Chapter 4

I was taken to the city center plaza.

Overnight, a massive, fully transparent glass enclosure had been erected there.

Like a cage built to exhibit a monster.

And I was the monster about to be displayed.

I was shoved inside, and the surrounding floodlights instantly blazed, blinding me.

Outside the glass enclosure, a dense crowd gathered, their faces filled with curiosity, contempt, and excitement.

A forest of phones and cameras were pointed at me, live-streaming without interruption for twenty-four hours.

Without morphine to suppress it, the bone cancer pain finally broke free of all restraints, exploding within me in an exponentially terrifying way.

It hurt.

It hurt so much I couldn't breathe.

It hurt so much I felt like I could hear my bones shattering, inch by agonizing inch.

I started to roll wildly on the ground, curling up, trying every possible way to alleviate this inhuman torment.

I even slammed my head against the unforgiving glass wall, dull thuds echoing through the space.

I just wanted to pass out, or better yet, simply die.

The crowd outside the glass enclosure gasped and jeered.

"Look! He's going into withdrawal!"

"What a pathetic sight. Serves him right."

Evelyn stood outside the glass enclosure, a microphone in her hand.

"Everyone, look. This is the devastation drugs wreak on humanity. Once you touch them, you lose all dignity, becoming a beast that only knows how to demand. This is the price of self-destruction."

Her voice, amplified, reached everyone's ears, and mine.

My consciousness began to blur with pain, and hallucinations flickered before my eyes.

Evelyn outside the glass wall was no longer the cold, hard detective captain.

She reverted to her appearance from seven years ago, wearing a white dress, standing in the sunlight, smiling gently at me, extending her hand.

"Liam, don't be scared. I've come to take you home."

"Evelyn..."

I cried, reaching out to the phantom, using my last shred of strength to call her name.

"Evelyn... save me..."

My desperate plea, however, was seen by the crowd in a completely different light.

Marcus instantly seized the microphone, his voice a blend of feigned regret and open contempt.

"As you all witness, the suspect is in the grip of a severe drug-induced psychosis. The substance has utterly annihilated his will."

The entire internet absorbed his 'expert' commentary. The live stream's chat erupted into an instant torrent of ridicule and abuse.

"This guy is totally beyond saving."

The hallucination shattered, and boundless pain swallowed me once again.

I finally couldn't take it anymore, my vision went black, and I passed out.

A bucket of icy cold water splashed onto my face, the biting chill instantly jolting me awake.

The public spectacle of my torment continued.

I don't know how long passed. At the peak of another wave of intense pain, my body completely gave out.

A warm gush erupted from my lower abdomen, soaking my pants.

I had lost control of my bladder.

In that moment, all pain, humiliation, and anger vanished.

I was left only with endless numbness and desolation.

My last shred of dignity was crushed into dust, utterly annihilated.

In my fading consciousness, I felt the glass door violently shoved open.

Someone burst in and seized me by the collar. Evelyn, a fury incarnate.

"Liam! Get up! Stop faking it!"

She was in a blind rage, her grip savage.

A sharp, brittle crack echoed in the room.

It was my collarbone, already hollowed by cancer, giving way under her violent shaking.

Her motion ceased instantly. She stared at her hands, then at the grotesque dip in my shoulder, disbelief spreading across her face.

How could a common junkie be so brittle that a simple shake would shatter bone?

For the first time, her voice carried a sliver of barely-audible panic.

"Liam... your bones..."