The Future I Refuse To Die In

"No...!" Evelyn Ashford screamed and woke up choking on air. Her body jerked violently, drenched in sweat, as though she had been dragged out of death itself. For a moment, there was nothing but ringing silence in her ears. Then the light hit her. Blinding sunlight poured through the curtains. Evelyn touched her head and saw that she wasn't injured or feeling any pain. She looked at herself and saw she wasn't bleeding. She shot upright, breathing hard. Her hands trembled as she looked around the room. She noticed it was her bedroom. In her father's house. "What..." She tried to speak, but her voice came out broken. Evelyn pressed her fingers into her palm and felt pain. Real pain. Just then, a knock came at the door. "Miss Evelyn, are you awake?" a maid's voice called. Evelyn immediately froze and her heart stopped. That voice... It was real. She thought to herself. The door opened and the maid entered and saw Evelyn awake, sitting on the bed completely drenched in sweat. "Miss Evelyn, why are you sweating so much? Is the AC broken?" the maid asked, alarmed. Evelyn stared at the maid, unblinking. "You can see me?" The maid blinked, confused. "Of course I can see you, miss." Evelyn's throat tightened and her heartbeat turned uneven. "Can you... see me?" "Yes?" the maid answered slowly, unsure of what was going on with Evelyn. Silence dropped between them. Evelyn's fingers curled tighter into the bedsheet. How? How was this real? She remembered it so clearly. She remembered hands pushing her. The stairs beneath her feet vanishing. Her body falling. Her stepmother's face. Celeste's voice. The impact of the fall and her death. Her stomach twisted violently. "Your dad requests your presence in the living room, Miss Evelyn," the maid said. Evelyn didn't respond immediately. Her mind was still stuck between two worlds. "Miss Evelyn?" the maid tried again. "Yes, what did you say?" Evelyn said quickly, almost too fast. The maid looked at her confused expression, clearly unsure of what was going on. She had never seen Evelyn like this before. "Your father requests your presence in the living room." "My father?" Evelyn asked slowly. She still wasn't sure if this was reality or the afterlife. "What about my mother?" The maid looked at Evelyn, feeling very confused. Evelyn's mother had been dead for a long time, so why was she suddenly asking about her now? Evelyn continued looking at the maid waiting for an answer. "Miss..." the maid hesitated. "Your mother is..." She couldn't complete the statement. "My mother is what?" Evelyn asked, agitation written all over her face. If her mother was here, that would mean she was in the afterlife and really dead. But if she wasn't, then that would mean she was alive. "Dead," the maid said, looking down, as this was not a comfortable thing to say. The word dead hit Evelyn like a tornado. She already knew the answer, but saying it out loud gave her the confirmation she needed. If her mother was truly dead, that would mean she was alive. And since she was alive, how did she end up in her old room? The maid looked at Evelyn's face, searching for grief because of the reminder of her mother's death, but all she saw was confusion. "Miss, are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine," Evelyn nodded. "I'll be down in a minute." The maid bowed gently and walked out of the bedroom. Evelyn finally stood up. She stumbled off the bed and went straight to the mirror, barefoot without even noticing. Her reflection stared back at her. She had the same face. Same eyes. But something was completely wrong. She raised her sleeve and noticed the scar on her hand from when Celeste grabbed her before pushing her down the stairs. Her eyes widened in shock. "So it wasn't a dream... but how is this possible?" She checked her neck and noticed another faint scar from when her stepmother grabbed her, trying to choke her. The mark was still there and fresh, as though it had just happened the night before. She could almost feel it again-the tightness and suffocating feeling she felt before she was pushed down mercilessly. Her chest instantly tightened. "No... this can't be... I should be dead." Her voice dropped. Then her gaze snapped to the phone on her nightstand. She grabbed it instantly and checked the date. When she saw what the date was, her eyes widened and her fingers froze. It was two years earlier. Her vision blurred immediately. Tears had started to form in her eyes. She stepped back slowly. Two years. She had gone back two years. Her legs instantly felt weak. She almost fell but quickly supported herself with the table. She was still in this house, not married to Damien yet. Nothing made sense. Evelyn stood frozen in shock when she heard another knock on the door. But this time, the knock was harder. Before she could fully process it, the door opened, and Celeste walked in. Evelyn's entire body stiffened. For a second, she forgot how to breathe. Celeste leaned casually against the doorframe, arms crossed. "Do you want to be escorted downstairs? Dad asked you to come down minutes ago, and you're still here, not even dressed." Her tone was sharp and impatient. It felt really familiar. But something was... off. Evelyn stared at her. Celeste looked the same. She had the same face and arrogance. But the hatred was missing. That sharp, poisoned hatred Evelyn remembered from her death... wasn't there. Instead, it was just annoyance. Like she was an inconvenience. Celeste snapped her fingers in front of Evelyn's face. "Hello? Are you deaf now?" Evelyn blinked hard and forced herself back. "Let me quickly change. I'll come downstairs shortly." Celeste rolled her eyes, then turned and left. The door shut behind her. Evelyn quickly went to the bathroom and freshened up. She put on trousers and a black blouse, then headed downstairs. As she approached the living room, she saw her father sitting on the sofa with her stepmother beside him. Celeste was seated across from them. The arrangement hit her like a memory slam. They were in the same position as she remembered, and the same silence filled the room. She felt the same feeling of being an outsider in her own home. Just looking at them right now made her jaw tightened. Before her death, she had called these place home. Now it felt like a trap she had walked into willingly. She went over and sat across from them. Her father smiled when he saw her. "Evelyn, dear. How are you?" When she heard her father speak her stomach turned immediately. That tone. That exact tone. It didn't belong to him. Her father had never spoken to her like that. Not unless he wanted something. Especially not when it came to- Her inheritance left to her by her mother. Her fingers curled slightly. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Her father leaned forward slightly. "I called you here to talk about your marriage." Evelyn's breath stopped. Her jaw tightened so hard it hurt. "I've picked the best husband for you." A file slid across the table slowly. Her heart raced faster than usual. She felt like she had heard these exact words in this exact tone before. Evelyn stared at the file for a second too long. Her hands felt cold as she opened it. Her eyes scanned the page and then stopped. Everything in her body went completely still as she saw the name written boldly in the file. Damien Blackwood. Her grip tightened on the paper, and her breath slowed. No. No, no, no. This wasn't possible. Her mind started racing. This was the same. Everything was the same. The timing. The house. The positions. The tone. The marriage proposal. Even him. Damien Blackwood. The man who had been her husband. The man who had never looked at her like she mattered. The man who had ignored her for two years- Until her death. Her fingers trembled slightly on the page as realization hit her hard. This wasn't a coincidence. This was repetition. The thought of it made her stomach dropped deeper. Everything was happening exactly as before. Evelyn forced her breath to steady, and she promised herself that she was not going to be a fool twice. She was not going to repeat the same mistakes in this second chance at life that she had been given.