Chapter 24 Chapter Twenty-Three

Kate recuperates in Dark Harbor, letting the sun and sea heal her wounds. Tony was sent to a private mental institution where he could receive the best possible care.Kate brought in psychiatrists from Paris, Vienna and Berlin.But after various examinations and tests, their diagnosis was the same: his son suffered from persecutory schizophrenia and paranoia. "Drugs or psychotherapy didn't work for him. We had to keep him under control because he was so violent." "How to control it?" Kate asked. "He lives in a padded isolation room. Most of the time, we put him in tights."

"is it necessary?" "Don't wear that, Mrs. Blackwell, he'll kill everyone who comes near him." She closed her eyes in pain.They were not talking about her sweet and gentle Tony, but about a stranger, a man possessed by a demon.She opened her eyes, "Is there any way to save it?" "There's nothing we can do if we don't use his brain. We keep giving him medicine, but as soon as the medicine wears off, he goes crazy again. We can't use it endlessly." Kate stood there straight, "Then do you have any suggestions, doctor?" "In a similar situation, we found that removing a small part of the brain has a good effect."

Kate asked with difficulty: "Lobotomy?" "Yes, your son will function normally in every way, just without the strong, dysfunctional emotions." Kate sat there without moving, her mind and body chilling.Dr. Morris, a young doctor from the Brain Disease Clinic, broke the silence. "I know it must be a very difficult thing for you, Mrs. Blackwell. If you would consider—" "If that's the only way to stop his pain," Kate said, "so be it." ※※※ Frederick Hoffmann wants to take his granddaughter, "I'm going to take them back to Germany."

He seemed to Kate to have aged twenty years since Marianne's death.Although Kate felt sorry for him, she had no intention of giving up on Tony's baby. "They need a woman to take care of them, Frederick. If Marianne lived, she would like to raise them here. You may come and see them often." In the end he agreed. ※※※ The twins were taken back to Kate's mansion, where a large suite was prepared for them.Kate interviewed the nannies and finally hired a young Frenchwoman named Soren Duna. Kate named the first baby Eve and the other Alexandra.They looked exactly alike—indistinguishable, like a person and her reflection in a mirror.Kate was in awe of the miracle his son and Marianne had performed.They are both lively and lovely, quick and active.But just a few weeks later, Eve seems to be more mature than Alexandra.Eve learned to crawl, talk and walk first.Alexandra was also a quick learner, but it was always Eve who took the lead from the start.Alexandra looked up to her older sister and always imitated what she did.Whenever Kate is free, she always spends time with her granddaughters.They make her feel much younger.Kate started dreaming again, that one day in the future, I will retire when I am old...

Kate threw a celebration for the twins' first birthday.The birthday cakes of the two sisters are exactly the same.In addition, there are dozens of birthday gifts.They were all gifts from friends, company employees, and service staff in the mansion.Their second birthdays seem to be right around the corner.Kate couldn't believe how fast time had passed and how quickly the twins had grown.She could now see more clearly the difference in their personalities: Eve was strong and courageous; Alexandra was weaker, content to imitate her older sister.They had neither father nor mother, and Kate often thought it was a blessing in misfortune to have two children for company and a good relationship between the sisters.

However, just before the fifth birthday of the two of them, Eve actually plots to kill Alexandra. In the twenty-fifth chapter of Genesis, verses 22-23, it is written: "The children fought each other in her womb... "God said to her, Two nations are in your womb. Two nations will come out of you. One nation will be stronger than the other. The older will serve the younger." ※※※ But in the case of Eve and Alexandra, Eve doesn't want to serve her sister. Eve hated her sister for as long as she could remember.Whenever someone picked up Alexandra, patted her, or gave her a gift, Eve would secretly get angry and feel greatly wronged.She thinks it's all hers alone - all the love and all the pretty stuff around them.Alexandra made it impossible for her to spend her birthday alone.She hated Alexandra because she looked like herself and dressed like herself.She thought Alexandra had stolen her share of love from her grandma.Alexandra admires Eve, so Eve looks down on her.Alexandra is generous and willing to give away her dolls and toys, which makes Eve despise her even more.Eve is never willing to share with others.Hers was hers, and it wasn't even enough, even Alexandra wanted something.In the evening, under the supervision of Solang Duna, the two girls prayed aloud.But Eve always added a sentence in her heart, praying to God to kill Alexandra, and when she found that prayers didn't work, she decided to deal with it herself.They are now just days away from their fifth birthday.The thought of sharing this birthday celebration with Alexandra again was overwhelming for Eve.The friends were hers, and the gifts were hers, stolen from her by her sister.She must kill her quickly.

On the eve of their birthdays, Eve lay in bed, eyes wide open.When she was sure that the whole house was asleep, she went to Alexandra's bed and woke her up. "Alex," she whispered, "let's go into the kitchen and look at the birthday cake." Alexandra said sleepily, "Everyone is asleep." "We're not going to wake anyone up." "Miss Duana won't approve of it. Can't we see it in the morning?" "But I want to see now, are you coming or not?" Alexandra rubbed her eyes, trying to shake the drowsiness away.She didn't want to see the birthday cake, but she didn't want to hurt her sister's feelings. "I'll be right here."

Alexandra got out of bed and put on a pair of slippers.Both were wearing pink nylon nightgowns. "Come here," Eve said, "Don't make any noise." "I won't," Alexandra agreed. They tiptoed out of the bedroom, then down the long corridor, past the closed door of Miss Duana's bedroom, and down the steep back stairs to the kitchen.The kitchen was huge, with two large gas stoves, six ovens, three refrigerators, and a freezer big enough for one person to enter. In the refrigerator, Eve found the cake, which was made by the female chef, Mrs. Taylor.One has "Happy Birthday - Alexandra" on it and the other has "Happy Birthday - Eve".

Next year, Eve thought happily, there would be only one cake. Eve took Alexandra's cake from the refrigerator and placed it on a wooden cutting board in the middle of the kitchen.She opened the drawer again and took out a box of bright candles. "What are you doing?" Alexandra asked. "I want to see how it looks when all the candles are lit." Eve started poking the candles into the icing of the cake. "You shouldn't be doing this, Eve, you're going to ruin the cake and Mrs. Taylor will be mad." "She doesn't care." Eve opened another drawer and took out two large boxes of matches.

"Come here and help." "I'm going to sleep." Eve got mad at her, "Okay, go back to sleep, coward, I'll do it by myself." Alexandra hesitated. "What do you want me to do?" Eve handed her a box of matches, "Light the candle." Alexandra was afraid of fire, and the two girls were repeatedly told not to play with matches.They also heard horror stories about children who disobeyed and caused disaster.But Alexandra didn't want to disappoint Eve, so she obeyed her to light the candles. Eve watched for a while, then said, "I haven't ordered that side yet, idiot."

Alexandra bent over to light the candle on the other side, her back turned to Eve.At this moment, Eve quickly struck a match, and then lit the match box in her hand again, and saw that the match box turned into a ball of flames, and she hurriedly threw it at Alexandra's feet. On one side, the hem of Alexandra's nightgown was ablaze.It was a split second, and Alexandra suddenly felt a knife-like pain in her leg.She looked down and screamed, "Help! Help!" Eve stared at the flaming nightgown for a moment, stunned by her own successful masterpiece.Alexandra stood there, motionless, frozen with terror. "Stay!" said Eve, "I'll get a pail of water." She hurried to the butler's pantry, her heart pounding with joy and terror. It was a horror movie that saved Alexandra's life.Mrs. Taylor, the Blackwell cook, is taken to a movie by a police officer.She used to spend the night with him.That night, the scenes on the screen were either people being beaten to death or dismembered.So Mrs. Taylor couldn't stand it anymore. When a beheading scene appeared, she said: "You may be commonplace, Richard, I have seen enough." Constable Richard Dougherty reluctantly followed her out of the theater. They returned to Blackwell House an hour earlier than expected.When Mrs Taylor opened the back door, she heard Alexandra screaming from the kitchen.Mrs. Taylor and Officer Doherty rushed in, startled by what they saw.They acted immediately, and the officer jumped forward and ripped off the burning nightgown, which left Alexandra with blisters on her legs and butt, but not her hair and chest.She had lost consciousness and fell to the ground.Mrs. Taylor took a basin full of water and dumped it on the rapidly burning floor. "Call an ambulance," Commander Doherty ordered. "Is Mrs. Blackwell home?" "She should sleep upstairs." "Wake her up." After Mrs. Taylor had called for an ambulance, there was a burst of crying from the butler's pantry.Eve ran in with a basin of water, sobbing hysterically. "Is Alexandra dead?" Eve screamed. "Is she dead?" Mrs. Taylor picked her up and comforted her: "No, honey, she's fine, she'll be fine." "It's my fault." Eve sobbed. "She's going to light candles on her own cake. I shouldn't have let her do that." Mrs. Taylor stroked Eve's back and said, "It's okay, you don't have to blame yourself." "The fire—the match fell out of my hand and Alexandra caught fire. It was—terrible." Officer Doherty looked at Eve and said sympathetically, "Poor kid." ※※※ "Alexandra has second-degree burns on her legs and back," Dr Harry told Kate, "but she's going to be fine. We're having amazing results with burns now. In the past, it would have been a terrible disaster." tragedy." "I know," said Kate, who was horrified to see Alexandra's burns.She hesitated for a while, "John, I think I'm more worried about Eve." "Is Eve hurt?" "There was no physical injury, but the child kept blaming herself for the accident. She had constant nightmares. For the first three nights, I had to hold her all the way to sleep, and I didn't want to leave it too much shadow, Eve is a sensitive child." "Children forget things like that quickly, Kate; if you have any questions, come back to me and I can recommend a pediatrician." "Thank you," Kate said gratefully. ※※※ Eve is indeed in a very bad mood because the birthday celebration has been cancelled.Alexandra, she thought angrily, ruined my birthday. Alexandra recovered so well that she didn't even have a scar.Eve also quickly forgot about guilt.Kate comforted her: "Anyone will have accidents, my dear, don't blame yourself anymore." Eve didn't blame herself, but Mrs. Taylor.Why did she come home then and mess everything up?That was a perfect plan. ※※※ Tony was confined to a nursing home in Connecticut.It is surrounded by towering trees and the environment is quiet.Kate rides to see him once a month.The lobotomy was successful.Tony no longer has any aggressive tendencies.He could still recognize Kate, and asked politely about Eve and Alexandra.But he didn't mean to see them.He is not interested in everything.He seemed happy, no, not happy, Kate corrected herself, satisfied—satisfied with what? Kate asked Mr Berger, the director of the mental hospital: "Is my son not doing anything all day?" "Oh, no, Mrs. Blackwell. He paints a long time." Her son could have had a world, but now he sits and draws all day.Kate tried not to think about such a waste of talent, a talent was lost forever anyway. "What did he draw?" The dean was a little embarrassed, "No one can understand."