Chapter Nineteen

JESSICA'S POV ~

"I. Said. I'm. Not. Sylvia!" I repeated through gritted teeth. The couple stared at me as if I were insane.

Maybe I was indeed losing my mind! As I struggled to piece everything together, a vivid memory suddenly resurfaced.

I gasped, recalling the babies that had been stolen from me. My hands flew to my middle and a scream ripped out of my lips. Pain. So much pain. It felt like the surgical blades were slicing through my underbelly once again.

Shivering, I begged my brain to pull me out of the past. When the pain eased, I blinked my eyes back up.

Where are they? Despite the pain shooting through my body, I leaped from the bed. The couple quickly surrounded me, their expressions shocked, preventing me from reaching the door.

"Oh my goodness! Child, have you lost your mind? Where are you going?" Lydia asked, reaching for my arm. I quickly pushed her hand away.

"Where are my babies?!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, hardly recognizing the shrill, loud, and cold voice as my own. I paused for a moment, taken aback, until I saw Lydia hurriedly pull out her phone from her bag.

My heart sank. What if this couple were trying to play a dirty card on me? What if they were conniving with Emma, keeping an eye on me to feed her every detail about my life? I felt my pulse quicken with anxiety.

"Sylvia, the doctor is on his way. Stay calm. Nobody is going to hurt you," Lydia said, waving her hands and gesturing for me to calm down. But I was already glaring at them murderously.

"Where are my babies?! My babies! I didn't even get to name them!" I yelled, hot, angry tears forming in my eyes. "And stop calling me that bullshit name! I'm Jessica, not Sylvia! Give me my babies!" I screamed, pulling my hair and stomping my feet on the cold tiles, despite the pain shooting through them. I kept yelling and pacing in circles around the spacious ward.

Lydia looked hurt as she stared back at me. I couldn't decipher the emotions that crossed her face, but she was beginning to tear up.

"What babies are you talking about, Sylv—?" she paused, exhaled, and corrected herself. "Sorry, Jessica. Whose babies are they? Did you get pregnant without us knowing?" she asked calmly.

My jaw dropped slightly at her absurd question. Who the hell was she, anyway?

"Please... step away from me. I want my babies," I begged, my voice trembling. "There's a misunderstanding! I'm not who you think I am! I just want my babies! Give me back my babies!" My screams echoed through the ward as tears streamed down my face, a potent mixture of pain and anger.

Lydia appeared stricken, her shoulders deflating in despair. Patrick tried to soothe me, but I was beyond reason. I hurled the glass lantern beside my bed at them, forcing the couple to flinch and keep their distance.

"Sylvia, stay calm!" Lydia screamed, her voice bellied by the shattering lantern. But I was infuriated, and I hurled another object in her direction, desperate for her to stay away.

I didn't want to hurt her, but if she got any closer, I couldn't guarantee her safety.

As I heard rapid footsteps approaching the ward, my ears twitched. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, and my legs instinctively propelled me toward the window in a desperate attempt to escape.

Lydia screamed in horror as I opened the window. Before I could hurl myself through the slightly parted glass windows, fingers tightened around my limbs, sending a wave of fear through my body.

"Let go of me! Let go of me!" I screamed, thrashing about as doctors in white coats surrounded me. I threw a punch at one of them, but he swiftly forced me to the ground. The other two doctors quickly subdued me, their combined strength overpowering my own.

My eyes burned with rage as my body ached with pain. How could I face death once again without putting up a fight?

 No! Not this time!

Before the doctors could react, I flung myself off the ground and lunged at the doctor holding a syringe, sinking my teeth into his shoulder. The doctor screamed in agony as I bit down with a feral intensity, driven by an otherworldly force that compelled me to teach him a lesson.

All I could hear were Lydia's screams, begging me to let go, and the labored breaths of the doctors trying to pull me off their colleague.

"Shit! She's about to tear off his arm! Get us another syringe, fast!" one of the doctors yelled.

Distantly, I heard someone rush out of the room and I tightened my grip on the doctor's arm, refusing to let go. Just as my teeth sunk further into the skin between his neck and his shoulder, I felt a sharp, cold sting at the base of my own neck. My eyes widened in alarm, and I released my hold on the doctor, slapping my hand over the burning spot.

"No!" I gasped, my voice filled with fear and desperation. As I attempted to react, my vision began to blur. The last thing I saw was Lydia's crying figure before my body went limp, surrendering to the darkness.

````

My chest heaved as I listened to the voices in the background, slowly beginning to stir. My eyes fluttered open, revealing that I was still in the same hospital ward on the same bed. My heart skipped a beat.

The chattering stopped, and I could feel their eyes boring into me before I turned to face Lydia and Patrick, who were indeed staring at me.

"You're awake," Lydia said, offering a bitter smile, which I didn't bother to return.

My eyes narrowed as I watched her move toward my bedside and pick something up from the bedside.

Through heavy lids, I observed her walking toward me with a mirror in her hand. An involuntary jolt raced through my heart.

"Have a look, dear," Lydia said softly.

I wanted to hit the mirror away from her hand, but she appeared weak and exhausted, stirring pity within me.

Slowly, I took hold of the medium-sized mirror, gazing into my reflection.

It was as though someone had poured a bucket of ice-cold water over me. Frozen in shock, goosebumps lined my skin, and I was certain I had stopped breathing. I kept staring at the reflection of a stranger staring right back at me.

Fear engulfed me next, making my heart painfully squeeze in my chest. In shock, the mirror slipped from my trembling hand, sliding to the ground and shattering into several pieces.

"What..." I breathed out, my entire body shaking from dread. My hands began to roam across my face in disbelief, exploring my unfamiliar features.

"What is this?" My voice came out in a terrified whisper.

"Did you perform surgery on me without my permission?!" I yelled, my voice still weak.

The couple frowned, and Lydia shook her head.

"I would never do that to you, my baby," Lydia said, her lips quivering.

The more I stared at her, the more it felt like I was trapped in a never-ending nightmare.

I didn't even know how to react, but strangely, I remained calm, my mind racing with countless thoughts. Lydia came to sit beside me, her hands outstretched to rub my shoulders, but I shot her a look that halted her movement.

"The doctor said you may have lost some of your memories, and it's okay, my dear. I'm your mother, Lydia, and this is your father, Partrick," she introduced, causing my vocal cords to seize up.

"Are you alright, child?" Partrick asked, taking a seat beside Lydia.

I braced myself for the panic to start spreading through my body, but my body remained oddly still.

I exhaled a heavy sigh and turned to face them, studying their gracefully aging features. Perhaps this couple were genuine parents who were grieving for their child.

Just as I parted my lips to speak, a memory from long ago resurfaced in my mind. Perhaps they had mistaken me for their daughter because of what my mother had once called a myth when I was much younger. 

The myth stated that when two people with kindred souls suffered untimely and painful deaths, their souls would swap, and the one with a stronger will and a greater purpose would be granted a second chance at life. But it was just that...a myth... it was a myth. There was nothing in our lycanthropy history that suggested anything like this had ever happened.

But as I stared at their solemn faces and thought about the strange body I was in, it...made sense.

Does it mean I was given yet another chance? Had heavens agreed to let me have my revenge?

My shoulders slumped as I swallowed heavily, my chest tightening as I felt my rage and distrust slowly melting away.

Looking deep into their anguished eyes, I asked, "My...your daughter's name is Sylvia?"

They quickly nodded in unison, their expressions a mixture of hope and sadness.

I gave a stiff nod and cleared my throat. "May I see a picture of her?"

Lydia bit her lip to hold back a cry and reached into her purse. When she returned, there was a very portable photo-album in her hand. As I took it from her and opened it, I was thrust into the life of the girl once called Sylvia. Every flip of the pages gave me a glimpse into her seemingly happy childhood and up to her twentieth birthday. There was no mistaking that Sylvia had once owned this body I found myself in. Poor thing.

Closing the poto album, I closed my eyes and asked quietly, "How did she die?"