Searing Doomsday: I Crush My Holier-Than-Thou Sister

"Evelyn, don't you think you're being greedy?"

Dad sat at the dining table, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"You got first place in the city on one exam, and now you want two percent of the company? Absolutely not."

I looked down at my unblemished skin, my mind wandering.

Dad kept going. "You're not getting any shares. Try being more like your sister for once. You're constantly causing me trouble."

I had just finished my SATs. Dad promised that if I got into the country's top college, he would grant me one request.

Everyone knew he favored my younger sister, Amber Carter. I wouldn't inherit the company or any of the family assets.

I needed to secure my own future, so I made my request while I had the chance. But the heatwave came, the world ended, and I never got what he promised.

Memories from my previous life flooded back. When the extreme temperatures hit and civilization collapsed, supplies became everything.

People would kill for a single slice of bread. Company shares meant nothing. When disaster struck, only food mattered.

A familiar voice snapped me back to the present. Amber set down her fork and gave me a disapproving look.

"Evelyn, you shouldn't ask Dad for shares," she said. "Money isn't important. Family is all that really matters. Besides, what would you even do with those shares? You'll get married eventually anyway."

Dad practically beamed at Amber's little speech.

Even Mom chimed in to support her. "Your sister's absolutely right. Why can't you be more like her? Show us some respect instead of constantly talking about shares and money. It's embarrassing. You don't act like you belong in this family at all."

I swallowed a bitter laugh. Mom had no idea that her devoted daughter would let rioters into our home when the world fell apart. That decision would cost her everything.

Mom also didn't know why I cared so much about money and shares. Growing up, she said the same thing over and over.

"Evelyn, sometimes I think we picked you up from a dumpster. You're nothing like the rest of us, especially Amber."

I never understood it. We were already wealthy beyond measure. Why did she need to say things like that?

The family fortune came from my childhood, when my parents made me donate my kidney to some rich businessman's son. I only wanted what I was owed.

Eventually, I overheard my parents talking when they thought I wasn't listening. That was when I finally understood that Mom never saw me as her daughter.

"We're all good people in this family. Amber takes after us perfectly. Evelyn's only missing one kidney, but she's held onto that resentment for years. She's completely ungrateful."

I suffered through 18 years of their favoritism. However, in their eyes, Amber could do no wrong.

I was used to it by now. I just wondered if they'd still be playing happy family in a month.