Independence Parallel World Short Stories & Novels

Bad news: I'm dead. Good news: I transmigrated into a novel. Bad news: I end up in a peasant woman's womb, and I'm about to be born as a fake heir. Good news: My little sister, claiming that it's better to be safe than sorry because the novel's main character shares my name, has forced me to read this novel cover to cover. I already know that once the real heir, Isaac Reed, comes home, he'll use our parents' guilt toward him to set me up. He'll frame me at a family acknowledgment banquet, making it look like I've taken liberties with the family's precious only daughter, Kiana Reed. My adoptive parents will be so furious that they'll disown me and kick me out of the house. In the end, I'll die miserably in an alley on a rainy night. So, the year I turn five, I empty out my savings to hire a young beggar to show up at our door, claiming he's the real heir. When I'm eight, the second beggar enters the stage. When I'm ten, the third one arrives. By the time I'm 15, the manor is packed with eight so-called real heirs. These people in ancient times don't know that their supposedly reliable methods of testing kinship can be tampered with. All they know is that all eight boys seem to share blood ties with my adoptive parents, the Marquis and Marchioness of Eterna. I play it off as a miracle from the heavens. Then, when I'm 16, the real heir returns.

On 1st of June, I unexpectedly receive a phone call from my future daughter. With a smile on my face, I ask her, "Sweetheart, are Mommy and Daddy still happy and in love?" She proudly replies, "Of course! Mommy and Daddy have a great relationship. They never fight. He says she is the person he loves the most in his life!" My face flushes with embarrassment. I think to myself that Malcolm Gray really shouldn't be saying things like that in front of a child. Lost in happiness, I continue asking questions. "Then did you take my last name, Rosewood, or Daddy's last name, Gray?" She falls silent for two seconds, like she is confused. Then, she replies, "I have Daddy's last name, but my mommy's last name is Parker. Her name is Summer Parker." I freeze at those words. Summer Parker is the name of my best friend since childhood. Just yesterday, she and Malcolm end up in the hospital after getting into a physical fight because of an argument involving me.

My powerful, doting CEO husband had always treated me like I was the center of his world. But the moment he made a wish and blew out the candles on his birthday cake, something changed. When he opened his eyes again, he looked at me like I was a complete stranger. “Who are you?” Then his expression turned frantic. “Where’s Vivian? “If I’m ever getting married, Vivian is the only woman I’ll marry!” He shouted the words and bolted out of the house. I was still standing there in shock when lines of floating comments suddenly appeared in front of me. [Hahaha, look at the supporting female lead. She’s totally stunned! The male lead just switched souls with his eighteen-year-old self. Younger him is off to find his precious first love!] [She should be grateful she ever got to become Mrs. Pierce. If she didn’t look a little like Vivian, why would the male lead have married her in the first place?] [Too bad the soul swap only lasts thirty days. Come on, Young Male Lead! Hurry up and win Vivian back. When the older version comes back, give him one hell of a surprise!] My fingertips instantly went cold. Two weeks later, Adrian Pierce came home with a woman who looked almost exactly like me. He threw a divorce agreement down in front of me. “The house is mine. The money is mine. Everything is mine. “You’ve been living the life that should’ve belonged to Vivian for years. “So sign the papers and get out.”

I didn’t get into college, so I took a job driving a city bus. Once I finished training, I started working the night shift with Uncle Tim. He had always been the kind of guy who followed every rule. But that night, he wouldn’t let me pick up a single passenger. He even made me keep the bus dark the entire route. Uncle Tim died shortly after that incident. A few days later, someone told me something that made my blood run cold. Uncle Tim had actually been dead for quite some time. So who the hell had been riding with me that night?

Six years after I allegedly crossed into this world, Liam Locke slid a ring onto my middle finger and suddenly tightened his grip on my hand. "Keira, the whole parallel world story isn't real." He lowered his voice. "It was just an excuse so I could be with two people at once." I went still. He even winked at me, like this was all in good fun. "I never had a childhood sweetheart. Demi's the woman I cheated with. "The day you showed up at the hotel, I made that story up on the spot. You believed it. You actually thought you were the one who didn't belong here and waited for me for six years." My chest clenched tight as I stared at his face in shock. "Then why are you proposing now?" "Call it mercy. We've been together almost eight years." He smiled. "Once Demi goes overseas to study, I'll give you your old life back. What do you say?" I looked at the girl in the distance, the one who had spent the past six years living openly as Liam's real girlfriend. A heavy exhaustion settled over me. He didn't know this, but I had actually come from another world. A world without him.

The tenth year since I accidentally landed in modern-day America, and the system finally noticed me—a glitch in its timeline. It told me that in three days, I'd be sent back to where I truly belonged. Back to London. Back to my era. And I—I used to be one of the most powerful men in the entire British Empire. Alexander William Windsor. First in line to the British throne. The system gave me seventy-two hours. A countdown to say goodbye to this century. Day one, my fiancée Evelyn told me our wedding had to be called off. Because Ryan—the boy she'd grown up with—had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Day two, Evelyn brought Ryan home. To our home. She said he had nowhere else to go. Asked if he could stay. Just for a while. Day three, Evelyn told me she was taking Ryan to Italy. To clear his head. ...That was supposed to be our honeymoon. No one noticed the numbers on my wrist, ticking down. Ten years of being in the wrong place. Time to end it. This time—I'm not staying for anyone.