When Love Turns Deadly

In my previous life, I was just a helpless nine-year-old, only able to give my sister warnings that then seemed so futile.On the day we said our final goodbyes to her, I confided in my Aunt Emily—the one who had always showered us with love.Tears streaming down her face, she whispered, "If only I'd known when they asked me, I would've told the truth. Your sister wouldn't have had to go through all that pain."Then, with a stern look, she grabbed my shoulders. "Joanna, you mustn't breathe a word of this to anyone else. If you do, you'll be left without parents and a grandmother. We can't afford to take care of two more kids on our own."I nodded, but inside, my thoughts were racing.In my previous life, Aria's car crash was the start of a cruel plot. They lured me back home, took my life, and harvested my organs for my brothers.When Aunt Emily caught wind of what happened, she confronted them, but they were too much for her. She died fighting them.Then, my parents had the ner

James was over the moon, immediately dialing his wife to bring Rebecca over. When it was time for everyone to head home, James lingered, not ready to pull Rebecca away from her first real friend. She was having the time of her life, and I was right there with her, helping her tackle her summer homework.Ever since then, the two summer months were a back-and-forth of James dropping off his daughter at our place or picking me up to stay with them.In my previous life, I spent those summers looking after my two little brothers.When enrollment season came around, my parents were adamant—no school for me. They even turned away the teacher who came to plead my case.In my new life, they were just as determined to stop me from signing up.Standing at James's front door, I told Rebecca with a heavy heart, "Rebecca, my parents won't let me go to school. They want me home, babysitting my brothers. I can't be there to watch out for you anymore. You'll have to be strong at school and hit t

I would come home from school each day, my backpack stuffed with wild mushrooms to toss into the pan with whatever greens we could forage.Since my two little brothers came along, times got tougher, and store-bought veggies became a rarity. Grandma would shuffle through the market, scavenging for leftover leaves.Those mushrooms I gathered were just enough to pad out our meals.However, I always had just plain white bread.Gone were the days I had to wear Aria's hand-me-downs to spook them. At night, their cries from mushroom-filled nightmares would echo through the walls.Dad's fuse got shorter by the day, until a fight at work got him canned.Jobless, he turned his fists on me, no longer giving a damn about James, the man he once might have thought twice about crossing.I took the beating without a word and kept serving up those wild mushrooms.One night, the light from my parents' room sliced through the darkness. They should have been asleep, lost in dreams.However, I hea

Mom was livid, screaming at Aunt Emily."Do you realize what she's done? Your brother said she's been the one cooking lately. We're all getting these crazy hallucinations, seeing Aria in our dreams, getting all spaced out and angry. It's from those mushrooms she's been serving."Aunty Emily faced Mom with a sharp huff. "She's just a nine-year-old kid. Couldn't you three grown-ups find the time to make a meal? Now, you're sick and it's her fault? I checked the kitchen and there's no vegetable in sight. What's she supposed to cook with, if not mushrooms?"Mom kept quiet as Aunt Emily handed me my backpack."Joanna, you're off to school."However, Mom snatched it right back and snapped, "With a house like this, how can she go to school? I have to work, so she needs to stay and watch the kids."Aunt Emily stared Mom down like she was wrestling with a big decision before laying it out."Listen, I've been thinking. You can't handle three kids on your own. Bring your mother here to hel

Uncle Nelson yanked me along to our new house. I fished out the spare key from my shoe and popped the door open.Mom was at home, looking after the kids when Uncle Nelson took a quick look around the room. Without warning, he stormed up to her and started slapping her face, left and right, before exploding with anger. "You've got this huge house and you kept it a secret from me? I'm your brother, for crying out loud. I'm forty years old, and I haven't even held a girl's hand."I don't have my own place in town, so you should've given it to me so I could settle down. You're married with kids already. What do you need another house for?" Mom was in shock from the slaps before she finally snapped out of it and glared at me. She had made me promise not to spill the beans about our house to him. However, she was on the verge of trading me for cash, so why should I cover for her? Mom used to be a real tyrant, funneling a good chunk of our money to Uncle Nelson until Dad put a stop