Chapter 1

The PTA meeting was packed. Parents filled the school auditorium, their faces expectant. I, Sarah Miller, high school counselor, stood near the podium, ready to discuss college preparedness.

Then Tiffany Hayes, student council president, stepped forward.

Her smile was bright, her voice clear. "Ms. Miller, about those optional after-school college essay workshops you run."

A cold dread washed over me. This was it. The beginning of the end, again.

My previous life flashed before my eyes.

Tiffany, at this exact meeting, had shamed me. "It's providing an unfair advantage to a select few!" she'd declared. The accusation stuck.

Later, at the school fundraising gala, I was helping Alex Johnson, a Gold Star kid whose dad died in action, with a special scholarship.

Tiffany's voice, loud and carrying, cut through the chatter. "Is Ms. Miller taking bribes for scholarship help?"

My "Counselor of the Year" nomination vanished. My reputation was mud.

Emily Carter, a brilliant student, was one of mine. Her scientist mother had just died. Emily's anxiety was a constant battle.

I told her, "You can do this, Emily. You are strong."

Tiffany overheard. In front of a group, she sneered at Emily. "She has panic attacks holding a pen. Her mother's gone. What future can she have? Why are you lying to her, Ms. Miller?"

Emily broke. The morning of her SATs, she tried to end her life.

Her father, wild with grief, found me outside the school. He blamed me, my encouragement.

"You pushed her!" he screamed, his face contorted.

I tried to calm him, to reach him through his pain. He was distraught, not seeing clearly.

He got in his truck. In the chaos, as I moved to help, he hit me.

Darkness.

Then, nothing.

Until now.

I was back. The PTA meeting. Tiffany's voice, "...college essay workshops you run."

The same words. The same moment.

I blinked, disoriented. The auditorium lights felt too bright. The murmur of parents was a distant hum.

I was alive.