Chapter 2: The taste of vengeance

“Marilyn! Mar!” I heard my name being called repeatedly.

The voice sounded so familiar, yet so far away, as though I were in a trance.

“Marilyn! Come downstairs, please!” the voice called out, growing louder as I jolted awake with a gasp.

Fresh air and the smell of vanilla pancakes filled my nostrils instantly as I clutched my chest and inhaled.

The first thing I registered was the absence of the agonizing pain I had felt as my lungs closed up, the bitter taste of death filling my mouth.

Looking around, a dizzy disorientation came over me in waves as I realized I was no longer lying on the cold marble floors of the Hayes’s Mansion taking my last breath.

Instead, I was lying in the familiar satin sheets of my childhood bed, my cream-coloured walls filled with Polaroids from my days in high school, serving as a striking contrast to the stark white walls of the mansion I once called my home.

Panic surged through me, and I wondered if this was some sort of cruel purgatory in which I was reminded of my favourite childhood memories before my soul finally gave in to death.

“Marilyn dear, where are you?” the voice called again, and I knew now that it was certainly my mother, and this was not a trance.

I was alive somehow and in my childhood home.

I jumped out of the queen-size bed, a million questions and deep confusion coursing through me as I rushed towards the full-length mirror standing beside my closet.

I gasped at my reflection, running my hands along my jawline.

I looked younger, healthier.

My red hair was richer than ever in colour, my skin smoother and softer.

I was definitely Marilyn, vibrant and brighter, with an undeniable spark, looking exactly how I looked before my marriage to Walter had literally sucked the life out of me.

I had hardly realized how much I had changed being with him.

I was pulled out of my disorientation by a buzzing noise coming from my vanity table. I went over to it and realized it was an alarm I had set on my cellphone.

Looking down at the screen, I saw that it was 9:00, on October 10th, three years in the past!

This was the day of the charity gala, the day I met Walter!

I heard another buzz from my cellphone before I could react.

It was a text message from Olivia.

“Hey Mar! Don’t forget about the charity gala happening tonight and please wear one of the dresses I picked out for you. You would look so beautiful, can’t wait to see you there.”

My mind travelled back to this exact text, three years ago, and it registered now that I was here, as my past self somehow, and this was really happening.

A choked sob escaped my lips and for a minute, I allowed myself to dwell on the heartbreaking reality that Olivia was never really my friend.

Instead, she was a conniving snake who, along with my husband, had carefully planned my demise, along with that of my unborn baby.

The sadness came and went in a flash and its place, a new feeling took over me, one that I had never felt before, as my hand tightened against my phone.

It felt like a burning sensation all over, filling me up with rage, and in that moment, I realized that the Marilyn who could so easily trust and be deceived was gone.

All I felt now was the need to avenge, a sole desire to get back at both Walter and Olivia by any means necessary.

They would pay, I was certain, and I would show them no mercy.

I took in a sharp breath as I quickly texted Olivia back, “See you soon.”

It didn’t take long before I remembered the dresses she had picked out for me when we went shopping together a week ago.

Moving over to my closet, I pulled out the two of them, one a dusty peach, and the other an ugly mustard colour.

In the past, I had worn the peach one to the gala and now I wondered how I had failed to notice how much it dulled my fair skin.

My chest tightened as it became clear to me how Olivia had purposely picked out an ill-fitting dress for me.

She would pay, and I knew exactly how.

Before I could do anything else, I heard a light knock on my door.

“Marilyn dear, why aren’t you dressed for breakfast?” my mother said as she poked her head into my room.

“I was worried you were still asleep. Don’t forget how important tonight is. This gala could be a great opportunity for our family’s business.”

I smiled lightly at her.

Great opportunity indeed, to stop that evil pair from taking everything my family had worked so hard to build.

“I know, Mum. I’ll be down soon.”

She left and I shoved the dresses back in the closet.

I thought back to the day Olivia and I had gone shopping and I remembered how she had gushed over a beautiful emerald green dress at the store.

She had bought the gorgeous dress for herself and persuaded me to buy the ugly dresses she claimed were so “perfect.”

With a sinister smile, I quickly called the store we had bought the dresses from.

“Hello?…… Hi, I was in your store last week, is the emerald green dinner gown still in stock?…… Perfect! I would love to have it delivered right away please, I’ll pay and text the delivery details now, thank you.”

Satisfied, I set down my phone.

Wearing the same dress as Olivia to the gala would only be the beginning—she and Walter had no idea what was coming!