Ella woke up startled, her heart pounding in her chest, as she gasped for air, her surroundings unfamiliar and yet painfully familiar at the same time.
Her hands trembled as she pushed herself to sit up, she looked around the room, the soft glow of dawn filtering through the flowery patterned curtains, and her silk sheets which she hadn't touch for years. This was her room, her room before everything.
'What is going on? I had died right?' Ella remembered closing her eyes as she embraced the darkness that promised her some rest. "Why am I here now?" Ella whispered to herself confused. 'Was it all a nightmare?' She wondered for a minute before dismissing it. Even a nightmare couldn't be that horrorful right?
Once again she glanced around at what was a snapshot from a life she thought was only now a memory. The lavender-colored walls, the desk at the window side, even the faint scent of jasmine from the incense stick that she must have burnt last night.
With trembling hands, she reached for the calendar on her bedside table. June 1st, 2018. Her breath hitched. This is six years from her last memory.
'I have been reborn! The thought struck her. Once again, with shaky hands, she reached for her phone, 'Is this a sickening prank?' She wondered as she checked for the date, still unconvinced. She searched the web for the date, before finally believing she had indeed been reborn.
She covered her mouth both in shock, and disbelief. She looked up, mouthing a thank you to whoever was up there and had orchestrated her return to the world. 'I would make use of this opportunity well, I promise.' She silently vowed in her heart.
She has been reborn to a month before her twentieth birthday, the day when she had smiled the brightest, only to end the day in tears and abandoned. But not this time.
Ella closed her eyes, memories of her past life flooding back. The betrayal, the humiliation, the loneliness.
Her stepsister, Emily, had played her part so perfectly that the world believed her to be an angel. In contrast, Ella had been painted as the jealous, reckless daughter. The stain on the family's name.
"Not this time," she whispered, her voice firm despite the tears threatening to spill. This time, she wouldn't let them win.
The soft knock on her door pulled her out of her thoughts, and Ella hastily laid back down. If she remembered correctly, a maid would come in now to plant her stepmother's diamond necklace in her room. In her past life, she had woken up and caught a maid in her room, but she had foolishly believed the maid when she claimed she had come in to wake her up for breakfast.
Her naivety had caused her to be schemed upon over and over again, she can still remember how her father had slapped her when she cried and said she hadn't stolen the jewelry.
"I know you hate me, and think I replaced your mother but this isn't right darling. If you wanted the necklace, I would have given it to you, it was my fault for telling your father I liked it." Her dear stepmother had cried causing her father to glare at her with so much disappointment. Ella didn't even know then that the jewelry was her mother's. How could she have known, she was less than a month old when her mother had died. But her father didn't even think of that but instead he saw her as the villain.
With the duvet covering most of Ella's face, she watched the maid who carefully hid the jewelry in her bag pocket. That was exactly where it had been hidden in her past life too, except this time, she didn't wake up. Ella watched her leave before quickly rushing over to her wardrobe and picked up the jewelry.
They cannot find it there when their show begins.
After carefully hiding it between her breasts, Ella went back to lie in bed as she planned her next action. Considering the time, she was certain she would soon be called down for breakfast.
From her memories, Ella remembered her father had an early morning call meeting, so he was in his office downstairs; her stepmother and stepsister, having planned to make her into a thief, had also been downstairs watching a show while breakfast had been prepared. When Ella had cried that she didn't steal it, her father had reminded her that both his wife and daughter had been downstairs all morning, and only she was upstairs.
Just as she had guessed, a maid soon came to call her down for breakfast.
Yawning, "I will be down shortly, I need to wash my face first." The maid nodded and left.
Ella tiptoed to her door, and after ascertaining that there was no one there, she quietly and carefully opened her bedroom door; tiptoeing, she went to her stepsister's room, where she had thrown the jewelry in her floor rug. 'Mom, I promise I will get back everything that belongs to you.' She vowed as she carefully closed the door.
Taking in a deep breath, "It is time to meet them." She whispered silently to herself as she went downstairs.
There, seated at the table, was the perfect family of three, the family she had tried so hard in her previous life to fit into. This time, she would not repeat those mistakes. She would not plead with her father for his approval, nor would she waste her tears on a fiancé who had eyes only for another. And most importantly, she would not let her stepsister, Emily, bask in the glow of undeserved adoration while tarnishing her own reputation. Nor would she allow her stepmother to continuously torture her mentally while portraying the character of a virtuous woman. She played it so well that people soon forgot she was a home wrecker who had moved into this home barely three weeks after her mother's death, a home wrecker who had given birth to a daughter for a married man! 'I will be sure to remind everyone stepmother.'
"What are you standing there staring at?! Do you expect us to keep on waiting for you?!" Her father's disapproving voice broke her train of thought. Hearing his voice made her heart quiver. As much as she hates to admit it, she had missed hearing his voice...missed him.
"Sorry. Good morning." Ella said quietly as she took her seat next to her stepsister Emily.
As they ate, her stepmother's saccharine tone and her father's throaty response filled her ear. She could feel Emily's excitement all morning.
Soon a maid rushed into the room frantically, "Elizabeth, what are you doing?" Clara, Ella's stepmother's voice scolded. Ella suppressed a smile,
'Clara should have gone into acting like her daughter had. What a waste of talent.'
The maid Elizabeth, who had snuck into her room earlier that day, panted, "Ma'am, I went to your room to lay out your dress for tonight's event, but I couldn't find the diamond necklace you said you would be using." Elizabeth said it all in one breath
'3...2...1...' Ella counted in her head, and as though on cue, Emily gasped, "What do you mean you can't find it?"
"Exactly, what are you saying? Do you know how precious that necklace is? We have to find it..." Clara's sickening voice had Ella, who was still looking at her food, rolling her eyes. But she knew Clara was far from being done, "Honey, I am sorry. We will find it, I won't lose such a sentimental necklace." Clara said as she turned to Eric who hadn't paid attention to them. He had thought there was no need to make a fuss, and that Clara could just use something else, but hearing her word.
"What necklace is it?" Clara bit her lips guiltily as she heard her husband's question, her gaze falling on Ella.
"I really will find it. I am sorry." Eric's gaze hardened. It must be Flora's.