The first stab missed her heart. The second did not.
A jagged piece of glass plunged through her ribs, cutting through her flesh. A blinding pain made her stagger, blood dripped through her fingers.
Selene trembled, "Who are you…?"
The masked man pushed the shard deeper.
A sob caught in her throat. Her lungs burned. Selene tried to move, to fight, but her limbs wouldn't obey. She crumbled, she reached for the door, fingers slipping. She was so close, so close to—
His boot crushed her hand.
Her vision was hazy, black and red, then… nothing.
. . . . . .
Ding!
[You have died]
Selene flinched awake so hard she fell from the bed. The searing pain she was feeling moments ago had vanished. She was in her room again. No stranger was there, no blood either, but now, she was hearing weirdly cheerful voices in her head.
[Welcome, host. Are you ready to play the game?] A golden holographic screen flickered before her eyes.
[Your First Quest: Survive]
Selene could hardly breathe.
'What the hell was happening?'
Her mind raced back to the wedding hall. There was chaos everywhere, someone was murdered, there were gunshots and the security had acted instantly.
It was a gathering of some of the most elites of the city. Only the president could have afforded a stronger security.
But Selene was left behind.
She tripped and fell.
No one bothered to save her.
"You're just the unwanted daughter of Sinclairs, who would care to harm you?"
"Stay there, honey. That's where you belong."
They mocked her one last time before leaving, and Selene believed their words. Almost—until she felt someone grab her hair, felt the glass tear her flesh, and she was left there to die.
"But why would anyone do that?" Selene murmured, rubbing her head. Now, she was back in her old apartment. It was night, and the peeling wallpaper seemed more haunting than it did during the day.
Her house was a mess, half folded clothes were spilling from a fallen cardboard box, all the shelves were now emptier, and taped-up boxes were piled up in a corner. Everything was exactly as it was a day ago.
With a frown, Selene glanced at the cracked digital clock above her bed, and her heart skipped a beat.
14 August, 11:59 PM
"I have returned twelve hours into the past…"
'But when did the clock get cracked?'
Selene let out a heavy confused sigh and got up from the floor.
It was supposed to be her last day in the shabby apartment. Adrian had already bought them a seaside villa to move into after their marriage tomorrow. And just a few hours ago, Selene could not stop thinking about it. She was so happy.
They have been friends since childhood—when she was the heiress of the richest family in Atlantis, and he belonged to a rich family on the verge of bankruptcy. Even when Selene was banished, Adrian stayed by her side.
Over the years, they have had some ups and down.
But they persisted, and finally, their wedding day was almost there.
Tick!
15 August, 12:00 AM
Selene glanced at the cracked clock once again, her fingers moving above her heart. She could still feel the faint shadow of the glass shard.
"Who was that man?" She wondered out loud. She had no enemies, only certain elites that found humour in making fun of her situation. No one could gain anything from taking her life. Then, was it just some crazy murderer?
Selene bit her lips thoughtfully.
'But when did he enter the wedding hall? There was only one door and the gunshots have been on the other side….'
'Was he one of the guests?'
'More importantly, what is this annoying screen?'
Selene frowned as she glared at the golden holographic screen that stayed before her eyes. The first quest gleamed in bold silver letters. Survive.
As if seeing her frown, the screen disappeared.
Selene blinked, then asked quietly, "Are you a system? Like in the Supreme Reader's Viewpoint?"
[Error! System Activation Incomplete! Host Interaction Restricted!]
[Complete the First Quest to unlock access!]
Selene rolled her eyes and slumped on the bed. Her gaze was empty, but there was a bitter anger rising in her heart.
'The Banished Heiress.'
'The Pauper Princess.'
Those insults suddenly returned to her mind, and how they all loved to mock her situation, loved to insult the heiress who was now living like a beggar. To an extent, Selene could understand why they were filled with so much contempt.
She was what any one of them could become if they made wrong enemies.
But how could they hate her so much to leave her to die? Selene did not even get the dignity of a proper death. She was the bride, they pushed her behind so that they could leave the room faster. She fell and no one helped her.
And some lunatic stabbed her in the middle of her own wedding! No one bothered to save her, not her so-called friends, not even Adrian.
Not even her own father.
A drip of peeling plaster dropped from the ceiling and landed right on top of her nose.
"Oh, come on," Selene grumbled and buried her face in the pillow.
She was not poor because she loved being poor. It was a dangerous and frustrating experience. No. Selene was poor because her father had placed a condition on her sixteenth birthday.
"I do not want you to be like a rich spoiled brat, Selene. I want you to understand hardship, to start from the bottom, to taste how poverty feels, and learn the real world before you take your rightful position as my heir."
"Do this for few years. That's all I ask."
"Once you are twenty, you shall have everything!"
Selene believed her father without a doubt.
She bowed her head, bit her tongue, ignored all the mockery and humiliation she faced as she scrubbed floors and served burgers at McDuckers. She pretended to not be hurt when they called her a disgrace.
Selene took every insult, every humiliation, and tucked it somewhere deep.
All because she believed.
And what did it get her? A wedding where she was abandoned. Betrayed. Murdered.
"I hope you all choke on expired caviar and die," Selene mumbled in a tired voice, cursing everyone who had made her life hell these past few years.
She got up from the bed and grabbed the satin wedding dress.
"I hope your hairline recedes aggressively, Adrian. Damn you!" Without hesitation, she shoved the dress in the trash can.
Selene yanked her clothes from the shelves, grabbed her passport and IDs, a single gold earring, crumpled dollar bills, and shoved them all into a duffle bag like she was on the run from law.
"No more of this Sinclair nonsense," she vowed under her breath, her voice shaking from hurt and anger, "I should have left when mom died! But nooo, I stayed because of that idiot Adrian! Because daddy wanted me to go on some messed up redemption quest, because my stupid ass thought maybe—just, maybe—I mattered."
Selene zipped the duffle bag shut.
"I don't…" she whispered as she hung the bag on her shoulders and grabbed the small box of her three sleeping kittens.
"But guess what? I don't care!"
Selene blocked everyone's number from her phone.
The wedding was tomorrow . They can panic, be confused, make a thousand theories about her absence but Selene would give them nothing.
Selene stood in the doorway of her apartment one last time. Her breath fogged the air. She could smell someone frying onions three floors down. The building was colder that night, as if silently urging her to return to her broken heater and take a nap first.
But Selene had made up her mind.
She hailed the first cab she got and handed him all the crumpled bills she had, a total of eighty dollars.
"That's all I've got," Selene said, "Don't ask questions, don't take detours, don't flirt, don't die. Just drive."
The driver nodded with an uncaring shrug. Selene paused for a second. He was tall. Really tall. Dressed in black. Wearing a hat. Masked.
A strange chill crept into her spine.
Selene's fingers tightened around her kittens' box
For a second—just a second—he almost looked like him.
Selene forced herself to look away and entered the cab. Her heart was unsteady, but the cab driver was an old man. He was not the murderer. That stranger was much different. Younger. Insanely strong.
"Get it together," Selene whispered to herself.
'It will be alright. There's no way he was actually targeting me, I was simply caught in the cross-fire. More people were hurt. It could not have been a planned murder….'
The cab pulled away from the curb. Streetlights passed in flickers. Selene silently stared out the window, and there was only one thought in her mind.
'If I don't go to my wedding… I survive. Right?'
Right?