Chapter 3

3

The crowd parted to let her through. I stepped forward and blocked her path.

Suddenly, every eye was on me. "You aren't going anywhere."

In my last life, Brenda took the body and had it cremated immediately. I had no evidence to prove her daughter was already dead.

That body was the only proof I had left. Brenda realized her plan was failing and turned into a monster.

She dropped the girl and tried to claw my face. "How dare you stop me!"

Before she could reach me, my father stepped in front of me. He blocked her easily, his tall frame towering over her.

Brenda was forced to stay back, screaming insults from behind my dad's shoulder. Looking at his back, my eyes filled with tears.

He had always protected me like this. In my last life, he never let me or my mom leave the house after the doxing started.

He was the one who went out for groceries and came back with bruises. Our address was leaked, and people spray-painted slurs on our door.

He would stay up all night scraping the paint off so we wouldn't see it. I couldn't stop the tears from falling now.

My mom hugged me tight. "It's okay, honey. We're right here."

She didn't know why I was crying, but she believed in me anyway. She was always my rock.

In my last life, even after they lost their jobs, she never complained. She just counted our savings and tried to make them last.

They were my biggest supporters, always standing by my side. And yet, the rumors and the harassment eventually broke them.

My dad's hair turned gray in weeks. My mom got so sick she couldn't get out of bed.

The morning they died, they made my favorite breakfast. They told me they were going to the market.

They lied because they didn't want to say goodbye. Having them back felt like a dream.

I sobbed into my mother's arms until I finally calmed down. They were such good people.

Even after everything, my dad's will said he wanted to donate his organs. I never expected Brenda to be the one waiting for them.

She had cried to me about how her husband needed a transplant.