Trash Bag Secret Chapter 1

My sister had her eyes on my husband.

She secretly dug a used condom out of the trash bag by our front door.

When I accidentally caught her in the act, she flew into a hysterical rage and shoved me down the staircase. I died in a pool of my own blood.

Then, I opened my eyes.

I was back on the exact day she was rummaging through the garbage.

This time, I quietly walked away.

After all, that little latex wrapper belonged to my father-in-law and his boyfriend.

* * *

The muffled rustling outside the door was what woke me up.

That was the moment I realized I had been given a second chance at life.

In my previous life, I had opened the front door to take out the trash, only to catch Brittany elbow-deep in our garbage bag.

She pulled out a crumpled, used condom.

We stared at each other in dead silence.

For a split second, she froze, but then a twisted, unhinged smile crept across her face.

"Well, Stella, since you saw everything, you can't blame me for this."

She lunged at me like a feral animal.

"Go to hell! Once you're dead, Preston is going to be all mine!"

I instinctively tried to dodge.

But Brittany seized the opening and violently shoved me toward the stairs.

The back of my head slammed against the sharp edge of the wooden steps.

My consciousness began to bleed out along with the agonizing pain.

The very last thing I saw was Brittany standing at the top of the landing, looking down at me with absolute disgust.

"Preston is a catch. I just wanted to give him a baby! Is that a crime? Blame your own rotten luck for walking out at the wrong time. You deserve to die!"

After my funeral, my mother put on a tearful show.

Then she provided a rock-solid fake alibi for my sister.

I remember my spirit lingering as my mother sighed at my framed memorial photo.

"Brittany just wanted a child, Stella. It's not like she asked you to get a divorce. Why did you have to be so selfish about it? I've already lost you. I can't lose Brittany too. You forgive me, right?"

"Stupid bitch! Was she that desperate for a man? Disgusting."

Brittany's venomous muttering slipped through the crack of the door, pulling me violently back to the present.

This time, I kept my hand far away from the doorknob.

Peeking through the peephole, I watched Brittany slip the stolen prize into her pocket and walk away with a triumphant smirk.

A slow smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.

What my sweet little sister didn't know was that the trash bag didn't belong to our household.

It belonged to our next-door neighbor, Victor.

Victor was my father-in-law's absolute best friend.

He walked with a heavy limp from a youth spent doing hard labor. Because of his bad leg, he often left his trash in front of our door, and I would always take it down for him out of sheer pity.

In this life, I genuinely wished my sister the absolute best of luck.

I hope she gets pregnant on the first try.