Thunder rumbled ominously overhead as rain poured down, drenching Tiffany Kelley. She collapsed onto the muddy ground, her body battered and covered in blood. A woman loomed over her, pressing a foot against Tiffany's back with a triumphant smirk. "Tiffany Kelley, always too proud to back down," she sneered. "Fine, I'll break every bone!" Signaling the two men behind her, she continued, "Throw her in! I want to see how a dead woman can still oppose me!"
Despite the relentless torture and her weakened state, Tiffany stubbornly lifted her head, her eyes blazing with defiance. Though covered in blood and grime, her eyes burned with fierce intensity—vibrant and alive with anger and hatred. The sheer force of her glare sent a shiver down the woman's spine. The woman hesitated, startled, but quickly recovered.
"Yes, ma'am," the men responded in unison, swiftly kicking Tiffany into the nearby swamp as if she were a discarded sack.
Tiffany felt the cold grip of doom tightening. Unwilling to surrender, she cursed herself for her predicament. As consciousness slipped away, memories flooded her mind.
Tiffany, the cherished daughter of the esteemed Kelley family, had seen her life unravel after trusting the wrong person. Engaged to her fiancé for five years, she'd taken the blame for a crime she didn't commit out of blind loyalty. This fateful decision severed her ties with her family, triggering a cascade of tragedies: her father's death from grief, her mother's suicide, and her brother's poisoning, leaving him mute and mentally impaired. Instead of the love and recognition she'd sacrificed everything for, she received only cold disdain from her fiancé: "Do you think you deserve it?"
The words cut deep, a cruel mockery of her sacrifices. "Deserve it? What a twisted joke," Tiffany thought.
As the suffocating mud closed in, she felt no fear, only a bitter laugh—a final act of defiance. But the woman wasn't done. With a triumphant smirk, she delivered one last, merciless blow.
"Oh, Tiffany," the woman sneered, her voice dripping with malice. "It was I who pulled the plug on your father's oxygen supply. I burned your house to the ground. I poisoned your brother. And that fiancé you loved so much? We've been together for years. You can only blame yourself for being so naive, making it so easy for me to take everything your family had."
Tiffany's body trembled violently, sinking deeper into the swamp. Her eyes, wide with fury, blazed with unquenchable rage. A guttural roar tore from her throat: "Sandra Olson, you'll die a miserable death!" But her words were swallowed by the swamp, becoming garbled gibberish as mud and water filled her mouth and nose. Suffocation overwhelmed her, pulling her under until she was completely submerged.
Everything went dark. Yet, the boundless hatred within Tiffany refused to be extinguished. Another clap of thunder echoed ominously. Tiffany felt a scream tear from her throat, then her eyes snapped open. Bright sunlight filtered through the leaves above, casting harsh rays on her face. She found herself sprawled in a field on the outskirts of town, soaked and disheveled.
"Wait, this scene" Tiffany froze as memory rushed back. This was her eighteenth birthday, the day she'd planned to confess her feelings to Kenneth Harper. She vividly remembered Kenneth's cruel rejection of her sincere confession: "Tiffany, give up already. Even if you were the last woman on earth, I would never want to be with you!"
His words had shattered her heart. Devastated, she'd run off, getting lost in the rain, slipping, spraining her ankle, and passing out in this very spot.
'How could I have been so pathetic?' Tiffany thought, self-loathing rising. As she raised her hand, she noticed something strange: her hands were fair and smooth, unmarked by scars.
'Wasn't I dead? Didn't I die in that swamp?' Tiffany's heart raced. Hesitantly, she pinched herself.
"Ouch!" she yelped. 'It's not a dream,' she realized. 'I've gone back in time!'
"Oh my goodness! Thank God!" Tiffany laughed, tears streaming down her face. She reflected on her past folly, understanding the depths of human cruelty and deceit. But now, none of the tragedies had unfolded, giving her a chance to make things right.
"An eye for an eye! I'll make sure those who wronged me pay double!" she muttered.
Her phone buzzed; it was a call from Kenneth. She remembered their childhood friendship, her one-sided affection, his eventual promise to marry her—only if she took the blame for his lover's crime. Desperate for his love, she'd agreed, severing ties with her family. After five years in prison, her reward was his cold dismissal: "Do you think you deserve me?"
Recalling her naivety, Tiffany smiled grimly and answered. Kenneth's cold, irritated voice filled the air.
"Tiffany, can you stop being so willful? Do we really have to come and fetch you? If it weren't for your father, I wouldn't even bother calling you," he said. "And stop dreaming because I will never like you."
The words were exactly as she remembered. Tiffany stroked her chin, replaying her former tearful pleas. A smirk spread across her face. She replied, enunciating each word with icy clarity, "Go to hell!"