Rebirth: Who Needs a Bloodsucking Family?

To get back at the impostor who steals Mom and Dad's love, I transfer to his school and unseat him as valedictorian. Henry Hefford retaliates on the day of our SAT exams. After secretly tearing up his own admission ticket, he bursts into tears and frames me for it. Mom and Dad immediately believe him. As punishment, they force me to give up my place at Dreston University and spend another year repeating senior year with Henry. For the entire year, they treat me like an outcast in my own home. I'm forced to eat separately from the family, forbidden from speaking up when I'm bullied at school, and not even allowed to celebrate my birthday. When Henry finally completes his exams, I think my punishment is over. That same night, however, he claims that the stress of preparing for the exams has caused him to drink so many sodas that his kidneys are now failing. Mom and Dad simply agree to give him my kidney and send me straight into surgery. One week later, I suffer a severe rejection reaction and fight for my life in a hospital bed while Mom and Dad comfort Henry nearby. "Thank God we went through with the transplant. Otherwise, you'd be the one lying in that hospital bed right now." "Don't blame yourself, Henry. Ethan had it coming. After all, he's the one who tore up your admission ticket and forced you to repeat an entire year." Only my sister, Lauren Hefford, remains by my side. She gently strokes my hair and whispers, "In your next life, don't make an enemy of Henry." When I open my eyes again, I'm back on the day of our SAT exams. This time, I have installed a hidden camera in Henry's room beforehand. However, just as I'm about to show Mom and Dad the evidence, Lauren blocks my path and says coldly, "Give me the phone." Chapter 1 My heart lurched, but I forced myself to look composed as I shook my head, keeping my voice even. "This is proof, Lauren," I said. Lauren Hefford looked down at me. "Proof of what?" Instead of answering, I set my phone in front of her. On the screen, Henry Hefford was tearing his own SAT admission ticket into pieces. In our past life, he'd pinned that exact crime on me. To make up for his ruined opportunities, my mother, Rowena Hefford, and my father, Jonathan Hefford, forced me to surrender my acceptance letter to Dreston University so I'd spend an entire year repeating senior classes alongside him. So, when I got a second chance at life, the first thing I did was install a hidden camera in Henry's room. I'd been certain that once my older sister, Lauren, saw the footage, she would believe me. More than that, I thought she would finally take my side. But even after the video ended, her expression remained completely unchanged. She held out her hand and said in a tone that brooked no argument, "Give me the phone." I stared at her in disbelief. "Did you not just see that? Henry tore up his own admission ticket!" She let out a soft, mocking laugh, her tone dripping with contempt and impatience. "Do you honestly think you're the only one who got a second chance?" Her words stopped me cold. Had she been reborn, too? Then, an even more terrifying possibility hit me. My voice trembled. "So, in our past life… you knew the truth the entire time?" She knew Henry had orchestrated the whole spectacle, and she knew I was completely innocent. Yet, she sat back and watched as Mom and Dad derailed my education, watched as I became the target of brutal high school bullying, and watched as they harvested my kidney, leaving me to die on an operating table. Right before I died, she'd even stroked my hair, murmuring, "In your next life, don't make an enemy of Henry." Lauren didn't bother to answer, but her silence spoke volumes. She had known all along. Whatever tiny hope I'd still held onto that someone in this family truly cared about me disappeared for good. While I was still reeling, Lauren suddenly reached out and snatched the phone from my hand. "Give it back!" I lunged for it, but she used all her strength to hurl it against the wall. The phone hit the wall with a sharp crack and splintered into pieces, the display flashing before going black. Just like that, the only evidence I had vanished into thin air. I stared blankly at the pile of debris on the floor, feeling as though I were looking at the version of myself who had died just as helplessly in my previous life. Chapter 2 "Why?" I demanded, turning around to stare at Lauren. "Lauren, why would you do that?" She looked down her nose at me, her face completely devoid of guilt. "Because he's my brother." The words cut straight through me. I let out a hollow laugh, tears welling in my eyes. "And what am I, Lauren? I'm your brother, too." This time, she didn't even bother to give me the silent treatment. She simply spun on her heel, leaving me staring at her cold, rigid back. Just as she reached the door, she paused. Without turning around, she threw a final warning over her shoulder. "I'll keep Henry on a tight leash in this life. Just stay in your lane and stop making trouble." Her promise meant so little that I already knew better than to believe it. When the SAT scores were finally released, I received my official acceptance letter from Dreston University exactly as expected. Henry, however, had a string of zeros across his tran because he had missed the exams entirely. That night, the same scene from my previous life played out all over again in the living room. Henry clung to Mom's arm, weeping hysterically, "Mom, I don't want to repeat my senior year! It's going to suck so bad! It's all Ethan's fault. If he hadn't riled me up, I wouldn't have done something so reckless…" Mom held him close, rubbing his back as she threw a resentful glare my way. "Ethan, did you hear that? You're the reason Henry is in this mess!" Dad slammed an enrollment form for a local summer school program onto the coffee table in front of me, issuing a stern command, "You're going to repeat senior year with Henry to keep him on track. We don't trust him to do this alone." I calmly picked up the form without giving any of them another look. In my previous life, I'd cried, argued, and even locked myself in my room and refused to eat in protest. None of it helped. All I got in return was harsher punishment. This time, I was too tired to fight. My willingness to go along with them actually seemed to catch everyone off guard. They clearly hadn't expected me to give in so easily. Lauren remained on the couch through the entire exchange, watching from the sidelines. Eventually, she lifted her gaze from her phone and studied me with faint curiosity, as if she were trying to figure out why I wasn't reacting the way I had before. I met her gaze and saw nothing but indifference. So, this was what she'd meant when she promised to keep Henry on a tight leash. How ridiculous. After that, I stopped having a place at the dinner table. Every evening, the four of them sat together in the dining room, enjoying the dinner the maid had prepared, while I ate cold leftovers alone in the kitchen. Before long, I felt just as numb as the food tasted. I became invisible in my own home. They talked about where they wanted to go for the weekend right in front of me, bought Henry the newest designer bags and watches, and made plans for Lauren's future. None of those conversations ever included me. Sometimes, Lauren passed the kitchen and saw me eating by myself in the corner, yet she never once stopped. Then, one night, I overheard Henry talking to a classmate in his room, unable to hide the smugness in his voice. "Ethan's such an idiot. All I had to do was cry a little, and our parents made him repeat senior year with me. "Tomorrow's going to be fun. I've already got a few guys ready to teach him a lesson at school. "Lauren? Please. She doesn't give a crap about what happens to that loser." The call disconnected. Standing outside his door, I slowly balled my hands into tight fists. Was the nightmare of my past life going to repeat itself so soon? No. In this life, I wasn't going to let anyone slaughter me like a lamb. Chapter 3 I went downstairs and found Lauren in the living room, just as she was about to leave. I stepped into her path. She frowned, already impatient. "What now?" Looking straight into her eyes, I reminded her, "Lauren, you promised me. You said you'd keep Henry under control." A contemptuous laugh escaped her. "Ethan, are you forgetting the other half of that deal? You need to stay out of trouble." With that, she shoved me aside and walked out without looking back. Stay out of trouble? What exactly did that mean to her? Was I supposed to do what I'd done in my previous life, when they cornered me in a bathroom, soaked me from head to toe with freezing water, and expected me to suffer through it in silence? Was that her definition of behaving? … The next day, shortly after morning break, several boys surrounded me and forced me into the school's equipment room. The door slammed shut behind me, followed by the click of the lock. Then, Henry's malicious voice came from the other side of the door, "Why don't you stay in there and think about what you did wrong?" The darkness was all too familiar, and so was the room. In my previous life, they'd locked me in there for an entire day. Terrified and starving, I'd eventually broken down and begged them to let me out. This time, I didn't cry or call for help. Instead, I pulled out the phone I'd prepared in advance and dialed 911. "Hello, officers. I'm a student, and some of my classmates deliberately locked me inside the school's equipment room. I'm scared, and they won't let me out." I put the call on speaker and turned the volume all the way up, making sure everyone outside could hear. Sure enough, panicked footsteps sounded in the hallway, followed by Henry's furious yell. "Ethan, are you insane? You actually called the cops?" The police arrived quickly. When they finally unlocked the door and swung it open, I was sitting on the floor with my knees tucked tightly against my chest, my body trembling slightly with fear. Henry and the other boys were taken to the school office, their faces pale with panic. For once, I thought he might actually face consequences. But just as the officers were preparing to take our statements, Lauren walked into the office. She went straight to them with an apologetic smile. "Officer, there's been a misunderstanding. They're brothers. They were just messing around. Henry has always been a little too rough around the edges because we spoil him, and Ethan is incredibly introverted, so he took a simple prank way too seriously." "Messing around?" I looked up at her in disbelief. Lauren didn't even glance at me. "The SATs put a lot of pressure on kids," she continued. "They were fooling around to blow off some steam—that's all. I'm sorry you had to come out here over this." Through her smooth manipulation of the narrative, a vicious instance of high school bullying was instantly reduced to a harmless prank. The police left, and the crowd of curious students scattered down the hallway. I knew exactly what they were thinking. In their eyes, I was just a sensitive, dramatic loser who couldn't handle a joke and ran to the cops over nothing. When I got home that evening, I didn't even have a chance to speak. The moment Mom walked through the door, Henry threw himself into her arms and started sobbing so hard that he could barely get the words out. "Mom, Ethan actually called the cops on me today! Everyone at school saw it. How am I supposed to face anyone after this?" "What?" Mom shrieked, violently shoving me backward before jabbing a finger in my face. "Ethan, after everything we've done for you, this is how you repay us? Henry was just playing a harmless prank on you, and you tried to destroy his future!" I stared at the scene in front of me, almost amazed by how completely they'd managed to turn the truth on its head. Just then, Lauren glided down the staircase, her voice dropping to an icy chill. "Ethan, I warned you not to lay a finger on Henry." "So this is my fault?" I asked. "Of course, it is!" Chapter 4 Henry peeked out from Mom's embrace, glaring at me with hostility. "This is all your fault! You humiliated me in front of my friends, and you made the teachers chew out Lauren!" As he spoke, he suddenly clutched his wrist, letting out a sharp cry. "Ouch!" The watch strap on the luxury designer watch Dad had gifted him had snapped, and the face was about to slide off his wrist. "My watch!" Henry gasped, immediately pointing a finger at me. "It was you! You slammed into me when Mom pushed you earlier! You broke my watch!" I hadn't gone anywhere near him. But that didn't matter. Lauren crossed the room in a few quick strides, grabbed me by the collar, and slammed me against the wall. "Ethan, have we been too easy on you?" Pain shot through my back when it struck the cold wall. I looked at Lauren's face, twisted with anger, and felt the last faint bit of hope I'd still been holding onto finally disappear. … An entire year slipped away in the blink of an eye. On the night before the SAT exams, I knocked on Lauren's bedroom door. She swung it open, her brows furrowing the moment she recognized me. "What kind of game are you trying to play now?" she asked, her tone dripping with hostility. I didn't answer and simply looked at her. Then, without warning, I raised my hand and slapped myself hard across the left cheek. The crack echoed through the quiet hallway. Lauren froze. Before she could react, I whipped my hand back and struck my right cheek just as hard. My face burned, but that physical ache was nothing compared to the torture I'd endured over the past 12 months. "Ethan, have you lost your mind?" Lauren finally snapped out of her daze, reaching out to pin my wrists. I stepped back before she could touch me and continued to strike my own face. One, two, three. I didn't keep count of the blows. I only knew that the sharp stinging in my face gradually faded into a numb throb, and a distinct metallic tang began to pool in my mouth. Lauren looked completely paralyzed by my reckless display. She stood frozen at the door, the irritation and disgust on her face slowly morphing into pure shock and panic. I finally stopped once my cheeks had swollen into angry red welts and a thin trickle of blood began to seep from the corner of my mouth. When I spoke, my voice sounded raspy and broken, much like a prisoner begging for mercy. "Lauren, I promise I won't cause any more problems for Henry." I held her gaze and enunciated every word, "I'm begging you… Just let me finish my exams tomorrow. Please?" My tone was calm, yet it carried a hint of exhaustion and despair. Lauren's throat bobbed as she swallowed hard. Finally, she averted her gaze, forcing a single word through her gritted teeth, "Fine." Once I had the promise I needed, I turned around and dragged myself back to the dark storage room. … The next day, I made it to the exam center without incident. Henry never showed up, and neither did anyone else from the Hefford family. Lauren had actually kept her word. After I finished the final paper, I didn't go home. Instead, I went straight to the train station, used the small amount of money I'd managed to save, and bought the cheapest ticket I could afford to somewhere far south. Before boarding, I snapped my SIM card in half and dropped it into the trash. As the train pulled away, I watched the city lights disappear behind me without a single shred of regret. Then, two months later, I was dragging my suitcase up to the gates of my new college campus when a familiar voice sounded behind me. "Ethan."