Superstitious Mother, Dangerous Future

My mom had this crazy obsession with online remedies. Every single day, she'd shove all kinds of opium-based tonics down my little brother's throat, swearing they'd make him stronger. I tried to talk her out of it, but nothing got through. So one night, while everyone was asleep, I grabbed all the tonics and tossed them in the trash.

The next day, my mom went ballistic. She got the whole family to gang up on me. And when my brother signed up for a long-distance race and couldn't finish, guess who she blamed? Me. She said throwing out the tonics ruined his health. My brother never let it go.

One night, while I was asleep, he came into my room and slit my throat. I bled out in my bed.

But then I woke up, and somehow, I was back in time-- right on the day my mom first started forcing the tonics on him.

This time, I didn't even try to stop her. I just smirked to myself. Go ahead. Eat up. Eat as much as you can.

***

"Come on, honey, just one more bite. The doctor said this tonic's perfect for building you up!"

I blinked, still in a daze, and there was my mom again. The same scene playing out like before. She was holding a piece of that nasty tonic, trying to convince my brother to eat it. He scrunched up his face, complaining about how awful it tasted, but she kept on him.

The memory of suffocating to death made me shudder. I started gasping for air, trying to calm down. My mom shot me a look, pure disgust in her eyes.

"You useless girl! What are you staring at? This is for your brother, not you. Don't even think about it! Now get in the kitchen and make dinner!"

I stood there, frozen. She snapped again.

"What, still standing there? Want me to get your dad to beat you to death?"

She raised her hand to slap me, and I instinctively shielded myself. Her slap landed hard on my arm, burning like fire, but it snapped me out of my daze. Seeing her ready to strike again, I ran to the kitchen. Behind me, my brother spit at me, laughing. "Useless girl!"

Standing by the stove, my mind wandered back to my last life. I remembered when my mom came home with a huge bag of that tonic and forced my brother to eat it every day. I tried to stop her, terrified of what it might do to him, but when she wouldn't listen, I waited until everyone was asleep and threw all the tonics out.

Even after she found out and had the whole family beat me, even after they refused to feed me for days, I still felt like I'd done the right thing.

But then my brother signed up for a 5K at school to impress some girls. He couldn't even finish. He collapsed halfway through, and the whole class laughed at him.

When we got home, my mom said it was my fault. She claimed that because I threw out the tonic, my brother's health was ruined. I thought my brother was smart enough to know better, but I was wrong. He held a grudge. That same night, he snuck into my room and slit my throat while I slept.

Lying there, bleeding out, I saw his greasy, chubby face twisted in anger.

"It's all your fault! You embarrassed me! I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill you!"

I tried to explain, tried to speak, but blood just poured out of my mouth. A coldness spread through me, my vision went dark, and then-- nothing.

After I died, my parents didn't even care. They were just upset they couldn't get a bride price for me anymore. They put on a show of crying, told everyone I fell down the stairs, cremated me with no real funeral, and moved on. My brother, the murderer, faced no consequences. They kept on spoiling him like nothing had happened.

Maybe fate took pity on me because here I am-- back at the beginning.

This time, I just smirked. Let them suffer the consequences. I'm done getting in the way.