Chapter 3The Choice

I woke up from the darkness five years after my execution.

I wasn't Lily anymore. I was Nora. A high school senior who had fallen into a river trying to save a child. The original Nora hadn't made it, and somehow, my soul had taken up residence.

It took me a week to stop waking up screaming, clutching a throat that had no scar.

Nora’s life was hard. Her mother, Sarah, was a disabled widow who ran a soup-and-sandwich food truck. Her grandmother, Nana, was paralyzed from a stroke.

But the love in this cramped, drafty apartment was suffocating in the best way.

Sarah would massage my legs after a long day. She’d save the best cut of meat for my bowl. She looked at me like I was the entire world.

"Eat up, Nora," she’d say, watching me with soft eyes. "You need your strength for finals."

I realized then: This was what I had wanted my whole life.