Since I was a little girl, I harbored a deep, secret crush on my best friend’s twin brother. I kept that admiration buried deep in my heart. In my previous life, on the first night of the fall semester, Nolan—our class president—decided to set off fireworks on the roof of our dorm building to celebrate his girlfriend Aria’s birthday. Terrified that the Resident Advisor (RA) would catch them, he actually took a padlock and locked the main double doors of the dorm before heading back up to haul the rest of the fireworks. No one could have predicted what happened next. The intense summer heat caused the stockpiled fireworks on the roof to spontaneously ignite and detonate. Because the doors were locked, my best friend was trampled and coughed up blood while trying to shield me from the panicked crowd. Other classmates, unable to bear the agony of being burned alive, threw themselves from the windows to their deaths. I frantically called everyone I could think of to come open the doors. Hearing the news, Nolan abandoned Aria and rushed back to campus, which barely helped minimize further casualties. Afterward, he dropped to his knees in front of everyone, begging for forgiveness. "It’s all my fault. I killed our classmates. I deserve to die." But the very next day, he received news that Aria, drunk and distraught over being abandoned, had stumbled into a lake and drowned. Nolan was expelled from the university and faced the cold, hard bars of a prison cell. On the day his trial began, I went to the courthouse to support him. Instead, he pulled a knife and stabbed me repeatedly. As I lay in a pool of my own blood, his eyes were filled with pure, unhinged madness. "It’s because you forced me to come back that Aria died! I’m sending you to hell to keep her company!" When I opened my eyes again, an earth-shattering explosion ripped through the air. I had been reborn. Back to the exact day the fireworks blew up the dorm. 01 My roommates were screaming in sheer terror, their cries echoing over one another. Realizing I had respawned, I immediately grabbed my violently trembling best friend, Nora, and dragged her into the en-suite bathroom. I yelled at the other girls to get in here and soak their clothes in water. Nora was crying, looking at me in utter confusion. "Harper, the whole building is going to collapse! We need to run downstairs! What are we doing in the bathroom?!" The other roommates who had crowded into the bathroom stared at me too. "Yeah, Harper! If we just run out of the building, we'll be fine. Why are we wetting our clothes?" Looking at their panicked eyes, a surge of complex emotions overwhelmed me. They didn't know yet. To set off fireworks for Aria, Nolan had chained and locked both the front and back exits on the ground floor. If we went down there now, not only would we be trapped, but we would also be caught in a deadly, horrific stampede. "Nora, your brother locked the front and back doors of the dorm. We can't get out right now." The other girls' eyes widened to the size of saucers. They couldn't fathom how Nolan, the responsible Class President, could do something so insane. The keys to the women’s dorm were kept by the RA. How did he get them, and why would he lock the doors? The fire was spreading faster than I had anticipated. In the blink of an eye, the flames licked toward our room, and the window curtains instantly caught fire. "Then what do we do?! We can't just sit here and wait to die!" "Sob... I just got into college. I don't want to die!" My heart sank. I ran out of the bathroom and started shoving the heavy twin beds together with all my might, trying to create a barricade. Seeing my deadly serious expression, Nora couldn't help but trust me. "My phone is dead! Quick, call my brother and tell him to come back and unlock the doors!" With that, Nora and the other girls grabbed buckets of water and started throwing them at the burning curtains. Absolute terror was written across everyone's face. This time, I didn't bother contacting Nolan. I dialed 911 immediately. I gave the dispatcher the exact address and the dire situation of the dorm, begging them to send the fire department instantly. In my previous life, Nolan had hung up on my desperate calls multiple times, completely wasting our window of survival. It wasn't until he was casually driving back from his romantic dinner that he realized the entire dorm building had been blasted into a partial collapse by the fireworks. Half the residents were dead or injured, and countless students had jumped to escape the flames. Nora had been trampled so severely that, after emergency surgery, she was left in a permanent vegetative state. Holding his severely injured sister, he had screamed and cursed himself for being a monster. The dorm building gave a violent shudder. Outside the window, a classmate, completely engulfed in flames, plummeted past our floor. My roommates turned pale as sheets. A few of them pulled out their phones, weeping as they started recording their final goodbyes to their families. Nora hurriedly grabbed a roommate's phone and dialed Nolan. After a long, agonizing ring, Nolan answered with a lazy, nasal tone. "Hello?" Nora’s voice was shaking, tears streaming down her face. "Nolan! The fireworks exploded in the dorm! You have to bring the keys back and open the doors right now!" "People are dying and getting hurt! I am not joking!" On the other end of the line, Nolan merely frowned, completely dismissing her. "Nora, I know you don't like Aria. You're just throwing a tantrum because I didn't help you move your luggage into your dorm today." Nora's ex-boyfriend was the Student Body President, but Aria had effortlessly stolen him away. Unable to accept the emotional betrayal, Nora had ended the relationship in a highly public, messy breakup. Because of that, Nolan assumed she was deliberately targeting Aria out of spite. "I need to celebrate Aria's birthday right now. I made her mad a few days ago, and I need to make it up to her. I don't have time to coddle you." "Did Harper tell you to make this call? Tell her I've known about her little crush on me for years, but my heart only belongs to Aria! The fireworks might get me a warning at worst. Tell her to stop trying to intervene. She’s just the Vice President; she needs to mind her own business." Nora was shocked and frantic, burning with anxiety. "No, Nolan! The building is literally collapsing! If you don't come back, the entire dorm—including me—is going to burn to the ground!" Nolan let out a cold scoff. "You're just my sister. Aria is my future wife." "So, can you grow up and act your age for once?" With that, he hung up. Nora dialed again. It went straight to voicemail. She was hyperventilating, her face covered in tears. Part of it was fear for everyone's safety, but the other part was profound heartbreak over her brother's horrific priorities. Listening to his words, I secretly clenched my fists. The overlapping trajectories of two lifetimes had finally allowed me to see Nolan's true colors. He was never worth my love. 02 The power to the dorm's AC was cut. The temperature in the room skyrocketed until everyone's skin was flushed red and sweating profusely. The building gave a sudden lurch. Everyone screamed, grabbing onto the heavy, shifting bed frames. I pulled Nora under the bed and screamed at the others. "Everyone, get under the beds!" The roommates scrambled underneath, their bodies shaking violently. But hiding underneath wasn't a long-term solution. We were on the fourth floor. If the building collapsed, we were dead anyway. "Right now! Take your clothes and the bedsheets and tie them all into knots! We're going to rappel down! It might be our only chance!" I ripped the bedsheets off. Nora found a pair of scissors, cut them into strips, and we frantically began tying everything together into a makeshift rope. But a new problem emerged. There was absolutely nothing sturdy enough in the room to anchor the sheets to. That meant two people had to stay behind to act as the human counterweight so the others could climb down. Which meant... at least one person wouldn't be able to escape. I took a deep breath, looking at Nora, who had just realized the same grim truth. In my past life, Nora protected me. In this life, I would sacrifice myself to save her. She was my childhood best friend, the most precious person in my life. "Once everyone else is down, I'll hold the rope, and you climb down." Nora shook her head vehemently. "Harper, if we leave, we leave together. If we stay, we stay together. I am not leaving you behind!" I grabbed her shoulders, shaking her hard, trying to force some sense into her. "Nora! I only have my grandmother! But you have a happy, complete family! If you die, what will happen to your parents?!" "The building is tilting. When I hold you, you have to brace your feet against the wall as you go down. Do you understand me?!" The roommates had finished tying the knots. The hallway outside was dead empty. Everyone had panicked and rushed down to the first floor. Now, a fatal stampede was happening down there. We could hear the muffled, desperate screams for help. Nora and I anchored the sheet rope. The other roommates, shaking like leaves, gripped it tightly and began to climb down. The scene felt like a living hell. The last roommate looked at Nora and me, sobbing, before reluctantly grabbing the rope. "You both have to survive." Then, it was just me and Nora. Another explosion rocked the building. The shockwave instantly shattered the windows of the academic building across the street. Nora and I lost our footing and fell hard to the floor. Her eyes were filled with sorrow as she looked at me, refusing to leave. She scrambled back from the window. "Harper, if you aren't leaving, I'm not leaving either!" I gagged on the thick smoke and shoved her toward the window, urging her to go. Nora refused. In her panic, she slapped my arm, her voice thick with despair. "Harper! You have to know someone else who has a spare key to the dorm! Think! Think hard! Find someone to save us!" 03 I knew that if we kept arguing, we would both die here. My mind raced frantically. Through the chaotic fog, a name flashed in my mind: Tristan. The Student Body President had used the dorm lobby for an event a few days ago and had borrowed the spare keys from the RA. He hadn't returned them yet! "I know! I know!" Hearing this, Nora wept tears of joy. "Thank God! We're saved!" I quickly pulled out my phone. After nearly forty seconds of agonizing ringing, the line finally connected. "Tristan! The dorm is on fire! I remember the Student Council has the spare keys! Hurry up and get someone to open the doors!" Tristan answered the phone in the middle of the night, clearly half-asleep. I didn't have time to explain everything. I just held the phone out so he could hear the horrific screams coming from the lower floors. But Tristan didn't react. Instead, a dismissive scoff came through the speaker. "Harper, you've really gone all out just to help Nora put on a show. Making this huge of a scene? You actually dragged the whole dorm into this little carnival?" Hearing Nora's name made the guy on the other end even more irritated. "Nora, we are broken up. Stop obsessing over me." Tristan's tone was entirely absolute. He genuinely believed I was just orchestrating a massive prank to help Nora throw a tantrum. Tears of pure frustration spilled down my face. Faced with life and death, I couldn't keep my emotions in check. Tristan's voice grew colder. "Whatever. You're just doing this because you think I'm ignoring you and paying attention to other girls, right? Using a stunt like this to get my attention is incredibly pathetic." Nora frantically grabbed the phone. "This isn't a prank!" Right as she spoke, another classmate, engulfed in flames, threw herself from the window above us. Nora gripped the phone, sweating profusely. "Please, save us." "Please, just bring the keys and open the main doors! Save everyone!" Tristan, annoyed by her screaming, lost his patience entirely and cursed at her. "Nora, if Nolan hadn't called me beforehand, I might have actually fallen for your bullshit! I can't believe you made up a lie about the dorm exploding from fireworks to trick me!" "Let me tell you, it's late. Don't disturb my sleep." I was burning with fury. I quickly switched the call to FaceTime and pointed the camera down at the ground below. "Look at this! The bodies on the ground are our classmates! I already called 911! The situation is critical, and you're the only one I can reach!" "I'm begging you, come save us!" Tristan looked annoyed. The video feed was pitch black, only showing a few sparks of fire, which wasn't enough to convince him. "Nice disaster movie setup. Looks just like it does on my 120-inch TV at home. Let me tell you, filing a false police report is a crime! I know you're tight with Nora, but there has to be a limit to this nonsense!" Nora couldn't listen anymore. She screamed through her tears. "We aren't faking this! Why won't you believe us?!" "Stop yelling. You're so annoying." Tristan remained entirely unmoved. "I'm hanging up." I screamed in desperation: "Don't trust Nolan! He snuck those fireworks onto the roof to surprise Aria! He locked the front and back doors so the RA wouldn't catch him!" "Don't hang up! Don't! You live in the campus dorms too! Just step outside and look, you'll see it!" I thought this might finally make him realize the truth. But instead, his words grew even sharper. "Harper, the Student Council members all went home after our meeting. None of us are sleeping in the dorms tonight. Whatever petty drama you girls have going on, figure it out yourselves. Don't drag the rest of the school into it!" "Aria is innocent and pure. She isn't jealous and vindictive like you two. No wonder Nolan chose her over you." My heart plummeted into an abyss. Nora looked at me, paralyzed, her eyes turning ice-cold. No wonder. No wonder Tristan couldn't hear the massive explosions. He wasn't on campus. I tried to comfort Nora. "Don't be scared, we'll find a way." I continued to beg Tristan. "Then please, call Nolan! He won't believe us, but tell him to come back and open the doors!" "This is life or death, I wouldn't lie about this!" 04 Tristan's finger hovered over the 'end call' button, hesitating. He knew I wasn't the type to joke around, especially not about the lives of our entire dorm. Just then, a gentle voice filtered through the speaker. It was Tristan's mother. "Son, it's late. A classmate wouldn't bother you unless it was something serious. And if it's life or death... what if it's true?" Hearing this, I felt a glimmer of hope and pleaded with him even more desperately. "Please, save them!" Tristan let out a breath and said, "Fine. I'll be generous and believe you this once." "I'll call Nolan from my other phone to see what's going on. Don't hang up." "But let me warn you, if the situation isn't exactly as you described, I will report you to the Dean." Nora and I wept with relief, as if we could already see the dorm doors being thrown open. Tristan put his other phone on speaker so we could hear. The moment Nolan answered, his voice carried the arrogant confidence of someone who thought he had everything under control. "Did Harper contact you? Don't let her trick you. Her roommates called me earlier saying my sister was going to burn to death in the dorm. Honestly, they lie so poorly." "I saw those girls perfectly fine and energetic today. Why wouldn't Nora just walk downstairs with them instead of sitting there waiting to burn? "Don't listen to those dramatic women. When they get jealous, they really commit to the act!" Nora was so furious she almost passed out. She couldn't hold back and screamed at the phone. "Nolan, you bastard! We are family! What do we have to do to make you believe us?!" She couldn't fathom how the twin brother who had treated her like a princess her whole life had morphed into this unrecognizable monster for another girl. He didn't just disregard her life; he disregarded the entire building. Nolan scoffed, and I finally learned the truth behind his unwavering confidence. No wonder he had strolled back so casually in my previous life. "We're at the beach getting ready to set off the rest of the fireworks. I already called the RA, and she said everything was absolutely fine." Nolan's attitude was icy, and I was momentarily stunned into silence. But I couldn't understand it. The RA lived on the ground floor of the dorm. How could she possibly say everything was fine? Before I could speak, Nolan abruptly hung up the phone. Tristan, who had momentarily believed me, turned his tone to pure ice. "You guys really are just putting on a show. Disturbing my sleep in the middle of the night. Tomorrow morning, I'm going straight to the Dean. We'll see how the university handles you!" The intense heat from my wet clothes was basically boiling me alive. My head was spinning, and Nora had already passed out. We wouldn't last much longer. Despair washed over me. I screamed into the phone. "Tristan! If we wait until morning, it will be too late! The ones getting expelled won't be us, it'll be you and Nolan!" Tristan was about to hang up, but his mother's voice stopped him again. He took all his anger out on me. "Still committing to the bit? You might have actually fooled someone else. Let's see who gets expelled when the Dean finds out you're just throwing a tantrum!" "Let me tell you, when morning comes, the school will notify your families. I'll tell your grandmother exactly what you did. You'll be crying then!" 05 I cried tears of pure despair and helplessness. He thought I was shedding tears of regret. "Harper, what are you crying for in the middle of the night? Save your energy for when you get suspended. You're the Vice President. You're supposed to be a good student, but you're just a two-faced troublemaker." Even if I died, it didn't matter. But Nora had a happy family waiting for her. Tristan listened to my pathetic sobs without a shred of sympathy. "You're destroying your own future by playing these games with Nora. Did you ever think about your grandmother, who scraped together every penny just to send you to college?" The building tilted even further. The sound of snapping rebar felt like a death sentence. But Tristan couldn't see any of it. To him, we were just watching a disaster movie on a projector and putting on a performance for his phone camera. Suddenly, a phone dropped by one of our fleeing roommates started ringing wildly. It was an unknown number. I joyfully answered it and put it on speaker. An urgent, professional voice came through. "Is this Harper and Nora? This is the Fire Department. We have arrived at your dorm building. Our crews are currently fighting the blaze, and we are deploying aerial ladder trucks to rescue any survivors. Can you confirm your exact location?" "Let me brief you on the situation. Your dorm building is on the verge of collapse. Most of the load-bearing walls have been warped by the intense heat. You don't have much time left!" It was only then that I realized the chaotic, agonizing screams for help from the lower floors had fallen silent at some point. I yelled into my own phone desperately. "Send your men to break open the main doors on the first floor immediately! Everyone from the entire building is crushed against those doors waiting to be saved! You still have time to save them!" Hearing this, Tristan's shocked voice echoed from his phone. His stubbornness finally cracked. "The dorm is really on fire?! Harper, how are you and Nora doing?!" I had inhaled a lot of thick smoke. I choked out a response. "Nora is unconscious. The fire is spreading incredibly fast. The walls on our floor are scorching hot." The firefighter urgently reminded me. "Harper, please give me your exact location! We've already sent crews to the first floor! I need to pinpoint your room!" "We are on the 4th floor, on the balcony facing the track field! Please, hurry!" "Also, the main doors on the first floor are padlocked. You'll need..." It was getting hard to breathe. Tears and mucus streamed down my face. Nora's face was noticeably turning blue. I frantically patted her cheeks. "Nora, wake up! We're saved! The firefighters are here, just hold on..." 06 Tristan's voice trembled with panic as he blamed himself over the phone. "Harper, I should have believed you. If I had been sleeping in the dorms today, if I had just listened and opened the doors, everyone would have been saved. If anything happens to you, it's my fault..." A profound sadness washed over me. I fought through the pain to reply. "It's too late for 'ifs'! Nora's life is hanging by a thread, stop playing the hindsight hero!" Just then, I heard someone calling out. "Are you Harper?! We're here to get you out!" Through the thick smoke, I saw a firefighter ascending toward us in the bucket of a ladder truck. "I found them! One victim is unconscious and requires immediate medical attention!" He jumped onto the balcony and helped me toward the bucket. "I'll get you down first, then come back for your friend!" Holding my wet clothes, I knew I could hold out a little longer. I insisted he take Nora first. Time was critical, so he strapped Nora onto his back and began the descent. Soon after, the firefighter returned and carried me down to the track field. Breathing in the fresh, cool air, listening to the approaching sirens of the ambulances, I felt like I had been given a second chance at life. This was my second life. On the still-connected phone, Tristan had heard everything. "Harper, are you and Nora safe?" I sneered internally, letting my anger seep into my voice. "We are perfectly safe. So we won't be disturbing your precious sleep in the middle of the night anymore." I moved to hang up. Tristan seemed to sense my intent. His tone was urgent. "Don't hang up yet! My driver sped me over here. I am giving you my most sincere apology. I'm sorry, Harper. As Student Body President, I failed to act responsibly when you sought my help." "It's a sin that I allowed you and all our classmates to suffer this tragedy." I didn't hide my absolute disgust. "Thank God the fire department arrived. Otherwise, when the sun came up, you wouldn't be petitioning the Dean to suspend us—you'd be watching over our corpses while you got expelled!" "After tonight, I finally understand. In your eyes, poor college students like me who bust our asses to succeed are just brainless idiots who would joke about the lives of our entire dorm and destroy our own futures just to play petty jealousy games!" "Thank God Nora broke up with you. If she hadn't, I would have forced her to!" Tristan hurriedly tried to do damage control, but his tone still carried its usual arrogant weight. "I already apologized! Your attitude right now is completely uncalled for. Do you have any manners at all?" "I know you went through something traumatic and you have a grudge against me, but even so, you need to control your emotions!" I stared blankly at Nora being loaded into an ambulance, and my consciousness finally faded. The curse word that was sitting on the tip of my tongue never made it out. "We have a student collapsed! Get her in the ambulance, quick!"
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