Someone stole my body using some kind of twisted "system." When I woke up, I was trapped in the life of a dirt-poor girl from a rural, forgotten Appalachian town. I washed clothes by hand, cooked for a family that hated me, and studied in secret. A year later, against all odds, I earned a full-ride scholarship to a university and finally made it out of those mountains. Just as I was packing up, holding a small envelope of cash the townspeople had scraped together to help me, the girl who stole my body appeared. She didn't hesitate. She hit the gas and ran me over with her car. As I lay bleeding on the asphalt, she stepped out, looking down at me with a smirk. "I really didn't expect you to make it out of there," she sneered. "But since you did, you have to die. Because I really love your life, and I'm keeping it." In my final moments, fading away, I heard a robotic voice speak to her. "Warning: The original host's vital signs are rapidly declining. Once the original body dies, the current host will never be able to return." The girl scoffed, her face full of disdain. "Who gives a damn about that trash body? Let it rot." Then, I blinked. And I was back. I had been reborn to the exact night before we swapped bodies. You little bitch, I thought, my blood boiling. You stole my body and then murdered me? Well, this time around... don't expect me to play nice. 1. Pain. Piercing, skull-splitting pain. I shot up in bed, gasping for air. A second ago, I was being crushed beneath the tires of an SUV outside my high school. Now, I was sitting up in my own plush, king-sized bed in my family's estate. The memories of the past year felt like a nightmare, but the phantom pain in my ribs was entirely real. The fury burning in my chest was even realer. You little thief. You took my life and then killed me for it? This time, I'm going to ruin you. I sprinted down the hall and kicked open the master bedroom door, nearly giving my parents a heart attack. "Mom! Dad! Don't freak out, but this is an emergency!" "Tomorrow at noon, an evil spirit is going to possess my body." "When that happens, you have to lock me up. No matter what I say, do not believe a single word!" My parents stared at me, completely bewildered. My dad got out of bed, felt my forehead, and gently told me to lay off the fantasy novels. But I wasn't backing down. "Dad, I am dead serious. You have to believe me!" My dad nodded rapidly. "Okay, okay, I believe you..." He didn't believe a damn thing. I pulled out my phone and disabled the Face ID and fingerprint unlock. "Tomorrow at noon, I want a massive feast for lunch!" I demanded. "Uh, okay," Dad said. "Also, I'm deleting all my biometrics. After noon tomorrow, if I can't unlock my phone, my iPad, my laptop, or the electronic locks on the front doors, it means the demon has taken over!" "Uh-huh." "When that happens, just beat the living crap out of me! Don't kill me, but make it hurt! The demon will only leave my body if it's suffering!" "Right." Talking was useless; I needed to prepare. Based on my experience from the last life, when the body swap happens, you don't inherit the original owner's memories. So, I went through everything I owned and switched all biometric locks to complex passwords. My phone, my tablet, my MacBook, the smart locks on the house, and my personal safe—all locked down tight. Then, I went for the valuables. My designer bags, my expensive jewelry, my high-end makeup—I stuffed it all into three massive suitcases and dragged them down to the basement storage room. By the time I was done, it was 3 AM, and my bedroom was practically empty. It wasn't exactly a prison cell, but for a wealthy heiress, it was completely barren. The next day at noon, our private chef prepared an absolute feast. Lobster, crab legs, prime rib—I ate like a death row inmate on their last meal, shoving food into my mouth with zero grace. My mom watched me in horror, telling me to slow down before I choked. I just rolled my eyes. Are you kidding? I hadn't tasted food this good in an entire year. And who knew how long it would be until I tasted it again? I ate continuously until the clock hit 11:59 and 30 seconds. I put down my fork and let out a satisfied burp. "Mom, Dad, take care of yourselves!" With that, I slammed my head onto the dining table and passed out cold. 2. "Get up, you lazy brat! Look what time it is, get to work!" I was jolted awake from a heavy haze. Before I could even register my surroundings, someone yanked me out of bed and kicked me hard in the shin. Standing over me was a vicious-looking woman. The original owner's mother. "You're done with school starting tomorrow," she snapped. "What's the point of a girl getting good grades? You're just gonna get married off anyway." "Old Man Clem from the next holler over is coming to look at you later. If he likes what he sees, he's offering two thousand dollars for a dowry." "You better behave. The sooner you marry him, the sooner you get to live a good life." Old Man Clem? Clem Higgins? The memories clicked. In my last life, right around this time, that disgusting old creep from the neighboring town came to buy me for two grand. I had cried, screamed, and ran to the town mayor's house. The mayor took pity on me and bought me some time. But when I got back to the house, this old hag beat me black and blue, leaving me bedridden for days. But this time? This wasn't my body. I could do whatever the hell I wanted. "Two thousand? Clem is a cheapskate," I sneered. "Mom, I've been in school for twelve years. I've been top of my class since kindergarten." "If I marry that old geezer, I'm the one who's gonna birth his son, and I'm the one who's gonna tutor that kid." "Marrying me is basically a guaranteed ticket to getting his future son into a top-tier college." "With all those benefits, our family should be asking for at least ten thousand. Don't you think?" The old hag froze, completely stunned. "I mean... I reckon that makes sense." "I'm gonna go tell Clem right now," she said, turning toward the door. I yelled after her, "Mom! Tell him if he wants to marry me, he needs to put down a deposit! Otherwise, I'll find another buyer. I've got a 4.0 GPA, I'm highly marketable!" See? Education really does pay off. The old hag was totally sold on my logic. Thinking about it, the original owner of this body really did have a tragic life. Her family was dirt poor and horribly sexist, treating her like livestock. Before she swapped our bodies, she had studied like a maniac, hoping education would be her ticket out of these mountains. In my last life, I actually made that dream come true for her. And how did she repay me? By running me over. I pity what you went through, I thought, rubbing my bruised shin. But that doesn't mean I forgive you. When the old hag returned, Old Man Clem was trailing behind her like a drooling dog. I thought maybe the negotiations had failed, but he was actually here to sign a contract. I grabbed a pen and paper and wrote out an agreement, signing it and stamping my thumbprint. We agreed on a date: when the rest of the ten grand arrived, the bride would be delivered. Then, I pocketed a two-thousand-dollar cash deposit. The moment Clem left, the old hag practically lost her mind with joy. She snatched the stack of cash and actually handed me a fifty-dollar bill as an allowance. At dinner that night, for the first time ever, I was allowed to sit at the table. She even scooped a large piece of roast chicken onto my plate. "Turned two grand into ten grand. My girl's got brains," she praised. I chewed the chicken—which I hadn't tasted once in my previous life—and smiled brightly. "Mom, Dad, I've thought about it." "You know what kind of man Clem is. He's just buying me to be a broodmare and a tutor." "But you guys are different..." "You're my real family." "If I don't look out for you, who will?" "Honestly, if Clem couldn't only afford ten grand, I'd feel like I'm selling myself short for your sakes." Hearing this, the old hag's eyes actually welled up with tears. She kept saying how much I had matured. I took another bite of chicken and kept talking. "And my brother is seventeen now. In a couple years, he'll need to find a wife." "So I've made a decision. Before I leave, I'm going to make sure he's set up for life!" The old hag paused. "What do you mean? You gonna introduce him to a girl?" I waved my hand dismissively. "I don't know any girls. But I can get him a lot of cash." "Cash?" She looked confused. "How?" "I'm gonna borrow it." "Borrow it? But you have to pay that back!" I grabbed another piece of chicken. "If you borrow it, you have to pay it back. But if I borrow it, it has nothing to do with you guys." "Like they say, a married daughter is like spilled water." "Since I'll be the one taking out the loans, by the time the debt collectors come knocking, I'll already be married to Clem. So they'll go to his house to collect!" "You can do that?!" The old hag was astounded. "But what about you?" I chewed my chicken slowly. "Don't worry about me. Clem needs me to birth his genius son, remember? What's he gonna do to me?" I turned to the teenage boy sitting next to me—my worthless brother. "Bro, as long as you can live a good life, all my sacrifices are worth it!" Upon hearing this, the little brat actually started crying. "Sis, I'm so sorry." "I used to bully you all the time. I swear, I'll never do it again." Yeah, right, I thought. In my last life, when they were selling me off, you were the one cheering the loudest. You really think I'm gonna let you off the hook this time? True to my word, that very night, I went to find the local loan shark, Jimmy 'Three-Fingers' Vance. The interest rate was borderline extortionate. I borrowed twenty thousand dollars in cash, promising to pay it back in a month. I could have asked for more, but honestly, in this town, a girl like her was only collateral for about that much. When I got the cash, I kept two grand for myself and handed the rest straight to the old hag. Not because I cared about this family, but because I wanted my remaining time in this hellhole to be comfortable. Sure enough, after handing over tens of thousands of dollars, my status in the household skyrocketed. Eating at the table was the new normal. I didn't have to lift a finger for chores, and I slept in every single day. As for school? This girl's academic future wasn't my problem anymore. Because I stopped showing up to class, my homeroom teacher eventually came to the house. He told my mother I was a gifted student and that my future shouldn't be thrown away. My mother ignored him completely and literally chased him off the porch with a broom. Later, the town mayor heard I was getting married and came to check on me, asking if I was being coerced and if I needed help. I smiled brightly and told him it was entirely my choice. The mayor looked at me, sighed heavily, and walked away shaking his head. There were others, too. People in the town who thought it was a tragedy I was throwing my life away. I was genuinely grateful to them, because in my last life, many of these people had actively tried to help me escape. So this time around, I wasn't going to drag them into my mess. Because the original owner of this body was a sociopathic backstabber. She didn't deserve a single ounce of their kindness. 3. With Jimmy's twenty grand as seed money, my financial horizons expanded. I went to the nearest city, bought a cheap smartphone, and started aggressively applying for payday loans and online micro-credit. As the money rolled in, I dragged my brother to town. We drank boba tea, ate at nice restaurants, and bought brand-new clothes. I even bought two brand-new electric scooters for the family. The old hag was ecstatic, constantly bragging about how well she had raised her daughter. Just like before, I kept a few grand for my own entertainment and dumped the rest of the cash into the family's hands. Then, I'd force tears into my eyes and repeat my script: "You're my family! If I don't treat you well, who will?" "When I'm married off, you guys have to take care of yourselves." "I'm really gonna miss you." The old hag nodded furiously and told my brother he needed to treat me like a queen for my final days at home. She kept saying I had sacrificed so much and shouldn't suffer anymore. Oh, I wasn't suffering. The original owner's suffering had nothing to do with me. Compared to what she stole from me in the last life, this was just collecting a little interest. I hadn't realized just how many predatory lending apps existed until I started looking. I hit every single one of them, maxing out the credit limits. In less than a week, I had racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. When I withdrew the cash and dumped it onto the kitchen table, the entire family's eyes practically popped out of their skulls. The old hag's voice trembled. "This... you got all this money?" I nodded. "How much do you owe them?" "With interest, next month it'll probably be around a million bucks," I said, my face completely deadpan, as if a million dollars was pocket change. "A million bucks... Sis..." My brother's eyes welled up with tears. It was the first time in two lifetimes I had ever seen him look at me with actual concern. I patted his head, faking a gentle smile. "You're my only brother. Of course I have to think about your future. Keep this money. Buy a car, build a new house, find a good wife. You're the man of the house now." "But you..." He tried to protest, but I waved him off, looking like a total martyr. "I'm getting married next month," I declared. "When that happens, I'll have no legal ties to this family." "Even if the debt collectors come, they'll have to go to Clem's house!" "Just remember, bro. My only wish in this life is to see you succeed." "I will, Sis!" My brother clenched his fists, tears streaming down his face. "I promise, I'll work hard and make lots of money so you can live a good life too!" I don't care about the future, I thought. Compared to my last life, I'm already living a good life. That night, I lay on my relatively comfortable bed and opened the girl's notebook. I filled a blank page with frantic handwriting. [Hey there. You have a husband now! Are you happy? He's super generous—he gave a ten-thousand-dollar dowry!] [Thanks to my hard work, your family totally spoils you now. You eat at the table, you have meat every day, and you don't have to do any chores! You can sleep in as late as you want.] [I bought you a smartphone and brand-new clothes.] [I even hid a secret stash of cash for you. There's a few grand in there. You're welcome.] I tapped my pen against my chin, thinking. Then, I added one final line: [When you get back, I hope you have a wonderful, happy life!] I closed the notebook. Suddenly, the room started spinning violently. Finally. I was going back.
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