Pain.
All Selene felt and heard was pain, a slow agonizing pain and the sickening crunch of flesh being chewed on.
She looked up at the platform and met the eyes of her stepsister who was leaning on her ex-boyfriend with a smug smile.
She recalled what her stepsister had told her before she had been dragged out of that dimly lit room and then placed on the platform before being thrown off. She felt a lot of rage and regret.
Unwilling she closed her eyes, if given a second chance she'd take everything back that belonged to her and have her revenge.
When Selene opened her eyes again, she was in her bed.
Soft sheets, a warm pillow and the scent of fresh air without decay. She bolted upright. Her hands were clean and her body unscarred.
She knew this place.
It was her apartment, the one she lived in before the apocalypse hit.
She wondered if she was in heaven.
Ring.
She glanced at the bedside table, watching the phone ring before it turned into a missed call, she unwittingly looked at the date written on the screen before realization struck her.
She wasn't dead.
She had returned.
And at that back to three months before the apocalypse.
For further confirmation, she stood up and walked towards the desk at the corner of the room, picking up the desk calendar she confirmed she was back to three months before the apocalypse started.
Ring.
The phone on the bedside table rang again breaking Selene out of her reverie. She felt annoyed, who calls as early as six in the morning.
Looking at the caller, it was Lilliana.
Selene felt rage upon seeing that name, she hung up rationally, she felt if she had answered she wouldn't be able to control her rage and would end up revealing thing she wasn't supposed to.
She walked out of her room and towards the living room only to stand at the French window, gazing outside, the sun was yet to be up, and the sky was still gloomy and dark but the only thing she felt was happiness to be back.
Lilliana, I am back, you better brace yourself.
Growl.
Her stomach let out a low grumble, loud enough to make her glance around her glance around her apartment even though she lived alone.
Selene felt embarrassed but still rushed towards the kitchen to fill her stomach, she opened the fridge and saw an uncut cake in there, so she brought it out to eat.
Thirty minutes later and an empty cake plate.
Selene who had eaten her fill decided it was time to plan out what she would be doing now.
Ring.
Her phone rang, thinking it was Lilliana she walked to her room to block the number.
Looking at the screen it was her lawyer; she wondered what it was he wanted so she answered the call.
"Good day Miss Montclair, I'm calling to remind you to drop in today because of the will transfer."
Selene quickly recalled, before she was dragged to the platform, Lilliana mentioned something about her mother's will and now she remembered that before the apocalypse she transferred most of her shares and the items her mother left her to Lilliana.
She wondered if she hit her head before for her to be stupid, even if she despised her mother, it wasn't necessary enough that she had to transfer her only blood related family properties to someone else. It was probably her fault too that she died so miserably in her past life.
"I won't be transferring it anymore, I'll drop by your office today to claim them," She told him.
The lawyer felt secretly happy, thinking the old lady wish was about to be finalized and she could finally rest in peace.
Selene hung up, then freshened up.
While in the shower, she thought about a lot of things.
One of the things she thought about was why Lilliana hated her, because according to her knowledge, she hadn't taken anything belonging to Lilliana. Lilliana's mom married her dad when her mom divorced her dad, the reason for the divorce was unknown to her as when they were together, they sent her away to live by herself with a nanny.
This was why she despised her mom because as soon as she divorced her dad, she quickly came to live with her and then proceeded to bring in men into the house she called her safe space.
She dressed up and then took the elevator down to the parking lot.
She picked her favorite car and then drove out.
When she arrived at the lawyer's office, it was already 9 am.
Walking into the building, she met up with the lawyer signed the papers and then drove to the bank to get the items her mom deposited in the bank.
After getting them she drove back to her home.
Back in her apartment, Selene switched of her phone and then locked her apartment doors and windows.
She carried a blue box with a large M on it, she knew the M stood for Montclair, which was her mother's surname and hers, personally she didn't understand why she bore her mother's surname.
She set the box on the table and sat on the couch, opening the box they were five things in it.
The first was the jade pendant and bracelet set she'd always seen Lilliana wore in her past life which further confirmed her mother's will was something important.
The next thing in it was a sleek black card, then there was a key, and an address attached to it, then a folder as thick as three black cards, the last thing was an envelope.
Selene picked up the envelope, because it was addressed to her and written on it in caps was 'READ FIRST'.
The envelope contained just the few words:
Soak, bracelet in blood, spill blood on Jade pendant.
If she hadn't come back to life she would think her mom was part of some occultic group but she decided to do as the letter says.
She set down paper towels and a bowl, placed the bracelet in a bowl and then placed the jade pendant on the paper towel, she took a tiny knife and sliced her wrist not feeling any pain, then let the blood drip onto the bowl when it almost covered the bracelet she stopped and then spilled some on the jade pendant.