The alley looked exactly the same.
In my past life, this was the very spot where they'd cornered me tonight.
Footsteps closed in from every direction.
Three of them, their bleached-blonde hair jarring under the dim streetlight.
Leading the pack was the same heavyset blonde chewing gum. She spat it out and grabbed a fistful of my collar.
"Sis, make it easy on yourself. It's just an experiment."
Another one, tall and thin, circled behind me and cut off any way out.
I didn't struggle.
"Let's go." My voice came out strangely calm.
The heavyset blonde blinked, then sneered. "Well, aren't you cooperative."
They marched me back to the Simmons house.
The living room blazed with light.
My parents stood by the sofa. When they saw me hauled in by three blondes, something flickered across their faces for an instant.
"Janice, this... there really isn't any danger, is there?"
The door to the master bedroom stood wide open. Janice was already at the surgical table, arranging the instruments on the tray.
"Mom." Janice didn't even look up, still sterilizing her tools.
"It's a legitimate scientific experiment. What danger could there be? Besides, I'll run a trial on my sister first. Once I've got the technique down, I'll do the three of them. Higher success rate that way."
My father frowned and glanced at me.
His gaze settled on me, his lips moving.
I thought he was worried about my life.
But the words that came next killed off every last feeling I had for this family.
"Don't ruin her body. When she gets married, we've still got a dowry to collect."
My mother nodded at once.
"Right, right, Janice, be careful. She's plain, sure, but an intact body is still worth something."
I stood in the middle of the living room, hands bound with rope, listening to my own parents debate the market price of my body in the marriage game.
I wanted to laugh.
But I couldn't.
"What are you all standing around for?" Janice snapped, out of patience. "Get her onto the table."
The bedroom door swung shut, and I was strapped down to that cold surgical table.
The overhead surgical lamp clicked on, so bright I squinted.
Janice pulled on a mask, leaving only a pair of narrow, upturned eyes exactly like mine.
There wasn't a trace of hesitation or unease in them.
Only eager, twitching excitement.
Janice lifted the scalpel from the tray and studied it under the lamp.
I stared at that blade, my palms starting to sweat.
I'd braced myself for all of it, but lying there for real, feeling the restraints press into me, I still couldn't stop shaking.
It was the body's own instinct.
Janice noticed me trembling, and above the mask her eyes crinkled.
"Don't be scared, sis." Her voice was light and soft, the way you'd soothe a child. "I don't have a license, but I've dissected a dozen rabbits. My hands are very steady."
"And besides, sis, a middle-school dropout like you, getting to contribute to academic research? You should feel honored."
With that, the blade started toward my lower belly, and I clenched my back teeth hard.
The instant the edge broke my skin, I stopped her. "Janice."
I looked into her startled eyes and said it one word at a time.
"You bring that knife down, and your life is the one that's finished."
