The Horizon of Jiu

"Lizzy, everyone else is going home for the study break. If I stay in the dorm alone, I'll be terrified. Can you please take me home with you?"

The moment my roommate Marilyn Jones said those familiar words, a chill shot straight through me.

I took a full step back before I even realized it.

That familiar line, one I knew way too well, made me realize that I had been reborn.

In my previous life, that exact day was when the school dismissed us for the college entrance exam.

Everyone in our dorm left for home except Marilyn, whose family lived way out in the mountains.

She had begged me pitifully to take her home with me. Thinking we had lived together for so long, I figured it would be fine.

My brother, Steve Warren, was sitting for the exam that year, but Marilyn and I were both juniors. She would not be stupid enough to disturb a senior studying for the most important test of his life.

Thus, I brought her home.

Who could have known that that one decision would destroy my entire family?

As soon as we arrived, Marilyn turned on the sweet, well-behaved act, charming my parents until they were grinning ear to ear.

They did not want her to feel slighted, so they gave her the master bedroom and squeezed themselves into the tiny attic.

That very night, she snuck into Steve's room in the dark, and the next morning, a scream tore through the house like a siren.

My parents and I rushed out, only to find Marilyn sobbing away, pointing at Steve, accusing him of assaulting her.

My parents were about to leave to buy groceries, so the front door was wide open. Every neighbor on our floor heard the commotion.

No matter how much we explained, she stuck to her story, insisting Steve had tried to take advantage of her.

By the time Marilyn was done, she had already called the police, and Steve was taken away on the spot.

He missed all three days of the exam.

He was one of the school's top hopefuls for the best universities, but all of that was gone in an instant.

Three days later, he came out of the police station with the exam long over and a forced confession on his record.

Branded a predator he had never been, he was expelled, and not a single nearby school was willing to accept him.

It was then that Marilyn threatened us.

If we did not do whatever she wanted, she would go to my school and announce to everyone that I had a demon for a brother.

For the sake of my future, my parents and Steve swallowed the humiliation and let her move in.

Marilyn forced Steve to drop out and work in a dangerous, illegal factory. Every penny he made went straight to her so she could spend it however she pleased.

My parents became her personal servants. She slapped and scolded them constantly, and every night, she even made them squat by her feet with a washbasin to clean them.

They endured that hell for almost a year, holding on only because my own college entrance exam was nearing.

Then, Steve died. A machine malfunctioned at the factory and crushed him.

When the news reached my parents who were already half-broken by Marilyn's abuse, they seemed to age decades overnight. Soon after, they fell gravely ill and passed away one after another.

The home that used to be warm and full of laughter became nothing but ashes, with only me left standing.

Hatred consumed me.

The night before my exam, I tied Marilyn up and forced her to kneel before the photos of my parents and Steve. Then, I set a fire that took both of us.

However, when I opened my eyes again, I was back on the very day she asked to come home with me.

Hearing the same request, the one that ruined my entire life, I did not hesitate for a second.

I replied coldly, "Sorry. Steve's about to take the college entrance exam. We're not hosting any outsiders."