Todos los capítulos de The Wrong Side of the Coin: Capítulo 1 - Capítulo 9

A searing pain shot through my neck and forehead.Warm blood tracked down along my brow into my eyes, and everything in front of me turned a blinding red.I was slumped against the solid wood door. I wanted to pound on it and call for help, but all my throat could push out was a broken rasp.My awareness slid out of my body a little at a time.I looked down at the bloodstain spreading across the rug, and the first thing that went through my mind, of all things, was that I had to clean it up.That hand-knotted Persian rug was expensive.If I stained it, Mom would be even angrier.But when I reached out to wipe it, my palm passed straight through my own body, and then through the floor.My body had gone light as a feather, and it drifted slowly toward the ceiling.So that was it. I was already dead.I was no stranger to death.Before my sister Chloe was born, Grandma had left the same way, lying in a cold hospital bed.Back then, Mom held my hand and cried as though her heart would break

Dad went to the kitchen, cut a slice of blueberry cheesecake, and brought it out to my sister.Chloe took the cake and carried her new doll upstairs.She planted herself outside my door on purpose and raised her voice."Millie, look at my new doll. Her dress is real silk."That's what you get for cheating. This is what happens when you break the rules."Dad said this doll was supposed to be yours, for getting into the prep school. Too bad your luck is so awful. It's mine now."Through the door I looked at her smug little face, and nothing moved in me at all.Ten years.I was used to it by then.When I didn't react, Chloe got angry and turned to leave.But her foot came down on the coin at the edge of the rug.It was the fake coin I'd dropped.Her body tipped sideways and she went down hard, and the cake smeared across the floor.A ceramic ornament lay broken in the hallway, and her palm landed on one of the shards. Blood welled up at once."Aaaah—"Chloe let out a bloodcurdling scream.

The moment that door came open, it was like an entrance to hell had been unsealed.A stench of blood and rot hit them head-on.Dad was standing in front, and his big frame locked up.The hammer slipped out of his hand and clanged on the floor.A second later he clapped a hand over his mouth, ran into the hallway, and doubled over vomiting.I lay face down beside my desk.My white T-shirt had gone black with blood and fluid and clung to a body that had swollen out of shape.My bare arms and calves were mottled purple-black where the blood had pooled and settled."That's not possible..." Mom had both hands clamped on the door frame.Her nails scraped the wood and peeled back until they bled, but she didn't seem to feel the pain.She walked into the room one step at a time, and she even forced a stiff smile onto her face."Amelia Reed, did you cover yourself in paint to scare me?"You silly girl, going to all this trouble just to make me angry, painting yourself up like that..."Get up no

Not many people came to the funeral.Apart from a few neighbors, the most surprising mourner was the principal of the elite prep school.He wore a black suit and carried a white envelope."Mr. Reed, Mrs. Reed, I'm so sorry for your loss."This is Amelia's full scholarship check, along with the essay she wrote for the entrance exam."She earned the highest entrance-exam score in the history of our school."Mom's hands shook as she opened the envelope.The essay was titled "My Dream."The principal read slowly, "Amelia wrote that she dreamed of becoming a pulmonologist."Her younger sister had suffered from severe asthma since childhood, and their mother had exhausted herself caring for her day and night."Amelia wanted to cure her sister so her mother would no longer have to work so hard."The principal paused."At the end, she wrote this—"I may not be lucky enough to win the coin toss, but I believe hard work can change where fate lands."Mom swayed on her feet and dropped straight to

Early the next morning, a sanitation worker found what was left of my sister's body in the garbage.Her palm was still clenched tight around that gold coin.An officer pried her stiff fingers apart.The coin dropped into the muddy water.The side facing up was unmistakably the number.It was the first time she had ever tossed my side of the coin for anyone but herself.But there was no one left to honor the result.Even after Chloe died, I still couldn't leave.I went back to the house that had been empty for a long time.The grass in the yard had grown high.The water in the pool had turned cloudy.Even Mom's favorite roses had all withered and died.In the backyard I found Buddy.He was skin and bone, lying in front of the closed door, whimpering weakly.After Dad died, there was nobody left to feed him.When Chloe left, she never once thought about the pet she had kept from me for years.I wanted to open the door for him. I wanted to get the dog food out of the kitchen.But my hand