Chapter 1

"Ugh!"

I involuntarily dropped to my knees, dry-heaving and gasping for air. It felt like I had suddenly woken from a nightmare.

The image of Tracy Maynard's father stabbing me like a maniac flashed through my mind, and waves of phantom pain tore through my body.

My phone pinged, and a message from my girlfriend, Layla Tanner, popped up. "Mark, I'm really scared. Can you come keep me company?"

Only then did I slowly come to my senses and realize I'd been given a second chance at life.

In my previous life, when I got this message from Layla, I rushed over right away, only to arrive at the scene of a dorm building collapsing.

All I could think about was saving people. Before anyone else from school showed up, I managed to pull Tracy, one of Layla's roommates, out. Then, together with the others, I dug out Layla and her other two roommates before passing out from exhaustion.

And how did Tracy repay me? By accusing me of sexually assaulting her!

There was no way I'd misremembered it. Tracy was completely naked when I found her. However, Layla and the others swore up and down that they'd only been playing with a spirit board and that Tracy was fully clothed when the building came down.

The whole thing quickly blew up, and I was slammed all over the internet. Under mounting pressure, the school expelled me.

Layla, who was also someone I grew up with, sided with Tracy and dumped me.

And because of her, the scandal spread all the way back to our hometown. People talked trash about my parents behind their backs.

Soon, they couldn't hold their heads up anymore, and within three years, illness took them both, one right after the other. And in the end, I met a gruesome death at the hands of Tracy's father.

All that pain I'd suffered turned into intense anger and confusion right then. They said they were playing with a spirit board, so why was Tracy naked?

Layla and I had grown up together. So why would she lie through her teeth and back up everyone else's false testimonies? Why would she help Tracy frame me, especially when I was the one who dug them out of the rubble?

This time around, I wasn't going to run. I was going to find the truth.

I put away my phone and headed straight for the abandoned building. Just like in my previous life, the building collapsed the moment I arrived, crashing down with a deafening roar.

And just like before, I called the police, notified the student advisor, and got to work on the rescue. But this time, I turned on my phone's camera and hit the record button before slipping it into my breast pocket.

Before long, I'd dug Tracy out.

Her right leg was pinned under something heavy, and the flesh near her hip was black and blue. That area looked like it was on the verge of going necrotic.

She looked battered and in agony. Her face was pale beneath the layer of dust, and her eyes were filled with fear and despair. But the moment she saw me, a glimmer of hope appeared in them.

"Help me… Mark, please help me…"