The Short Story Lottery の小説・ストーリー

I let out a cold laugh and hailed a cab. Instead of going to the company, I headed straight for the lottery center. "Hello. I'm the winner of the 800-thousand-dollar prize from this morning. I'd like to have a notarized certification of my winnings, please." In my previous life, I had been so anxious to pay for my daughter's surgery that I never got around to having the prize money notarized. By the time I was framed and tried to come back for it, a staff member at the lottery center had already been bribed by Russell and Kristen.

I finished my breakfast in silence. Just then, I heard Lily saying, "Ms. Lyons, I saw that the lottery draws today. Don't forget to check your ticket!" It suddenly hit me that today was the day the lottery results were announced. Which meant in one week, Lily would jump into the river and take her own life. In other words, I only had seven days to figure this out. I walked to the living room and grabbed the lottery ticket. Then, I entered the numbers into my phone.

Daniel swallowed and looked down at the lottery ticket in his hand. "Maya... the lottery office is in the north of the city. The gas leaked from the south, right?" He was still thinking about claiming the prize. "Are you insane? The whole city is finished! Going in there means death!" I slapped him hard across the face. I used all my strength. Blood appeared at the corner of his mouth. But he did not get angry. Instead, a strange smile appeared. "No. I can't give up." He carefully tucked the ticket against his chest.

"Cathy, don't call me stingy—this lottery ticket's worth a million! I already scratched half of it for you, carefully eliminating all the wrong choices. Whatever's left is all yours to win." I reached out instinctively for the half-scratched ticket… then froze and hurriedly dropped it. The clock on the wall read eleven o'clock—exactly half an hour before my death. No one knew I had been reborn. Today was supposed to be my eighteenth birthday, a coming-of-age celebration. My parents had invited all the relatives. Among them was my cousin, who had always looked down on me—and now he was humiliating me with a half-scratched lottery ticket.

Before I could react, the crowd erupted in excitement again. Good. I refused to believe I would be chosen again. The lottery wheel on the big screen started spinning. "Three, two, one… Stop!"

“Because I’m attending a human auction event tomorrow night and I want you to be my date.” “Human auction,” I spluttered, looking downright horrified. “Please, tell me you’re kidding.” “Why? Are you terrified?” He leaned in close, enough for me to make out the dark specks in his eyes. “Why would you be terrified of something you haven’t even witnessed yet?” “Because we’re talking about humans being auctioned!” I couldn’t believe I had to spell it out for him. Seriously, what the hell had I gotten myself into?

"Boss, I'd like to buy a lottery ticket!" My best friend, Shayla Lane, ran past me and dashed into the lottery shop. When she breathlessly shouted out that string of numbers I knew by heart, I instantly knew she had been reborn too. After she got her hands on that lottery ticket, Shayla spun around and shot me a triumphant look. "Sorry, Bella, but this lottery ticket is mine." I, Bella Knight, didn't seem to care. "I wasn't planning on getting one, anyway."

I sat up yawning. After this morning's adventures at the nursing home, I had come home to sleep. I hadn’t meant to sleep all day, but I was exhausted. I glanced at the clock. 5:30 PM. I had an hour to kill before the lottery tonight. I stretched and got out of bed. I could walk around town and maybe throw a few more pennies into the fountain. I put my shoes on and quickly went to my mother’s room. I stood in the doorway and watched her stare out of the window for a moment.

The other was the Cook Family, which was on the verge of bankruptcy. Initially, I was the one who was engaged to Silas. However, he could not reconcile with the idea of marrying someone who was about to go bankrupt. To be fair, Adam Smith, my father, was the one who came up with the idea of drawing lots. He wanted to give that spot to Clara. In my previous life, I had been infatuated with Silas. I even tampered with the drawing lots just to marry him. I believed that as long as I married him, he would one day fall in love with me.

I needed to play the lottery. With a large smile on my face, I grabbed my purse and left the motel. The supermarket I had chosen was busy, and while it was closer to my neighborhood, it was the only one I knew that sold the tickets to the lottery. My smile wiped off my face the moment I walked in and saw people walking around smiling and nodding at each other. Nobody here knew that in just a week, the world they knew would be gone. I shook my head. Even though I wanted to help everyone, I couldn’t, so I would do what I could.