Chapter 2This Time, I'll Just Watch

“I put in some Sichuan peppercorns.”

At the dinner table, my face was a mask of calm, but beneath it, my hands trembled uncontrollably. A month had passed in my mind, but the memory of my death was still branded onto my soul.

In my last life, it happened right here, at this very table.

As my parents celebrated my sister Joy’s birthday, I was the first to notice something wrong with the fondue.

A strange, numbing sensation on my tongue.

I prepared all the meals in our house. I knew for a fact I hadn’t put anything in the pot that would cause that. I realized instantly: the electric fondue pot was leaking current.

I killed the power and yanked the plug from the wall. When I saw the frayed, exposed copper wire, a wave of relief washed over me. I’d found the danger, we were safe.

I had no idea the real danger was just beginning.

My sister, Joy, lowered the champagne flute she’d been raising for a toast, her eyes instantly turning red.

“April, are you just jealous that I got a birthday present?” she whimpered. “I know Mom forgot yours yesterday, but she was just so busy. If you like my teddy bear so much, you can have it. Then you won’t be angry anymore, okay?”

She clutched the stuffed bear tighter, with no intention of giving it to me. But our parents couldn’t stand to see her upset. Especially not when I was the cause.

A hand cracked across my face, sending me sprawling to the floor. My head struck the corner of the table, and my vision exploded with stars.

“So that’s it! That’s why you’re throwing a fit!” my mother shrieked. “Who the hell do you think you are, wanting your sister’s things?”

“I didn’t…”

I tried to explain, but Joy cut me off. She clutched her heart, then threw the teddy bear at my face, smothering my words.

“Mom, if she wants it, just give it to her,” she gasped, tugging at the collar of her dress. “I just… I don’t feel so well. It’s okay.”

That was all it took. My father, his face flushed from cheap whiskey, lurched to his feet.