My father sneered. "She caused this evil—she has to bear it. What? You feel sorry for her? Aren't you afraid she'll curse you next?"
Fear flickered in Aunt Faith's eyes. She stepped back.
Dragging my dripping wet body, I filled a basin with hot water and staggered into the main hall.
Everyone had warned me I would be scared. But fear didn't come. Only a crushing ache that made it hard to breathe.
Grandma's face was masked in dried blood. Half of her body was a mangled mess of flesh and bone, resembling nothing like the warm woman who had raised me.
Suffocating. I was suffocating.
I dipped the towel in the water and began to wipe her face. Gently. Again and again.
The clear water turned crimson. I went to the kitchen, changed the water, and returned. I didn't count how many times I ran back and forth. I refused to stop until her face was clean.
But her body... the damage was too severe. No matter how much I wiped, the blood kept coming. The flesh was ruined.
Watching me work without flinching, my mother's revulsion grew.
"Look at her," she hissed. "She really is a monster. A normal child would be screaming. She doesn't even look scared. She's not human."