After I get pregnant with my second child, all the pets in my household start viewing me as their biggest enemy.

The tabby cat who once loved clinging to me now poops in my nutritious meals every day.

The parrot who only knows how to repeat "hello" begins cursing at me to suffer from a miscarriage. "Die, Leanne Foster!"

When I feed the goldfish, they protest against my efforts by quitting food entirely. The next day, they are all dead.

Even the terrier I've kept with me for ten years lunges at me like a mad bitch the moment she sees the baby clothes in my hands.

After I almost suffer from a miscarriage, I plan on giving the pets away.

But my daughter, Harper Steele, hugs the terrier and the cat as she pleads to me sadly, "Mommy, please don't give them away!"

My husband, Adam Steele, is worried about my unborn baby, but he also doesn't want to hurt Harper's feelings. In the end, he comes up with a compromising solution.

"Honey, there's still one month left till your due date. Just endure the pets for a month, okay? I'll lock them up in their crates and make sure that you're safe."

Eventually, I agree to that solution after giving it some thought.

But unexpectedly, on the day my water breaks, as soon as I dial Adam's number, the pets rush out of their crates simultaneously and begin tearing at my stomach with their claws and fangs. In the end, I close my eyes weakly from the sheer pain.

I can never understand why my pets hate the unborn baby in my womb that much.

When I open my eyes again, I've returned to the day I find out I'm pregnant with my second child.

"Harper, get out here! Mommy's pregnant! You're getting a little brother in a few months!"

The moment we got home, my husband, Adam Steele, called out toward our daughter's bedroom. Seconds later, our five-year-old came barreling out, squealing as she threw her arms around me.

"Mommy, there's really a baby in your belly? When he comes out, I'll finally have someone to play with?"

I was about to respond when I felt two hostile pairs of eyes fixed on me. The cat and dog, curled up in their beds, stared intently at my belly.

The memory of being torn apart in my previous life hit me all at once, the pain so vivid that I could barely breathe. Driven by sheer survival instinct, I grabbed Adam's hand, my voice trembling.

"Honey, we need to get rid of all the pets in this house."

The tabby cat, Whiskers, and the terrier, Sunny, had been with me for ten whole years. I'd long since considered them family. Even when I first got pregnant and my mother-in-law made a huge fuss demanding we get rid of them, I refused.

So this time, when Adam and Harper heard what I said, both of them looked utterly confused.

Of course they wouldn't understand. If I hadn't died once already, I never would have believed that the pets I considered family would kill me. Though even in my previous life, I died without ever knowing why they hated me so much.

But I'd been given a second chance, and there was no way I would let them hurt me or the child in my belly again.

I forced myself to calm down before offering an explanation.

"The doctor said this pregnancy is delicate, and Sunny and Whiskers are too rough. Let's send them to my mom's place first, and once the baby's safely born, we can bring them back home, okay?"

Adam had no objections. As for Harper, after I patiently reasoned with her, she eventually agreed as well. To avoid any complications, I had Adam load Whiskers and Sunny into the car right away.

Before they left, I placed the birdcage containing the parrot, Kiwi, in the trunk as well. "Take her too."

"Leanne, aren't you being a bit dramatic?"

I ignored his bewildered expression. After all, that parrot was one of the culprits too.

At my urging, the car slowly pulled away, and the three "little ones" in the trunk began howling frantically.

I even heard Kiwi screech, "Die, Leanne Foster!"

Back home, I surveyed the house and finally relaxed. At least there were no more safety hazards.

Then I heard Harper's dejected voice from across the room. "Mommy, why aren't the goldfish moving?"

I walked over with the fish food. "Maybe they're hungry? Try feeding them a few pellets and see if they eat."

Harper carefully counted out five pellets from the bag and dropped them into the tank. The goldfish immediately swarmed the food, devouring every last piece.

"Mommy, they were hungry!"

I nodded and grabbed a handful of food myself, sprinkling it across the surface.

This time, the exact same thing happened as in my previous life. The fish scattered as if the pellets were contaminated, swimming away from anything that fell from my hand.

Just as I'd suspected, they only refused food from me.

Except this time, their resistance was even stronger. They didn't even last until the next morning. By that evening, every single one of them was dead.

What I didn't expect was the call from my mother, Gloria Hayes.

"Leanne, are those three pets sick or something? They won't eat anything."

I knew they were on a hunger strike, but I told her it was just stress from the new environment and that they would settle down in a couple of days.

Two days later, Mom called again.

"Leanne, you need to find somewhere else for them. I can't take this anymore. They've been howling from dawn to dusk!"

I asked her to hold on a little longer while I figured out another arrangement.

Three days after that, Adam and I were picking Harper up from school when we found Sunny and Whiskers sprawled on our doorstep, panting heavily.

Mom lived out in the countryside, a full six miles away. Under normal circumstances, I would've been touched, thinking they'd made the journey because they couldn't bear to be separated from us.

Now, I just found it deeply unsettling.

The moment they saw Adam and Harper, they whimpered and nuzzled into their arms.

Harper stroked their heads, her voice breaking. "You're so skinny now!"

Then she looked at me, tears streaming down her face. "Mom, can't we keep Sunny and Whiskers at home? They came all the way back because they missed us!"

Before I could answer, Adam was already pouring dog food and cat food into their bowls. He watched them wolf down the food before turning to me, his voice gentle but firm.

"If we send them away again, they'll die out there."

"Mom, please!" The word "die" made Harper burst into tears.

I couldn't say no. In the end, I agreed. At least with just the two of them, I could manage.

I was still working out a strategy in my head when a voice came from behind me.

"Hello, Leanne Foster!"

Kiwi had come back too. She perched on the windowsill, pecking at a succulent as if demanding we hurry up and feed her.

"Kiwi's back too! Our whole family's together again!"

Harper's face lit up instantly, her misery forgotten.

But I knew better. This was a coordinated effort. All three of them were in on it.

To avoid repeating my past mistakes, I called Mom and asked her to come and stay with me starting tomorrow. Then I locked all three pets in their cages.

Later that night, I passed the windowsill on my way to the bathroom. That nightmarish phrase rang out again.

"Die, Leanne Foster!

"Die, Leanne Foster!

"Die, Leanne Foster!"

Kiwi repeated it three times. I glared at her in warning. "Say that one more time and I'm throwing you in a frying pan."

This time, she had the sense to shut up.

I glanced over at the dog crate. Whiskers and Sunny were curled up together like always. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

After using the bathroom, I reached for the flush. The second I looked up, I found myself staring into two pairs of glowing green eyes.

Somehow, Whiskers and Sunny had gotten out of their crate. They stood just outside the bathroom door, watching me with an expression so unnatural that it made my skin crawl.

I screamed.

Adam rushed over immediately. He pulled me up from the floor where I'd collapsed and wrapped his arms around me.

"Honey, it's okay. You're okay."

Once I'd calmed down, he asked me what happened. I pointed toward the doorway. "The cat and dog were standing right there, staring at me."

Adam frowned. "You mean Whiskers and Sunny? They've been in their crate the whole time."

When I didn't believe him, he led me back to the crate. Sure enough, Whiskers and Sunny were lying inside, exactly where they should be. The moment they saw us, they jumped up and pawed excitedly at the bars.

The strangest part was that the lock was still secure. There was no sign that it had been tampered with.

Had I imagined it?

Adam rubbed my shoulder. "You've been under too much stress lately. Once your mom gets here tomorrow, everything will be fine."

Right. Once Mom arrived, everything would be better.

The next morning, I woke to the sound of her voice. She'd come early and had already made breakfast for me.

I glanced instinctively at the crate. Sunny and Whiskers were gone.

"Adam took them out for a walk first thing this morning," Mom said.

I nodded and sat down to eat. The second I leaned over my bowl of oatmeal, I caught a whiff of something foul and horribly familiar.

Dread washed over me. I knew this feeling from my previous life.

I stirred the oatmeal a few times and found a large clump of cat feces at the bottom of the bowl. "Mom, why is there cat shit in this?"

Mom's face went white. She immediately dumped the entire bowl into the trash. "Oh my god, I have no idea how that happened. Did Whiskers think the bowl was a litter box?"

My appetite vanished. I knew they'd started making their move.

That afternoon, while Mom and I were at the mall, I bought several security cameras. I planned to install them in every corner of the house. I wanted to see exactly what those animals were doing when no one was watching.

I hid all the baby supplies I'd just bought in a cabinet. But the next day, they were shredded to pieces and covered in urine stains.

I was certain Sunny had done it, but she was too smart—unnaturally smart for a dog. She'd avoided every single camera, so there was no footage proving she was responsible.

In the end, the mice took the blame. Whiskers even put on a show of helping Adam catch them. Between the two of them, they caught two mice in snap traps.

But that night, things took a turn for the worse. I started feeling dizzy and nauseous. My head pounded, and my skin began to itch all over.

At the hospital, they told me I'd been infected with toxoplasmosis. Fortunately, we'd caught it early enough that the baby wasn't affected.

At the same time, I found animal hair on my clothes. What terrified me most was finding fur on my underwear too.

"Adam, cats are the primary host for toxoplasmosis! Whiskers and Sunny planned this whole thing! They've been trying to kill me and the baby this entire time!"

Adam stared at me in shock.

"Leanne, do you hear yourself? They're just pets. How could they possibly want to hurt their own owner?"

I held up the strand of fur that had been stuck to my underwear. "Then how do you explain this?"

When Adam hesitated, I pressed on. "If you don't believe me, have the hospital test it. Let's see if this came from a dog or a cat."

Adam didn't object. A few hours later, the results came back. I stared at the stamped lab report, unable to form a single word.

The fur had come from mice. And the hospital confirmed they'd detected toxoplasmosis on it. Things were spiraling into territory I didn't understand.

Were the mice in my house turning against me too?