Chapter 1

“Amelia, Athena, Elio, and I will be staying with you for a few days. You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”

My mother always favored Athena since we were young. Even though this was my home, she treated her like she had every right to be here.

Rage surged within me, and I could barely conceal the hatred in my gaze.

I had returned to a week before the frozen apocalypse began.

My heart pounded when I saw that I was still whole and unharmed.

Without waiting for my reply, my mother walked in as she held her mischievous grandson, Elio, by his hand.

“Amelia, you’ve never cared for the family as much as Athena.

“She has always taken good care of me.

“You’re the one who got married, yet you didn’t even invite your own mother to live in your new house!”

Athena was my younger sister.

She was three years younger than me.

Yet she had a child, Elio, out of wedlock and became a mother far too early.

Athena was always my mother’s favorite. She saved the best things for her every time.

As the elder sister, I was forced to play second fiddle to Athena my whole life because my mother always said, “You’re the elder sister, you have to give in.”

I received hand-me-down clothes as a child. My chance for higher education suffered the same fate.

Athena and I both applied to college and were accepted. I was even accepted to a top-tier university.

My mother forced me to drop out because of the tuition fees. She insisted our family could afford to educate only one of us.

As the elder sister, I had to yield this opportunity to my younger sister.

Attending university became the lifelong regret I could never fulfill.

Fortunately, I met James later.

I always believed he was the greatest blessing in my life.

However, the moment my mother brought Athena into our home, James started making eyes with her instead.

When the frozen apocalypse arrived, he sided with my mother in forcing me to scavenge for supplies.

The already scarce supplies were nearly impossible to find.

When I got back, my mother confiscated the little I had managed to scrape together.

She hoarded everything in a locked stash and granted herself sole control over the distribution.

Meanwhile, Athena and Elio still got to eat very well.

James, her son-in-law, ate decent meals, while I, her own daughter, did not.

Every time I returned shivering from gathering supplies in the cold, she refused to offer me even a sip of warm water.

I was only allowed to eat their leftovers.

By the third day of the frozen apocalypse, I was barely hanging on.

It was then that I discovered Athena and James had long been having an affair.

They brazenly carried out their shameful acts in the study room.

When I caught them red-handed, I stormed in and slapped Athena right across the face.

But she and James backed me up against the window and shoved me out.

In that last second, I saw my mother watching television nearby.

She just glanced over with a look of pure indifference. She did not care if I lived or died.

My body was flung through the window and struck the icy ground below.

I froze solid on the way down, and my body shattered when I landed.

My blood was frozen.

Before I lost consciousness, I saw my own mangled remains scattered across the ice.

In the frozen apocalypse, my own family killed me and ended my miserable life.

This time, I would not make the same mistake twice.