The Prophecy That Broke Me

The moment I said it, my parents, Robert and Camille Foster, stared at me like I'd lost my mind.

But my aunt, Mallory Foster's eyes lit up. She rushed over and grabbed my hand tightly. "Reed, are you serious? I've been thinking that stock was going to go up too!"

I had no expectation that Mom and Dad would listen to me and invest their money in it. Frankly, I didn't want them making a dime off it.

However, Aunt Mallory was different.

She'd seen the stock's potential six months ago. Yet every time she was about to invest, someone would talk her out of it. In the end, she'd spent almost all the money she'd saved for her wedding on Preston's private elementary school tuition instead.

By the time she realized just how much money the stock could make, she had nothing left to invest. She regretted it for the rest of her life.

Mom came over and smacked me across the back of the head.

"Reed! Feed Preston! All you do is sit around thinking up this nonsense instead of doing something useful. If we hadn't gotten stuck supporting you, we wouldn't need some stock to get rich!"

I glared at my overfed little brother, Preston Foster. He was so huge that one of his arms looked thicker than my thigh.

Somehow, even though I was only a few months older than him, I was expected to practically raise him.

Mom and Dad had bought me because they'd been unable to have a child of their own. But I hadn't been the healthy kid the traffickers had promised them. I was constantly sick after they brought me home, costing them a lot of money. They'd already resented me for that.

Then, just a few months later, Mom got pregnant with Preston.

From that moment on, I became the family's servant. Almost every cent they had went toward him, yet somehow I was the burden.

Preston was given a respectable name because he was the hope of the entire family. Meanwhile, they saddled me with a humiliating nickname and made me the butt of every joke.

And all because of one joke Preston made, I would eventually have my leg beaten until it broke and become the family's scapegoat.

Why?

Why should I have to suffer for any of this?

If I'd been given another chance at life, then this time, I was going to make them pay.

"I'm telling the truth. I had a dream last night that the stock would go up thirtyfold. Don't we have more than $10,000 saved? If you invest it, we'll get $300,000 back!"

$10,000 was an enormous amount of money for an ordinary family back then. It had taken Mom and Dad seven or eight years to scrape together that much, and they'd been saving every penny to send Preston to the best private elementary school they could afford.

The looks on their faces changed instantly.

Dad kicked me to the floor. "You little prick! How the hell do you know we have $10,000? Tell me! Have you been stealing from us? I knew some of it seemed to be missing!"

I didn't even get a chance to explain before his fists started coming down on me. Blow after blow left my head spinning.

It was always like this. Whenever they wanted to hit me, all they had to do was invent some crime I'd supposedly committed.

Sometimes they didn't even bother with that. They just used me to vent their anger.

Mom made no attempt to stop him. Instead, she scooped Preston into her arms. "See how awful Reed is? He's barely more than a kid himself, and he's already after your money! That money is for your education and your wedding someday!"

Preston was too young to understand what $10,000 actually meant. "How much is $10,000?"

"Hmm... enough to buy you a whole room full of lollipops!"

Preston understood that. His face twisted with rage, and he ran over and kicked me several times. "You little mean boy! You stole my money! Beat him to death!"

Aunt Mallory tried to come to my defense, but my grandmother, Cecelia Foster, yanked her back.

"He'll never learn if we don't beat some sense into him. He's already trying to walk all over Preston!"

That was when I suddenly began convulsing and crawling strangely across the floor.

Even Dad was startled enough to stop hitting me.

Then I rolled my eyes back and declared in an eerie voice, "I'm a miracle child who can see the future! If you don't believe me, you're going to pay for it!"