Bloody wake up call

THEA’s POV

The hospital room was too quiet.

I lay there, my body feeling like it was made of lead. I couldn't move my fingers. I couldn't open my eyes. All I had left was my hearing, and the sound of the heart monitor's steady beep... beep... beep...

"Is it done yet?"

That was Maya’s voice. My sister. The girl I had protected from our father’s temper, the girl I had given my own inheritance to so she could live like a princess.

"The doctor says it’s only a matter of minutes," my mother replied. Her voice sounded bored, as if she were waiting for a late flight instead of her daughter’s death. "Did you get the ring?"

I felt a cold, tugging sensation on my left hand. My wedding ring, a simple platinum band I had cherished because I thought it tied me to Elias was pulled roughly from my finger.

"Got it," Maya whispered. "Elias won't even notice it’s gone. He hasn't visited once in the three months Thea’s been in this bed. Why would he care about a ring?"

The pain in my chest wasn't from the illness. It was the truth. Three years of marriage. Three years of me cooking his favorite meals, keeping his house silent, and waiting by the door for a husband who looked through me like I was made of glass.

I was a ghost to him while I was alive. Now, I was just a paycheck to them.

"Be grateful, Thea," Maya whispered, leaning close to my ear. I could smell her expensive perfume, the one I had bought her for Christmas. "Your death is finally making us rich. The insurance payout and the final trust transfer will save the family business. You’re finally being a good daughter."

She reached out. I heard the click of the machine being turned off.

The silence that followed was terrifying. I tried to scream, to gasp, to fight the darkness, but there was nothing. Just a long, cold slide into the black.

———

GASP.

I slammed my eyes open, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.

I wasn't in the hospital. I wasn't cold. I was sitting on the edge of a bed, a massive, king-sized bed with silk sheets that felt like water against my skin. The room was flooded with warm, golden morning light.

I looked down at my hands. They were full. Healthy. And there, on my left hand, was the platinum ring.

“Thea? For heaven’s sake, stop daydreaming. We don’t have all day.”

That voice.

I froze, my blood turning to liquid ice. I turned my head slowly.

Maya was standing by the door, looking younger, twenty-two again, her face smooth and free of the greed I’d seen in her eyes at the end. She was draped in a Chanel tweed suit I had bought her for her birthday.

She was holding a silver tray with a single cup of tea and a stack of legal papers.

"I brought you your tea," she said, walking toward me with a sweet smile.

My heart stopped. I knew this day. This was the morning of May 14th. Three years before my death. The day I signed over the Northshore Trust, the only thing that gave me financial independence.

In my first life, I had smiled back at her. I had taken the tea, signed the papers, and thanked her for looking out for me.

I looked at the silver pen she held out. It felt like a needle.

“Why are you staring at me like that,” she giggled, a sound that used to make me smile but now made me want to vomit. She walked over and dropped the papers onto the bed next to me. “Since you’re up, sign these. Mom and Dad are waiting downstairs. It’s just the paperwork to move your trust fund into the family account ‘for safekeeping,’ remember? We just need your signature to move the Northshore Trust into the family pool. It’s just a formality, Theo. You know how Dad gets about ‘unity.’”

The Northshore Trust. My grandmother’s inheritance.

In my first life, I had signed them without even reading, desperate for the head-pat and the “good girl” my parents would give me in return. That signature had been the beginning of my end. It had stripped me of my power and turned me into a beggar in my own home.

I had signed it because I was lonely. I thought if I gave them my money, they would finally invite me to Sunday dinner. I thought if I was the “good daughter,” Elias would finally see me as a partner instead of a social obligation.

“Thea?” Maya’s voice sharpened. “Did you hit your head?”

She reached out to touch me.

I flinched away as if her hand were made of fire. “Don’t touch me.”

Maya’s eyes widened. “Excuse me?”

I stared at the documents. My signature was already halfway there in my mind, the ghost of the woman I used to be screaming at me to obey.

Then I felt it.

A phantom itch on my arm where the IV had been.

I looked at Maya.

I didn’t see my sister.

I saw the woman who had watched my heart stop and smiled.

“No,” I said. My voice was raspy, like I hadn’t used it in a decade. “I’m not signing it, Maya.”

I stood up, my legs shaking but my mind suddenly, terrifyingly clear.

“In fact,” I continued, “I want the keys to the penthouse in the city. The one in my name. And I want the monthly dividends from the trust sent to my private account, not the family one.”

Maya’s face didn’t just drop; it morphed. The “sweet sister” mask fell away, revealing the jagged edge of her greed.

“Have you lost your mind? That money is for my wedding fund! Dad promised—”

“Then Dad lied.”

I picked up the contract.

Maya reached for it, a smug smile starting to form on her face, but I didn’t hand it to her.

Instead, I gripped the edges and ripped.

The sound of the thick paper tearing was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard.

Rip.

Rip.

Rip.

I didn’t stop until the “Family Trust” and the Northshore Trust transfer documents were nothing but white confetti on the floor.

“Are you insane?!” Maya shrieked, her mask finally slipping. “Do you have any idea how much work went into those? Dad is going to kill you!”

“Let him try,” I said, my voice deeper, colder than I ever remembered. I stepped toward her, and for the first time in our lives, Maya was the one who backed away. “Get out of my room, Maya. And tell Mom and Dad that if they want my money, they can get it from the lawyers I’m hiring this afternoon. From now on, every cent of my money stays with me. If Dad has a problem with that, tell him to call my attorney. I’m sure the press would love to hear how he’s been skimming from a trust fund.”

“Thea, you listen to me!” Maya screamed. “If you don’t sign those papers, I’ll tell Elias you’re being unstable again. I’ll tell him you’re making a scene. You know he’ll send you to the sanitarium in the hills just to keep the house quiet! You’re supposed to—”

“I’m supposed to what??,” I snapped. “Now, get out before I throw you out.”

She stared at me like I was a stranger.

“You’re crazy,” she whispered. “You’ve finally snapped.”

TBC