Introduction

It began innocently enough.

My high school roommate, Jessica, needed a place to stay during a break, just as my older brother, David, was prepping for his SATs, his ticket to an Ivy League dream.

My trusting parents welcomed her into our home.

Then, the nightmare struck.

A scream in the night.

Jessica, teary-eyed, accused David of something unspeakable-a monstrous, venomous lie.

That lie didn' t just stick; it decimated us.

David's scores plunged, his dreams shattered, expelled from school.

He found a dead-end job, then an accident claimed his life.

Our parents, heartbroken, soon followed.

And Jessica? She remained, a parasite feeding on our grief, playing the survivor while I simmered with impotent rage until everything ended in fire.

The memory was a raw, bleeding wound-the profound injustice, the agony of watching my family crumble from a fabrication.

Why did it have to end like that?

Why couldn't I have seen through her sweet facade sooner?

But then, I gasped awake, sunlight streaming through my familiar window.

The calendar showed the exact date.

Downstairs, I heard her voice: Jessica' s.

I was back.

This wasn't a dream.

This was a second chance, a fierce, burning clarity-a chance to save David, my parents, and myself, and to dismantle Jessica' s wicked game, piece by deceitful piece.