of me, stirring it with a spoon.

"Caleb spent hours simmering this bone broth. I skimmed the fat off the top just how you like it. Drink it down, sweetie. It's good for your legs."

She pushed the spoon close to my lips.

The image of Caleb’s tongue sliding over that half-raw chunk of meat flashed aggressively in my mind. I instinctively shrank back. "My stomach is acting up today. I really don't want it."

"You won't get any strength in your legs if you don't eat," Martha smiled, but the hand holding the spoon didn't flinch.

She pressed the cold metal hard against my lips.

I had no choice.

I squeezed my eyes shut, opened my mouth, and swallowed the thick liquid.

The greasy, metallic slime slid down my throat.

Within three seconds, my stomach violently cramped. I lurched forward, violently throwing up the chunky, murky liquid all over the rug.