LAIZA'S P.O.V
The questions raced through my mind as I lay on the road, teetering on the edge of death. Why? Why had my family cheered for my demise with such joy? Why had they never lived me as their own? Why had they never stood by me when I needed them most? Why did they treat me like curse, like a plague? And if they had no intentions of caring for me, why did they bring me into this world at all? Just why? Why? Why?
I heard someone shout to call an ambulance, I could feel the warmth of my blood drain from my body, my life slipping away. Someone crouched beside me, their voice distant, telling me it would be okay, that help was on its way. But I wasn't worried. No, I was scared. Deep down, I was still the terrified eight-year-old girl who cowered at the sound of thunder. The same girl who ran from her own shadow, who called for her mother at every slight discomfort.
But no one had ever come for that little girl, not her parents, not her brothers, not her twin sister, not even her nannies. No one, not even her destined mate. Instead, they judged her, they condemned her for being alive, for trying to be happy, as if she didn't deserve joy, as if happiness wasn't her right. And now, in this moment, as life slipped away from me, I found it almost…funny.
I had spent my whole life desperate for their approval, for their love, for them to treat me as an equal. I had wanted to be their friend, their sister, their daughter, their lover. But now, as the coldness of death crept in, it all seemed so trivial, so absurd,
"I wish I had never loved you, I wished I had never met you; I wish the goddess had destined me for a poor baker's boy, rather than the one who killed my soul."
"I wish I had never been born into your hypocritical family, I wish you had given me up for adoption, instead of making me endure years of pain and anguish."
And if there was another life-if-I will never allow myself to be born into your family again. If fate dares to cross my path with yours, I promise I will make you weep as you made me weep, I will trample everything you hold most dear and destroy you in the worst way imaginable.
But I didn't want to die, why should I die? After all the pain they inflicted on me, why should I be the one to leave the world while they get to live happily? Why should they triumph over my lifeless body? Why should they triumph over my lifeless body? It wasn't fair. None of it was fair. I screamed inwardly as the darkness began to close in.
"If there's a second life," I whispered into the void, "I will make them pay. No matter the cost,"
Then, amidst the suffocating darkness, I saw it-a warm, bright light. From within it came a soft calming voice that called out to me,
"My dear child, this is not the end of your journey. But you must be brave, tribulations are coming. You will be betrayed, evil will seek to break you, but you must not falter, be strong, you will find the one who is honest and true, the one destined for you, but to reach that point, you will question the very meaning of your life, wonder if all your struggles were in vain. But fear not my child, for you are strong, you are victorious, you are an indomitable soul among the living."
With those words, I opened my eye and there I was-back in my room. I touched my face, disoriented, pinching myself hard to make sure I wasn't dreaming. The door burst open, and my family walked in, their faces twisted with disdain. My heartless mother strode up to me and slapped me across the face and that was when I knew.
I had been REBORN.