Cordelia's eyes snapped open.
For a second, nothing existed but her ragged breath shallow. The ceiling above was familiar. White, lovely paint. A humming fluorescent bulb.
She bolted upright and let out a gasp.
Her hand flew to her chest. She expected pain. Blood. A wound.
Nothing. Just skin,smooth and no pain.
"No…what??" she whispered
She threw off the thin blanket. Her legs were shaky as she stumbled to the bathroom staring at the mirror hanging there. She touched her face and moved slowly to her chest as she dragged down her shirt ,there was no wound.
"I died,I died… she…she stabbed me".
She gripped the sink, knuckles white. A sob escapes before she could stop it. One hand pressed to her mouth like she can keep it in. But it broke anyways, a wail from someplace deep and terrified.
"I was dead," she said to herself half crying half laughing.
She sank to the floor,her knees curling up,she hugged herself like she'll fall apart if she doesn't.
And then silence, there was total silence that screamed.
Then Cordelia stood up,the harsh fluorescent light buzzes overhead, flickering erratically.
She stood inches from her reflection, eyes swollen and lips trembling with barely contained rage.
Her breath hitched as a tear trailed down her cheeks. The weight of betrayal pressed down on her chest like a stone.
Her fingers trembled as they gripped the cold edge of the sink, nails digging into the porcelain.
"They… they killed me." Strangled sob escapes her lips.
She blinked hard, fighting the flood of despair.
"But I'm still here ,I came back, I don't know how but I'm here..."she whispered to herself. Her eyes narrowed, burning with a terrible fire.
"I swear on every shattered piece of me I will make them suffer. Every last one of them."
"That mother and daughter pair and my so-called lover who left me for dead . The ones who stabbed me deeper than this blade ever could… They will drown in their own misery."
Cordelia leans in, nose almost touching the mirror, voice barely a breath.
"They took my life. And I'll make them lose everything they cherish,I'll make them pay." Her tears had dried up,and she looked like she was stained with relentless fury.
She then straightened slowly, shoulders squared, shadowed eyes blazing with grim resolve.
...
Cordelia was seated inside her room, her laptop in front of her as she remembered what had happened on her wedding night.
Actually she couldn't remember much of what happened ,it went in a blur ,the marriage was just a contract between the two families, but she loved her fiance Philip, he was so kind and thoughtful and so loving. But for now she wanted to see a lovely younger sister. She missed her.
"Happy married life sister" Matilda said to Cordelia as they made their way to the church for the marriage ceremony. Who would have thought that behind such a beautiful smile was a vicious soul who wanted her dead…
"Thank you Tilda," she replied.
The wedding was huge ,a lot of influential figures were going to be there and everyone wanted to see the faceless first miss of the Mccoys who had accomplished quite a lot at an early age.
...
The grand hall is filled with soft murmurs, the rustling of silk, and the faint scent of white lilies. Guests line the pews, turning their heads in anticipation as the heavy organ music swells to life.
CORDELIA steps into the hall.
She looked like something from a dream untouchable, distant. Her gown was gossamer silk that floats around her as she moves, catching the light like morning mist. Her long frame carried the dress like it was made for no one else.
Her hair, golden-brown like sunlit honey, tumbles in soft waves down her back. A delicate veil rests upon it, pinned with a silver comb that glimmers like frost.
Her skin was pale porcelain without flaw yet it doesn't look cold. It glowed faintly, like she was lit from within. And then her eyes: impossible to ignore. Emerald green, flecked with copper, and her right iris carries a ring of warm brown near the center. Heterochromia was subtle, haunting, and beautiful. She looked up, and it's like the world holds its breath.
Cordelia walked.
Each step is slow, deliberate. The hem of her dress kissed the marble tiles. Gasps and whispers ripple among the guests but she couldn't hear them. She's too far inside her own silence.
She passes by her father; he gives her a proud, brittle smile. Her mother clutches a lace handkerchief and mouths something probably "you look beautiful."
She keeps her chin high, her face still, her eyes unreadable.
To the world, she looked the most beautiful today.
….
"I do," Cordelia whispered.
The guests erupted in a wave of polite applause. Petals rained gently from above. The groom Philip smiled down at her with a kind of giddy relief, his thumb brushing her trembling fingers. He leaned in, resting a kiss against her temple, as if he had won a prize, as if everything from this moment forward would be perfect.
Cordelia could barely breathe.
---
Later, in the chamber, Cordelia stood alone.
The fire in the hearth had burned low. Faint golden light licked the walls, casting long, flickering shadows across the bed's tall posts and the embroidered curtains that swayed with the breeze from the open balcony doors.
She hadn't seen Philip since the toasts.
He had disappeared with his cousins after the feast "Just a moment, love, I'll return soon," he had said and now the absence pressed against her chest like a weight.
The dizziness struck again. She had always had incidents of dizziness over the years.
Cordelia staggered slightly, placing a hand against the bedpost to steady herself. A low throb bloomed behind her eyes, her skin clammy despite the heat of the room. Her breath shortened.
Something was wrong.
She sank onto the edge of the bed, trying to blink away the haze that swirled behind her eyelids. The room swam for a moment. Her lips were dry. Her hands shook.
Then three quick, soft knocks on the door.
She lifted her head.
"Who is it?" she called, her voice weaker than she expected.
No answer.
The door creaked open.
Matilda stepped inside.
Cordelia frowned. "Matilda? What are you? I thought you had left with the others"
Matilda said nothing at first. Her silhouette in the doorway was still, a little bit too still. She closed the door behind her with a slow, deliberate movement.
Cordelia blinked again, trying to sit up straighter. Her vision pulsed at the edges, blurry and thick, like sleep trying to drag her under.
Matilda's eyes locked onto her, and Cordelia felt a strange pressure at the base of her spine. Something ancient, something instinctive.
She had known Matilda all her life… well known since she came back from that place, her sister, her ray of sunshine. But the way Matilda was looking at her now…
It wasn't love.
It wasn't even neutrality.
It was something sharp, focused and cold.
Cordelia rose shakily to her feet, swaying. "Matilda… why are you looking at me like that?"
Matilda stepped forward.
Cordelia's stomach twisted.
"Matilda," she repeated, quieter this time. "You're scaring me."
Matilda's lips curved not into a smile, but something meaner. Her hand dipped into the folds of her cloak.
There was a glint of silver.
Cordelia's eyes widened. "What are you ?"
Matilda lunged at her.
The blade drove into her chest with a sickening crack of force. Cordelia gasped, her mouth forming an unspoken scream. But Matilda gave no pause, no explanation.
"Die!!" she shrieked, her voice raw, feral, filled with a hatred that Cordelia had never heard before.
She remained standing, every muscle locked in stunned defiance.
Blood spilled down the front of her gown, bright red against ivory.
"Matilda…" Her voice shook, breath thin. "What…why are… you ?"
Cordelia staggered back a step but didn't collapse. Her spine held her upright. Her knees trembled, her lungs burned, but she would not fall.
Not yet.
Matilda stared at her, breathing heavily, her
expression unreadable.
…
The clack of laptop keys jolted her back.
Cordelia blinked, breath catching, her fingers frozen above the keyboard.
The glow of the screen painted her face in cold light. She stared at the half-written paragraph in her document, the blinking cursor mocking her. Still. Waiting.
She hadn't typed anything in over ten minutes.
She inhaled through her nose, slow and deep, then reached for her phone beside the laptop. Her hands were steady now. Too steady.
Her hand moved fast, reaching for her phone. She scrolled through her contacts and clicked on a name
One ring.
Two.
"Hello?" a woman's voice answered, cautious but alert.
Cordelia didn't bother with pleasantries. "I need you to look into something for me."
There was a pause on the other end. "Cordelia? Are you… ? It's been a long time ago. I thought you said you were done"
"I'm not done," she said flatly, cutting her off. "I thought I was, I'm not."
Another pause. Then a quiet sigh. "What are you asking for?"
Cordelia stood and walked to the window.
"Matilda," she said. "I want to know where she is. What she's done. Who she's talked to. Everything. Every scrap of information you can find."
A quiet beat passed.
Then the voice answered, grim and loyal. "I'll start digging.