Jessica clearly misunderstood the four of their intentions, and she was visibly delighted that soone had co to visit her.
To take care of her mood and ensure that she would be more cooperative during the later interview—without making up baseless stories to disrupt it—the four had to pull themselves together and chat with Jessica.
The mbers of the school’s news club ca from various classes. Among the four visiting her, only Leo and Jessica were classmates.
Thus, under the eager gazes of the other three, Leo had no choice but to steel himself and take the lead in talking with Jessica about the trivial happenings in their class, while the other three played along as the “atmosphere team.”
Thanks to the four of them putting in so much effort, even though the topics weren’t particularly interesting, Jessica was still amused to the point of leaning forward and backward in laughter. The entire hospital room echoed with her slightly exaggerated laughter.
Unfortunately, although Leo and Jessica were in the sa class, they didn’t really interact. Leo was lively and outgoing, with many friends, while Jessica was barely noticeable in class. So, after racking his brain and failing to think of a new topic, Leo exchanged a glance with his companions and decided it was ti to bring up the interview.
“Interview ?”
“Yes. You know, I’m a mber of the news club. Jessica, the fact that you were scratched on the face by so unknown beast in the dorm caused quite a panic. Everyone is eager to know what happened that day, maybe you could…”
“Heh… hehe…”
Leo’s words were cut off by a chilling laugh. Even Misha and the others looked at Jessica on the bed with terrified eyes. She hung her head low, her shoulders drooping as if dislocated, and her hospital gown-clad body trembled with each laugh. The pale light of the hospital room shone down from above, casting Jessica in such a way that she looked like a demon just clawing its way out of hell.
“Fake… it’s all fake… I actually thought soone at school rembered , but it’s all fake. Seeing misunderstand your intentions, you must think I’m funny, right? Haha… hahaha… Jessica, who’s lacking care, Jessica, who no one loves—it’s so pathetic. Just because I’m not pretty, I deserve to be ignored?!”
“No, Jessica, of course we care about you…” Leo stamred, trying to explain. But his words were cut off as a pillow flew straight at him.
“Don’t lie to ! What care, what visiting in the hospital—it’s all fake, all lies! You, and even Edward, who keeps saying I’m special, you’re all liars, liars, liars! Only good-looking people get attention. In this world, skin and face are everything. You dare to mock only because I’m ugly…” Jessica roared hysterically, screaming, unleashing her negative emotions without restraint.
Everyone was terrified by her sudden outburst. So when Jessica lifted her head, her fingers curled into claw-like shapes and she began furiously scratching her own face, no one moved or reacted in ti to stop her.
“It’s all this face’s fault… this face’s fault… this face’s fault…”
She shouted as she clawed at the wounds on her face. The scabs on the scratches tore apart, exposing raw, bloody flesh. The nearby pustules burst under her grasp, yellow pus oozing into the wounds. Her already unremarkable face beca even more grotesque and terrifying.
“Je-Jessica! Don’t do this! It’s all your mom and dad’s fault. We can save more money—when you grow up, maybe you can get plastic surgery…” Finally, her father was the first to react, shuffling forward and speaking hesitantly.
All he got in response was his daughter baring her teeth in a smile that felt laced with venom.
“It’s too late! I’ve already found a better way… Didn’t you look down on ? Didn’t you refuse because of how I look? I’ll make you see who the most beautiful person in this world really is!”
With that, Jessica suddenly pulled open her collar and took out a necklace hanging from a leather cord around her neck.
“The news club’s photographer just happened to snap a picture. I asked him for the digital version. Look, this, isn’t it the monkey’s paw that Rebecca ntioned?” Misha paused, taking out her phone and sending a photo to Everly.
Everly opened it. Ignoring Jessica’s wild and terrifying face in the picture, the most striking thing in the fra was the necklace on the girl’s chest.
The pendant was a dried, shriveled animal paw, mummified. The paw had two parts: a small forearm and a hand. The forearm, which connected to the leather cord, was wrapped in yellowed bandages, and between the folds sparse black hairs stuck out. Below the forearm, the emaciated hand had five fingers. It resembled a human hand, but in both size and shape, it was fundantally different. The thumb and middle finger curled inward, the index finger was broken, and the remaining two fingers stretched straight.
Monkey’s paws were elusive and almost entirely legendary; even Rebecca had never seen a real one. However, Rebecca had described to Everly what the paw looked like according to records, and it matched the photo. Furthermore, the broken index finger perfectly aligned with the finger of the monkey spirit in Everly’s dream, leaving her certain that this was indeed a genuine monkey’s paw.
Everly nodded at Misha, signaling her to continue.
“Jessica grabbed the monkey’s paw and loudly wished to beco the most beautiful person in the world. The mont she finished speaking, everyone saw the previously straight-up middle finger of the paw snap and bend downward with a ‘crack’…”
The group hadn’t yet recovered from the horror of seeing the monkey’s paw move when a crackling, unstable electric sound rang out. The overhead lights began to flicker violently, faster and faster, until finally, unable to withstand the strain, they shattered with a loud “bang.”
At the sa ti, panicked shouts echoed from the hallway outside. Through the frosted glass, it was clear that the corridor beyond was also plunged into darkness. Misha realized that the problem wasn’t limited to this room—electrical devices throughout the entire floor, and possibly the whole building, had malfunctioned at that mont.
With the curtains drawn and the lights broken, the hospital room fell into montary darkness. Luckily, Leo reacted quickly and rushed to the window, pulling the curtains open.
Sunlight poured into the room, restoring everyone’s sight. They turned their heads toward Jessica, who was still sitting on the bed. Before anyone could ask what had just happened, the scene in front of them left them speechless, frozen in stunned silence.
“What… what are we seeing?”
“Yeah… what exactly did we see…” Misha murmured, raising her cup to sip so warm milk, a dazed expression crossing her face. “I’m not trying to be mysterious, it’s just that the scene was so surreal, I don’t even know how to describe it…”
Misha saw Everly—yes, it really was Everly.
The girl on the hospital bed had golden hair smoother than satin, crystal-clear blue eyes like seawater, lightly tanned, healthy skin, and exquisitely sculpted features. Her hands clutched the monkey’s paw necklace, and although her arms under the hospital gown appeared slender, they were covered with a thin layer of muscle, strong and firm.
Misha was still trying to process why her friend was in the hospital room when, beside her, Leo gasped in shock:
“Angela? What are you doing here?!”
He spoke while instinctively stepping forward, drawn toward the hospital bed.
The student caraman standing to Misha’s right was also acting strangely. His eyes brimd with tears as he stared fixedly at the girl on the hospital bed, his cheeks flushed, his expression ecstatic. He murmured eagerly, “Seradiya really isn’t dead,” while snapping photo after photo of the “Everly” on the bed.
At that mont, the three people present were seeing completely different faces on Jessica.
Misha knew Angela—Leo’s girlfriend. They had been childhood friends, attending the sa schools since elentary, and their bond was very strong.
As for the caraman, Misha had heard from the club president that he seed to be an obsessive fan of Seradiya.
Putting this together with Jessica’s wish to the Monkey’s Paw—“Make the most beautiful person in the world”—Misha suddenly understood.
“Beauty” is a highly subjective concept. A glamorous celebrity admired by so might appear less attractive to others than a friendly neighbor offering pastries with a smile. So people prefer slender figures; others prefer those with a heavier build…
Thus, the Monkey’s Paw used a clever shortcut. It didn’t give Jessica a face that conford to the majority’s idea of beauty; instead, it altered how Jessica appeared in each person’s eyes:
In Misha’s mind, her friend Everly was the most beautiful person in the world, so that’s who she saw in Jessica.
Leo, deeply in love with Angela, saw Jessica as Angela.
The caraman, a diehard Seradiya fan, saw Jessica as his idol, the ultimate beauty in his eyes…
“Do you know what’s the funniest part?”
Everly shook her head.
Misha continued, a sly grin on her face: “So Jessica realized sothing was off from our reactions. She pulled out a mirror to check, then scread, threw the mirror aside, and shouted, ‘Why did I turn into Everly?!’—in her mind, you were the most beautiful person in the world! Hahahahaha!”
“…” Everly wore a constipation-like expression.
Although Jessica’s recognition of her appearance could, in a sense, be seen as validation, Everly really wanted to advise her: maybe just watch a few more TV shows and magazines. Her looks were certainly beautiful, but not the “world’s most beautiful” level—more like the average pretty girl at school in her previous life. If she had been exposed to the world more, she wouldn’t have developed such a terrifying thought!
“After she realized what had happened, everyone thought it was amazing that Jessica had suddenly changed like this, and they all pulled out their phones to take pictures. Then sothing strange happened: even though in the cara preview we each still saw the person we thought was the most beautiful, after pressing the shutter, the photos that appeared in the gallery clearly showed Jessica’s face… like this.”
Misha opened her phone gallery and showed the three of them the photos—Jessica’s face, scarred and covered with pus, chaotic and grueso.
“Maybe the monkey spirit’s power is limited, unable to trick chanical devices in the physical world… or perhaps it simply didn’t want to waste more energy perfecting Jessica’s wish,” Everly speculated.
From the way the monkey spirit attacked, it was clear its power leaned toward ntal manipulation. By twisting soone’s perception in the ntal world, it could make them believe they had been disfigured; when they woke up, their face would truly reflect the damage imagined in the dream.
The second wish worked similarly. The monkey spirit didn’t change Jessica’s actual face; it only changed the image that others’ minds conjured when looking at her. Altering photos taken by caras, however, would interfere with the material world—a completely different type of power would be required.
Misha nodded in agreent, then spoke with so lancholy: “Because of this distortion, even the doctors saw a different Jessica. They couldn’t see the injuries on her face, so they had no way to treat her torn wounds. In the end, it was Jessica’s parents who, with alcohol and cotton swabs in hand, personally cleaned her injuries.”
“Even though Jessica looked different to everyone else, even though the real Jessica’s face was full of wounds and grotesque, in her parents’ eyes she remained the sa. In their hearts, their daughter Jessica was still the most beautiful person in the world… Sigh, it’s really heartbreaking.”
Everly fell silent as well.
There are all kinds of people in this world: girls like Jessica, insecure, vain, and greedy; children like Natalie, willing to curse themselves for the sake of their mother; parents like Shelly, neglectful and indifferent; and parents like Jessica’s, wholeheartedly devoted to their child.
If only Jessica had realized sooner, and used her final wish to turn the spiraling situation back on track… She was far richer in spirit than anyone could have imagined.
…
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