She hung up the phone, leaving only the incessant beeping of a busy signal in the receiver.
I gripped the phone tightly in my hands, my knuckles turning pale from the strain, as if holding on with all my might was the only way to cling to that last thread of hope.
Time drifted by unnoticed, and I had no sense of how long had passed.
In the suffocating darkness, I felt as though I were already dead, trapped in this tiny coffin, lifeless and consumed by despair.
Then, suddenly, the phone rang again, shattering the silence.
I stared blankly at the screen, unblinking, my body frozen, my mind a void.
The only thing I had left in this world, my daughter, was gone. In that moment, I felt as though my heart had died along with her.
Yet, even amidst the overwhelming grief, there was one thing that burned within me like a flame—a woman, the one who had betrayed me and taken my daughter's life. I could not allow her to escape unscathed. She must pay, she must die.
I knew my time was limited.
Trapped in this coffin, my options were painfully few, but I vowed, even if it was only a sliver of a chance, I would do whatever it took, expend everything I had, to ensure she would join us in death.
Bowing my head, I caught sight of the oxygen tank she had mentioned earlier, tucked into the corner beneath me. It was a small 1L mountaineering tank.
I knew this meager amount of oxygen would last no more than 30 minutes, but it was my final hope.
With great effort, I reached out, my fingers trembling as I barely managed to grasp the tank, twisting open the valve. In the suffocating, nearly depleted air of the coffin, I inhaled deeply.
For an instant, my eyes turned bloodshot, the whites of my eyes suffused with red, my pupils dilating sharply. A rush of blood surged to my brain, and though my body felt weak, my mind became unnervingly clear, the resolve for vengeance solidifying within me more firmly than ever.