Camilla scrolled down the screen. She opened the table of contents. She saw that the author had marked the novel as "Complete."
A feeling of excitement rushed through her. "Finally," she thought. "Finally, I will see how she wins."
She clicked on the very last chapter. She read the words carefully. She focused completely on the story. She read about Lady Camilla walking through the dark garden of the General's estate. She read about Lady Camilla feeling sad and hopeless. The General had just given her divorce papers, stating their contract marriage was now over.
Camilla frowned. "Come on," she whispered to the tablet. " Do something."
She read the final paragraph. Her eyes moved quickly across the screen.
The text read: Lady Camilla stood at the edge of the old stone well. She looked down into the deep, dark water. She felt she had nothing left to live for. The pain in her heart was too much. She closed her eyes. Lady Camilla fell into the well trying to end her life.
Then, the page ended. There were no more words. There was only a blank white space at the bottom of the screen.
Camilla stopped breathing for a second. She stared at the screen. She waited for the next page to load. She tapped the screen with her finger. Nothing happened. She swiped to the left. It just took her back to the novel's main information page.
The story was over.
Camilla sat up straight on her balloon raft. She pushed her dark sunglasses up off her nose. She rested them on top of her head. Her eyes were wide with shock. Her eyebrows pulled together in a deep frown.
"Wait. What!" she exclaimed loudly. Her voice rang out across the quiet backyard. Winston the cat twitched his ear, but he did not wake up.
Camilla grabbed the tablet with both hands. She squeezed the edges tightly. She glared at the screen. She felt a hot wave of anger rise in her chest.
"What is the meaning of this?" she asked the empty air. She was fuming. Her breathing became heavy and fast. She felt completely betrayed.
She looked at the little green tag on the corner of the screen. It clearly said "Completed."
"If it is not complete, why mark it complete?" she yelled.
It made no sense. The author had built up a huge story for five hundred chapters. There were so many unanswered questions. What happened? Did the general not love her? Did Lady Camilla actually die in the well, or did someone save her? To just end the story right there was a terrible thing to do to a reader.
Camilla felt a sharp pain in her chest. It was not just about the story. It was about her time. It was about her money. She had spent hours lying in bed, sitting on airplanes, and resting by the pool reading this exact book.
She quickly scrolled down to the bottom of the page to find the comment section. She wanted to see if she was the only person who felt this angry.
The comment section was completely full. Hundreds of people had already left messages. Camilla started to read them.
"Author San, I am really disappointed," the first comment read.
Camilla nodded her head slowly. "Me too," she muttered.
She read the next one. "Where is the rest of the story?" a user named BookLover99 typed.
"Exactly!" Camilla said. She swiped down to read more.
Another comment said, "I wasted my hard-earned coins for nothing. I am so annoyed. This is a scam."
"I completely agree," Camilla thought. She remembered the expensive package of digital coins she bought just two days ago.
She found another comment. "I need a refund immediately," a user demanded. "This author just ruined the entire potential of this wonderful novel. The pacing was great until this final chapter."
Camilla agreed with every single word. The readers were right. The author had done a very bad job. As a professional assassin, Camilla knew the importance of finishing a job properly. If she left a target half-dead, it would be a disaster. This author had left the story half-dead.
She tapped the empty box at the bottom of the screen. The digital keyboard popped up. It was her turn to speak her mind. She wanted the author to feel her anger. She wanted the author to know how bad this ending was.
Her fingers flew across the glass screen. She typed with hard, fast taps.
"Author," she typed. She paused to think of the best words. "If you cannot finish a story properly, do not bother starting it."
She breathed out heavily through her nose. She continued typing.
"How will I get a refund for my wasted coins? You stole my time and my money."
She looked at her comment. It was angry, but she wanted to say one more thing. She thought about how weak the main character was. She thought about how she would have handled the situation. If the real Camilla was in that story, the general would have been poisoned in chapter three and she would have left with his money.
She added one final sentence to her comment.
"I am absolutely sure I can do a better job than you!"
She hit the "Post" button. Her comment appeared at the very top of the list. She felt a tiny bit better, but she was still very annoyed.
As soon as she posted the comment, the air around her suddenly felt cold.
The warm afternoon sun vanished. Camilla looked up from her tablet.
In just a few seconds, the bright blue sky had completely disappeared. Thick, heavy, dark gray clouds had rolled over her house. They moved faster than any clouds she had ever seen. The sky looked like it was nighttime.
The wind began to blow. It was a strong, cold wind. It blew the leaves off the trees. It made the water in the swimming pool chop and splash against the sides. The large patio umbrella flapped violently in the wind. Winston the cat woke up, hissed at the sky, and ran quickly inside the house through a small crack in the sliding door.
Camilla shivered. The sudden change in the weather was unnatural.
"Great!" she said with deep annoyance. She rolled her eyes. Her perfect relaxing afternoon was completely ruined. First the terrible book ending, and now this.
"Now it wants to rain," she grumbled to herself.
She decided to go inside. She carefully placed her tablet onto the dry edge of the swimming pool. She did not want it to get wet. She pushed her body forward on the balloon raft. She put her feet down into the deeper water to find the bottom of the pool.
She stood up. The water reached up to her waist. She turned her body toward the metal stairs at the corner of the pool. She took one step forward through the water. She reached her hand out to grab the metal railing.
She did not hear a warning. There was no sound of thunder first.
There was only a blinding, violent flash of white and blue light.
The light came straight down from the center of the dark clouds. It was thick and jagged. It moved faster than the eye could see. The powerful bolt of lightning struck the metal railing exactly as Camilla's wet hand touched it.
The electricity exploded outward. It shot through the metal and instantly traveled into the pool water. It hit Camilla's body with a terrifying, massive force.
The world went completely silent, and then everything faded to a pure, endless white.