The Phoenix Sisters Rise

The social worker cleared her throat, her voice tight with forced professionalism.

"Jocelyn, Stella, we have some incredible news."

I looked at my sister, Stella, and a cold dread crept up my spine.

This was the beginning of the end; I had lived this moment before.

In my last life, this was the day our biological families found us, only to tear us apart and send us to separate hells.

I remembered the Clarks, my so-called family who let my "sister" Nicole frame me, break my leg, and destroy my track career, then threw me away into a life of abuse.

Stella remembered the Lawrences; her jealous cousin Debra drugged her, stole her recipes, and had her locked away to rot in a mental institution.

We both died, in our own ways.

And now we were back, high school seniors, with the full, horrific memories of that future burned into our souls.

"Your biological families have been located," the social worker chirped, her smile not reaching her eyes.

"They' re waiting downstairs to take you home."

My stomach churned, but Stella' s hand found mine under the table, her grip an iron promise.

This time, no one was separating us.

This time, we would fight back.