Chapter 9

The day I died began like any other.

I wake up in the morning and start my day with the same old routine. I guess you might call it a kind of OCD, but without it, I genuinely believe my day is doomed. Crawling out of bed, I head across my college dorm room and to my tiny shower room. I stare at the hot mess of my reflection and say:

"My name is Amelia Hayden. I'm a successful college student, and today I'm going to be bright, confident, caring, and assertive where necessary. In the future, I'm going to have my own business, a husband, three children, and a pug—or maybe two pugs. But either way, I'm going to be happy."

This is how I like to start my mornings, because when my alarm goes off at six o'clock and I have to drag my sorry butt out of bed, And college did feel like a cage.

This is why I say the mantra. This is why I have to remind myself why I sacrificed so much to travel up North and go to college. There has to be a happy ending for me at the end of this.

Right now I'm in m