Lahat ng Kabanata ng REBORN BEFORE THE ASH:MY MINE IS THE LAST SAFE PLACE : Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 5

The last thing I heard before I died was my husband telling me there was no room, so I couldn't understand why his mother was now shouting at me about soup. Her voice cut through my thoughts, sharp and impatient, and when I looked down I found a ladle in my hand and steam curling up against my face. The air I pulled into my lungs was warm and clean, and my fingers, which had been gray and cracked with ash the last time I saw them, were pink and trembling."Jenna! Are you deaf? I said Steve's soup is getting cold." Linda sat at the kitchen table in her silk robe with her hair already set, tapping one nail against her teacup exactly as she had on a thousand other mornings. She was my mother-in-law, the woman who had ordered me around since the day I married into this house, and seeing her alive and complaining made my stomach twist so hard that I had to grab the edge of the counter. Then the memories came back all at once, and I had to close my eyes to get through them.I remembered th

"Who called them?" Linda whispered, her fingers frozen on the deadbolt.Nobody answered, because the question was really meant for me, and I honestly didn't know either. The voice outside spoke again, calm and firm, saying they had received a report of a disturbance and needed the door opened. Steve recovered first. He straightened his shirt, ran a hand through his hair, and gave his mother a tiny nod, and by the time she turned the key his face had gone from furious to pleasant, the same smooth face I had watched charm his clients for years."Officers, thank you for coming," he said warmly. "It's only a family misunderstanding. My wife has been under a lot of stress lately."Two officers stood on the step, and behind them, in her gardening cardigan, was Mrs. Dolan from next door. She was a retired schoolteacher in her sixties who had brought me soup the week my parents died, and she was one of the only people who still asked how I was. Her eyes went straight to my cheek, and her mout

"You're late, Jenna," Vanessa said, and she sounded delighted. "I've been here since eight."She was sitting in the waiting room of Walsh & Associates with a paper cup of coffee in her hand, legs crossed, looking like she owned the place. Maya had driven me over at a quarter to nine, and we both froze in the doorway. The office was small and old-fashioned, with a ticking wall clock and a vase of dusty silk flowers, and the last person I wanted to find in it was my husband's mistress."How do you even know where this is?" I asked, though I already knew."You were so careless with that tag." She smiled sweetly. "Steve said it was nothing, but I thought, why take the chance? A woman doesn't hide a key in a box for years over nothing.""Who is this?" Maya asked, in a very flat voice."The woman my husband sleeps with," I said."Oh." Maya took a slow look at Vanessa and settled into the chair beside her, arms folded. "Then I'll wait right here."Vanessa's smile slipped for the first time.