I hurried outside, eager to find Minnie. But before I could take more than a few steps, Tiffany stepped in front of me and blocked my way.
Holding her chin high with a smug grin, she jabbed a finger at my face.
"Our whole family hates cats, didn't you know?" she snapped. "You, a woman who married into our family, actually dared to keep one?"
Her voice grew shriller with every word.
"That filthy animal. Yes, I was the one who told Mom to throw it out on purpose. Did you really think this was still before the wedding, when everyone had to coax you and tiptoe around you? Keep dreaming. From now on, you listen to us."
Her words hit me like cold water.
Slowly, I turned toward Carol. On her face, so eerily similar to her daughter's, I found the same contempt and twisted satisfaction.
Only then did the truth finally sink in.
All the kindness she had shown me before the wedding, along with the affection she claimed to have for Minnie, was merely an act. Now that I had married her son and seemed to have no escape, she felt free to stop pretending.
Disgust churned in my stomach.
For a brief moment, I wanted to scream or collapse or do anything to drive these shameless people out of the home my frugal parents had worked themselves to the bone to buy for me, paid in full before the marriage.
Noticing my expression darkened, Adrian hurried outside and eventually returned with Minnie in his arms. Then, right in front of his family, he dropped to his knees before me and started to swear desperately.
"Denise, I know they were unreasonable and hurt your feelings," he pleaded. "But if they go back now, the neighbors and relatives will talk behind their backs for the rest of their lives. It is only seven days. Once the New Year is over, I will make them leave immediately. We will not contact them again. For my sake, could you endure it for a few more days?"
Looking at his pitiful expression, I eventually forced my rage back down.
'Seven days,' I told myself. 'Just endure seven days. When the holiday ends, I'll send these walking disasters out of my life forever.'
I never thought I would not live to see that day.
Soon afterward, the extreme-cold apocalypse arrived. As the Brooks family watched more and more people die outside and society fell into chaos, they all tore off their masks completely, Adrian included.
They confined me in a small storage room and only gave me a few bits of food each day to keep me barely alive. When the food finally ran out, they ate my Minnie.
Then, when I was starving and barely breathing, they pushed me out the door. They told me to buy groceries for them.
I froze to death at the entrance of the residential complex.
Later, when my parents couldn't reach me, they faced harsh weather and numerous obstacles as they traveled to find me, bringing the food they had saved at home. They had no idea that the frozen body at the building's entrance was their daughter, the child they had cherished all their lives.
Shameless Adrian robbed them of their supplies.
Then, he shoved them back out into the snow.
"You two old fools, I'm not afraid to tell you. Your daughter is already dead," he said, laughing. "We pushed her out and let her freeze to death. Does that hurt? But what can you do to us?"
I floated above, forced to watch helplessly as my parents died in despair.
Inside the warm home, celebrations erupted.
"Great! The useless bitch who can't lay eggs and her whole family are dead," Carol crowed. "Now this new apartment and all of their assets belong to my son!"
My soul trembled with fury.
I wanted nothing more than to drag them all to hell with me.
And then, suddenly, I opened my eyes again.
I had been reborn.
I glanced at Adrian, my look icy enough to cut through bone.
In that instant, I briefly wished I could stab him. However, recalling the pain my parents and I experienced in my past life, I understood that killing him swiftly would be too kind.
They wanted to come here for the New Year?
Fine. Let them all come.
This time, not a single one of them would make it out alive.
This time, I would send their entire family down the road together.
I curved my lips into a small, controlled smile as I looked at Adrian.
"Alright. Let Mom and Dad come over."
Then, I added smoothly, "Oh, and bring your sister, Tiffany, too. Otherwise, she might feel lonely spending the New Year all by herself."
