Chapter 2
“Miss, you need to wake up. You have school today and you don't want to be late again.” A groggy voice sounded inside Alice's head.
“School?” She thought. She didn't know she had to go to college in the afterlife. Was this hell?
“Your father is waiting downstairs to eat breakfast with you. The kitchen made your favorite today.” Her eyes peeled open in surprise.
Waffles in the afterlife? Her father? She was confused.
“What was going on?” She thought. She looked around her surroundings noticing it was her room from five years ago before she was killed by the stupid bitch and the man she thought adored her. Her hands clenched in anger as she remembered her death from her past life.
She looked down at her hands noticing that they were soft and clean,her nails were manicured and there were no calluses on her palms.
“Please hand me a mirror.” She said to the maid by her side. The maid handed her a mirror,looking at her with brewing confusion.
Fiona looked at the mirror with shock, screaming. Almost throwing it off the bed.
“That's how we all react when we see your terrible makeup. Glad you feel the same way.” The maid murmured.
Fiona touched her heavily made up face. Her lashes were thicker than feathers. The blush looked like she was a five year old child learning to mix colors. The foundation was like three shades lighter than her. Her brows were covered under the heavy foundation and her lips were painted a very short shade of green. Her hair was in pigtails with colorful bands all around. She looked heinous. She was disgusted by herself but she was here. Does that mean…
“What date is it?” She abruptly asked the maid.
The maid looked at her in confusion.Had the young Miss finally gone crazy? “It's the year 2021, February 12th 2021.”
She had gone five years back. She had been reborn. She had another chance of living her life and correcting her mistakes.
“Tell my father that I'll check down soon.” Alice said hurrying into the bathroom to shower and get rid of the hideous makeup.
From under her bathroom sink,she retrieved make up wipes and began to wipe the makeup from her face. She wiped until the table was filled with color stained wipes. Her face was finally clean. Her features were even more gorgeous than she remembered.
Her eyes were slanted like a cat's. She had bright sea green irises. Her nose was painted and perfect. Her lips were pink and plump and her hair was the darkest shade of black that reached her waist.
She hurriedly got in the shower as she thought about her old life.
She thought about how Octavia played her,made her think she was the perfect little sister and killed her at the end and how Grant acted like he was in love with her only for him to join forces with her stepsister and they even got married. She thought about her father's suspicious death and how quickly her stepmother was to cut her off funds and chase her out of the house. She would make them all pay dearly for their evil deeds.
She thought about Travis and how he sacrificed his life just to save her. She thought of all the ways she had treated him before. She was blinded by instigation from Octavia and manipulated into thinking things she shouldn't.
She's smarter and knows their next move literally.
She moves to her dresser and begins to apply all her creams, taking time and precision on each body part. She had another life and she was going to live this one with her well-being as number one.
She was applying some lip tint when a knock sounded. She knew who it was. It was Travis.
“Come in.” She said, her voice shaking.
He wheels himself in, his face a mix of surprise and confusion. He immediately covers it up and looks at her with a scowl.
“Good morning,Alice. You-” His words were cut off when she leaped on his body.
He caught her like she doesn't weigh anything.
“I missed you.” She said, burrowing her face into his neck.
“You missed me?” He said with shock.
“Yes, I missed you. I thought I'll never see you again.” She said with tears stained cheeks.
“Well here I am.” He said, still looking at her with a scowl.
“Yes, you are.” She presses a kiss to his cheek.
His body hardened. The arm on her waist going very still.
“What happened to your face?” He asked her.
“I took off all the hideous makeup. Don't I look so beautiful?” She looked at him with shining eyes as if she were seeking compliments from him.
“You do look beautiful. With or without makeup.” He said with utmost sincerity.
She giggled. “I have to go for breakfast with Dad. Would you like to come with me?”
Travis was confused and shocked. Was this another one of her plots to get him to lower his guard?
He remembered that she left school the day before only to spend time with that other boy. His smile was gone and it was replaced by a frown.
“Are you doing this for me to trust you again? So you'll go out with that silly boy.”
“What silly boy?” She blinked her eyes in faux confusion. The only person I want to go out with is you silly.” She laughed.
He was not amused and looked at her with slitted eyes.
“I know it's hard to believe but I am in love with you. Absolutely in love with you.” She laid a peck on
his cheeks.
He froze,looking at her skeptically.
“Infact, let's get married.”
"Don't you dare hit my wife," Travis said, his voice low and sharp as a blade. "Or you'll find yourself behind bars with the rest of them. I won't hesitate." Alice's father froze mid-motion, his hand trembling in the air. The fury in Travis's eyes wasn't just anger—it was a warning. "You would have me arrested?" he asked, as if the idea was inconceivable. "In a heartbeat," Travis replied, stepping forward until they were nearly nose to nose. "You think I care who you are? No man lays a hand on Alice. Not in my presence. Not ever." The tension in the room became thick, suffocating. Alice stood behind her husband, her breath caught in her throat, her mind spinning. The image of her father about to strike her—it had nearly happened. Again. And this time, someone had stopped him. Her father looked between them, something ugly passing through his eyes. "You've changed," he said bitterly. "You've become insolent. D
It all seemed like a crazy fever dream. There was a girl, claiming to be her sister in her house who also said that her mother was alive and for some reason, she believed her?"So you're telling me she isn't dead and the woman I have mourned for years isn't my mother? The grave I go to every three years isn't hers?""Yes. Isn't that wonderful? I'm alive and she's alive. Yay," she said, throwing her hands up in the air and putting them down awkwardly as she noticed no one shared the same sentiment."Why are you here? Why didn't she come for me? Why?" Alice asked all at once, her mind a whirlwind of confusion."Relax. I'm here to answer whatever you may need. It was too dangerous for her to not be dead, and you were in a safer position to be here than to be with her. She didn't have the means to take care of a baby, let alone a child and a toddler. She did what she had to do. She's not at fault in all this. Please don't get angry at her. Please, for
Years ago..."You can't do this to yourself. You told me you were done with him. You said you weren't seeing him anymore," Caroline said, her voice echoing."You cannot tell me what to do!" Victoria shouted."I can tell you what to do if I see some things you're doing don't just make any sense. He's not good for you, and you know it. Dan is dangerous company.""Since when do you know what's good for me? For years and years, I've lived in your shadow. Why can't you be more like Caroline? Why are you like this when Caroline is like that? Sweet, little, perfect Caroline!" she spat, her voice laced with anger."You know I don't think like that. We shouldn't care what people say. They're always going to talk—again and again.""You don't get it, do you? You stole my life! You stole what was supposed to be mine!""What the hell are you talking about?" Caroline asked, confused."You stole him away from me. You stole And
"Octavia, she left the hospital today—and she's not paralyzed. She's still okay.""What? That's not supposed to happen. He assured you that she would be either dead or paralyzed, and now you're telling me that she's not even brain dead?""She didn't look like it. She's perfectly okay."Octavia screamed. "Is there anything he can do perfectly? He can't even get rid of tabloids properly—and now this? He messed up! Each and Everytime, you ask him to do something,he doesn't do it properly. He always leaves gaps.""He always messes everything up," She said, picking up items from the showroom."I think Travis is onto us," Victoria added, her voice laced with worry."I understand that he's crazy rich, but there's no way he's going to get any real information. We're safe. You have to quit worrying.""Just be careful, Octavia. You may have to go off-grid, just in case anything happens.""I can't go off-grid, Mom! I have
The warehouse was a place where the world went to forget.It sat at the edge of a dead road, choked by weeds and strangled ivy, hemmed in by chain-link fences that had long since given up on keepin g anyone out. Its roof sagged, heavy with rust and time, and the broken sign above the main loading door bore only three legible letters: "C—O—R".Inside, time had slowed to a crawl.Pillars of dust swayed gently through the sun-shafts leaking in from above—sunlight fractured through shattered panes of glass in the ceiling, casting a kaleidoscope of dull gold and rust-red onto the cracked concrete floor. The air was thick with the scent of old grease, cardboard rot, and forgotten sweat. Somewhere high in the iron skeleton of the ceiling, pigeons cooed and shuffled, unsettled.Stacks of crates formed uneven walls throughout the massive space. Some were burst open, their contents half-spilled—tangled wires, rusted gears, frayed documents. Old tarps flappe
"You're back," Alice said softly, a smile breaking through the still-healing tiredness on her face.Travis paused in the doorway, the sound of her voice wrapping around his heart like a warm blanket. "I told you I would be," he said, pushing his wheelchair in slowly, locking eyes with her. "I can't stay away too long. You know I get separation anxiety."She chuckled, her hand reaching out slightly from under the covers. "Is that what this is? You looked more like a man worried someone was stealing his wife's pudding.""Pudding theft is serious business, Alice," Travis deadpanned, but his lips were already curving upward. "And I happen to love my wife's pudding."She rolled her eyes playfully. "God, I missed your ridiculousness."He wheeled closer to the bed and took her hand gently in his. "I missed your everything."A silence settled between them, soft and comfortable. Her fingers curled slowly around his."How was work