Chapter 1

My eyes snapped open.

The ceiling was wrong.

It was my old bedroom ceiling, the one with the water stain shaped like a sad ghost.

I sat up, my head spinning.

My body felt... younger. Thinner.

I looked at my hands. No wedding ring. No calluses from years of work I hated.

My SAT results lay on the cheap desk, an acceptance letter to the local community college beside them.

High school graduation. That had been weeks ago.

This was the day. The day I was supposed to fill out college applications.

The day my previous life truly began its downward spiral.

A cold dread washed over me. I remembered everything.

The constant hunger. The beatings. The way my mother, Brenda, looked at me with such hate.

My father, David, never looking at me at all.

My brother, Kevin, the golden boy, expecting me to fund his future.

Then the pregnancy, the difficult birth, my mother' s deliberate cruelty, letting me bleed, refusing to call for help until it was too late.

I died. I know I died.

And now... I was back.

A loud bang on the door made me jump.

"Sarah! You in there? Get those damn applications filled out for the community college! And then you can start on dinner."

Brenda.

Her voice, like nails on a chalkboard, a sound I thought I' d never hear again.

The old fear, cold and sharp, tried to grip me, but the memory of my death, of my lost child, was stronger.

Not again. I wouldn't live that life again.

I got out of bed, my legs a little shaky.

"I'm not going to community college," I said, my voice surprisingly steady.

Silence. Then, the doorknob rattled violently.

"What did you say, you ungrateful brat?"

The door was locked from the outside. Of course, it was.

Brenda always locked me in when she wanted to ensure my compliance.

"I said I'm applying to a four-year university," I called out. "A good one. Far away."

"You'll do as you're told!" she shrieked. "You'll go to the local college, get a job, and start contributing to this family! Your brother has needs!"

I remembered those needs. A new car. Help with a down payment on a house. My entire future sacrificed for Kevin.

This time, I would save myself.