Chapter 161 How Could It Feel Familiar to Her?
She felt along the edge and gave it a gentle tug.
A slab of dark red substance slipped from beneath the gold tissue paper, its surface marked with the faint web of pores and fine lines only skin could bear.
It was skin—human skin.
Complete with a head, limbs rendered in grotesque detail, and a face captured with chilling precision.
An entire human hide.
"Ahhh!"
Kenna let out a bloodcurdling scream. Her eyes rolled back and her body went limp, crashing onto the carpet as she lost consciousness.
Caroline stood frozen. Her mind went blank, but her eyes stayed locked on the skin, unable to look away.
Human skin...
An entire pelt peeled off in one piece...
"No... no..."
She jolted back to herself and jerked her hand away like she'd been electrocuted, trying to fling the thing across the room.
But the skin didn't fly far. It just slumped onto the carpet, spreading out at her feet.
The twisted face stared up at her—empty eye sockets, mouth slightly open.
Caroline tried to turn away, but in the next second, something pulled her gaze back.
The more she looked, the more familiar it seemed.
A chill crawled up her spine.
No... impossible!
How could she recognize a face made of skin...
But that shape, the brow bone, the curve of the nose...
Something in her mind was clawing its way to the surface, trying to break through. A splitting headache exploded without warning.
"Ahhh!"
Caroline finally broke.
She let out a shrill, piercing scream and kicked the skin away from her feet. She scrambled backward on all fours, collapsing behind the sofa and clutching her head.
"No... don't look! Get away! Get away! It wasn't me... it wasn't me! Edith... the pills... where are the pills... Edith has to go... Edith... Edith!"
She screamed incoherently, fragments of memory smashing through her mind, refusing to form a complete picture.
Only Edith's name kept surfacing, over and over, until it became the only thing left.
The apartment door slammed open.
Alexander burst inside. The stench hit him immediately—chemicals mixed with the sickly sweet rot of decomposing flesh.
He saw Kenna collapsed on the floor. Then the skin, spread out on the carpet.
Even though he'd braced himself, seeing it here in his living room made his stomach turn.
So Charles's skin had been here all along.
He was too late.
"Damn it!"
He swore under his breath and kicked the vile thing aside without hesitation. He barked at Liam, who'd followed him in. "Get rid of it! Wake Kenna up! Sweep the apartment! I don't want a fly getting in here!"
"Yes, sir!" Liam's face was pale. He immediately directed the team into action.
Alexander scanned the living room. Caroline wasn't there. Then he heard the terrified murmuring coming from behind the sofa.
"Edith... pills... Edith has to go... pills..."
His heart dropped. He rushed toward the sofa.
"Edith! Edith! It's me! Don't be afraid!"
Caroline, huddled in the corner, heard his voice. But instead of calming down, she reacted like he was a monster. She jerked her head up.
Her face was streaked with tears. Her eyes were wild, unfocused, like she didn't recognize him at all.
"Ahhh! Stay back! Get away! Get away!"
She screamed and scrambled backward, using her hands and feet to push herself away.
Her thin back slammed hard into the wall, but she didn't seem to notice. She kept flailing her arms, trying to keep Alexander away.
"Don't be afraid, Edith. It's me!"
Alexander softened his voice and tried to reach for her, but her strength was shocking. She thrashed wildly, her sharp nails raking across his arm, then his face, drawing blood.
Alexander didn't dare use force—he was afraid of hurting her. He kept calling to her desperately. "Edith! Look at me! It's me! Alex! It's over! Look at me!"
But Caroline was trapped inside her own delusion. She kept repeating Edith's name.
Her eyes flickered between emptiness and raw terror.
Suddenly, as if struck by a thought, she lurched to her feet and stumbled toward the stairs.
"Edith! Wait!" Alexander's heart seized. He bolted after her.
Caroline knew the layout of the apartment disturbingly well.
Barefoot, she ran fast, heading straight for the old bedroom—the one she'd lived in for five years, the one that held all her suffering.
Alexander's chest tightened.
No...
Caroline threw her body against the door and burst inside.
The room looked exactly as it had years ago—sparse, cold. If you looked closely, you could still see faint bloodstains in the corner.
But Caroline didn't notice any of it.
She went straight to the bed, dropped to her knees, and started frantically searching underneath.
"Pills... where are the pills... Edith... take the pills and I can see Edith... take them and it'll be okay..."
She muttered as she searched, tears streaming down her face.
Alexander rushed in after her. The moment he saw what she was doing, he understood.
She'd hidden pills in here—the hallucinogens that turned her into Edith.
"No! Edith! Don't look for those! That's poison!"
Alexander lunged forward, trying to pull her up from the floor.
"Found them!"
Caroline cried out in triumph. She pulled a small brown glass bottle from a crack beneath the bed.
Without even looking, she twisted off the cap with trembling hands and shook out several white capsules. She raised them toward her mouth.
"Stop!"
Alexander saw red. He dove forward and grabbed her wrist just before the pills reached her lips.
"Ahhh!"
Caroline cried out in pain. The pills scattered from her fingers and hit the floor.
She turned on him instantly, her eyes bloodshot and blazing.
"Let go! Let go of me! I need to see Edith! Give me the pills! Give them to me!"
She screamed hysterically and started clawing at Alexander, pounding his chest, trying to break free and grab the pills.
Her strength was unnatural. Her nails dug deep into his skin, drawing blood.
Alexander didn't let go. He held her tightly.
"Edith! Look at me! That's not medicine! It's poison! You'll die! Listen to me!"
"You're lying! You don't want me to see Edith! You want to kill Edith! Murderer! You're a murderer!"