Chapter 141 Prologue

PARADISE HILL

"Things began to unravel in Paradise High School after the arrival of the scholarship students and the Anderson sisters. They shouldn't have come. No, they shouldn't have dared to set foot here. One of the Anderson sisters was a spitting image of Lucinda—the golden-haired goddess who once ruled our social events with ease. But this wasn't just about appearances. No, she was worse. She wasn't just going to crush her enemies; she would tear the entire school apart, leaving only ashes behind.''

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Emily sat rigidly on the worn leather chair, her hands clasped so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her therapist, Mrs. Dan a kind woman with greying hair and gentle eyes, leaned forward, her pen hovering above the notepad. The room felt smaller than usual, suffocating in its silence.

"Emily," Mrs. Dan said softly, her voice careful, like walking on thin ice. "You were telling me about Rose Emerson, the one you said reminds you of Lucinda. What happened between you two? What is your relationship with her"

Emily didn't answer immediately. Her gaze was fixed on the wall behind Mrs. Dan, her brown eyes vacant, as if she were staring through time itself. Slowly, her lips curled into a humorless smile, her laughter sudden and jarring.

"Mrs Dan, you think you can help me?" Emily's voice dripped with mockery, cutting through the air like a blade. "You can't. No one can. I'm already ruined. Just like Paradise High."

Mrs. Dan frowned, adjusting her glasses. "Emily, I need you to focus. I can't help you if you don't tell me the truth. And I know you, dear. You wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone—"

Emily's laughter grew louder, the sound hollow and chilling. She leaned forward, her elbows digging into her knees, her voice dropping into a whisper that made the air feel colder.

"I killed them, Mrs Dan . My parents. I murdered them in their sleep."

Mrs. Dan froze. The pen slipped from her , clattering onto the floor.

"I skinned them alive," Emily continued, her voice steady, detached. "I watched them scream, their flesh peeling off like paper, their bodies bubbling and dissolving under the sulfuric acid I poured over them. And Harry, my brother... oh, sweet, that son of a bitch, pathetic Harry. I poisoned him. A slow, excruciating poison that ate him from the inside out. I listened to him beg, gasping for air as his insides rotted away. It was... satisfying."

Mrs. Dan's mouth went dry. She opened her lips to speak but no words came. She stared at Emily, her young client—barely nineteen—with wide, unblinking eyes. The girl didn't flinch, didn't waver, her expression eerily calm.

"And do you want to know the best part, Mrs. Dan?" Emily said, her voice rising in pitch. "I don't regret it. Not one bit. If anything, I wish I'd made them suffer more. Maybe then they'd finally understand what they did to me."

Mrs. Dan swallowed hard, her heart pounding in her chest. "Emily... you—you talked about abuse before. Was it—"

"Don't," Emily snapped, her head jerking toward the therapist. Her eyes were wild now, her voice sharp enough to draw blood. "Don't you dare try to justify them. They deserved it. All of it."

Silence fell between them, heavy and oppressive. Emily turned away, her gaze drifting toward the large window overlooking the distant hill. Paradise High stood tall, its pristine facade hiding the darkness within. Her lips trembled as she spoke, her voice barely audible.

"Ma, we shouldn't have gone there," she whispered. "We should've stayed far, far away. That place... it's evil. The kind of evil that hides in plain sight, preying on the weak, the innocent. They train monsters there, Miss Bennett. Monsters you can't even begin to comprehend."

Mrs. Dan leaned back in her chair, her hand shaking as she reached for her phone. The girl needed help. Real help.

Emily's eyes stayed on the school in the distance, her face pale and hollow. "It's worse than it's ever been before. Worse than our previous school Ivory high, worse than anything. They're going to destroy us all, and no one will even see it coming."

Mrs. Dan dialed the number with trembling hands, her heart racing. As the call connected, she glanced at Emily, who stood motionless, her silhouette framed against the window. The hill loomed in the distance, a silent witness to horrors yet to come.

Somewhere deep within her, Mrs. Dan knew that this was only the beginning. And that terrified her more than anything else Emily had said.