Her Death, Her Rebirth

"You," Rachel spat, her voice trembling with anger. "How could you show your face here?"

Lucinda laughed mockingly. "Still don't know your place do you? Until you die right? Well your death is here." She raised a keg of gasoline in one hand and a matchbox in the other. "Derek, gave me the go ahead to finish you off since I wanted to do it myself."

Rachel backed away her eyes wide with fear. "No you can't kill me," she pleaded. "For old times sake."

Lucinda narrowed her eyes. "What do you have to live for? Your lover, Richard, is dead, and so are your parents. Wouldn't you rather join them?"

Rachel's defiance faltered. She looked at Lucinda and then at the gasoline. "Fine, kill me. I'm done with this life. Derek has taken everything from me."

Lucinda smirked, pouring gasoline over Rachel. "But before I kill you, where did Richard keep the documents for the family business?"

Rachel's eyes blazed with sudden resolve. "Why don't you kill everyone in Derek's family and take over the business yourself, no need for the documents right?"

Furious, Lucinda slapped her hard and poured more gasoline soaking Rachel's clothes and hair. She brought out a blade from her pocket and slashed Rachel's left cheek leaving a deep bloody dash.

"Enough of this," Lucinda hissed, lighting a match and tossing it into the room. 

Flames erupted instantly leaking at the gasoline soaked furniture and Rachel's clothes.

Rachel screamed, "time please go back!"

As the fire roared around her, consuming everything in its parts, Rachel's mind raised with regret and despair. 

She wished desperately for a second chance, a way to undo the horrors Derek and Lucinda had inflicted on her life. But as the heat intensified and the flames closed in she knew it was too late. 

The darkness closed in and Rachel's cries faded into the cackling inferno.

___

Rachel gasped as if she had been doused with water, extinguishing both the flames on her body and the fire of regret and grief in her heart.

It felt like she had been pulled from a burning inferno and plunged into an icy pool, shocking her senses into clarity. When she opened her eyes, it was as though she had awoken from a terrible dream.

She touched her hands, feeling them, making sure they were real. These were her fingers. She was alive.

She brought her hands to her face, gingerly touching her right cheek. When her left hand moved to her left cheek, she felt a rough patch, but she was alive. The relief was overwhelming.

Looking around, Rachel found herself in an unfamiliar place. She heard the hum of an engine and glanced out the window.

She was moving. She was in a car.

"I'm in a car," she whispered, trying to make sense of it.

The scene outside the window didn't quite match anything she remembered from her last memories. The streets were bustling with modern city life, but something felt off. 

"What's going on?"

Just moments ago, she had been engulfed in flames, set alight by Lucinda. But now, the grief in her heart was gone. She struggled to process the drastic shift in her reality.

As she scanned her surroundings frantically, something caught her eye. A clock on the car's dashboard was ticking backward, but it was all in her mind. Was she delusional?

"What in the heavens is happening here?," she mumbled under her breath as the realization struck her hard.

Her desperate cries of "Time, please go back" had somehow come true.

Rachel watched, wide-eyed, as the clock's hands spun backward, faster and faster.

Her mind replayed her frantic pleas, each "Time, please go back" echoing in her memory. With every utterance, the clock rewound, carrying her further back in time.

The numbers on the clock rolled back through the years, 2023, 2022, and then halted abruptly at the year 2020. The surroundings around her settled into a cohesive image.

She was no longer burning, no longer in the same life where Derek and Lucinda tormented her. It all made sense now.

She must have died in that past life and somehow been reborn in this one.

Rachel sat back in her seat, the enormity of what had happened washing over her. She had been given a second chance, a chance to live differently, to avoid the horrors she had endured.

The grief and regret were still there, but now there was also hope. She had a new life, a new time, and perhaps, a new fate to shape. The only issue being, the year?

"In this lifetime, no more Floyd family, no Derek Floyd, no Lucinda Preston, and no..." Rachel's smile faded slightly as she spoke.

The thought of Richard came to her mind, and while her smile didn't completely disappear, it stiffened. The joy she felt moments ago lost its genuineness.

"No more Richard Floyd," she muttered, her eyes dropping to the floor.

As her gaze wandered back up, she suddenly caught sight of a familiar figure. A man in a modern suit, removing a pair of sunglasses from his face, looking at her through the car's inner rear view mirror.

When their eyes met, Rachel gasped softly. She tried to conceal her shock, but the recognition was instant. The man in the suit, with a neat haircut, was unmistakably Richard.

"Oh my days," she whispered to herself, trying to control the whirlwind of emotions.

The man's eyes lingered on her for a moment before he turned away, took off his glasses and looked beside him where she was seated.

He was seated right beside her?!

Rachel's heart pounded in her chest, her breath quickening. She glanced out the window, hoping to compose herself, but the tension was killing her resolve.

She fumbled to unbuckle the seatbelt which she suddenly felt was pressing so tight on her, but it was unnecessary as he simply drew closer to her making her freeze.

His presence was overwhelming. Even while seated, he seemed to tower over her, his aura commanding attention.

Rachel stared at his face, her heart trapped between awe and disbelief.

Inside, she muttered, "Richard, you're alive," though she dared not say it out loud.

She was overwhelmed with gratitude, unable to believe this second chance at seeing him again.

He leaned even more closer, studying her face with a curious intensity. "Have we been introduced before?" he whispered, his voice low and resonant.

Rachel's breath hitched. 

Just as she remembered, she and Richard were total strangers until her wedding to Derek - Today!

She had to think quickly, masking her astonishment with a gentle smile. "I... I'm not sure. Maybe in another life," she replied softly, her eyes never leaving his.

He chuckled, a warm sound that sent shivers down her spine. "Funny, it feels like we've met before," he said, his eyes twinkling with a hint of recognition.

Rachel's heart soared. "Maybe we were meant to meet," she said, her voice trembling with emotion.

For a moment, they sat in silence, the weight of unspoken intentions hanging between them.

Rachel felt a glimmer of hope and in that moment, she thought that perhaps, this new beginning, this mysterious twist of fate, was her opportunity to find happiness with Richard by her side.

But all those thoughts came crashing down when she felt something cold and hard against her waist. She looked down and saw a small space between her and the man who looked so much like Richard. A gun.

He leaned in closer, his breath warm and unsettling against her ear. "Hold still, or it will be the end of you," he whispered harshly. "Now, sign this contract."

Her mind raced. She was being threatened right now?

"This is nothing like Richard," she thought, her heart pounding in her chest.

The hope and relief she had felt moments before dissolved into disbelief.

"Please," she stammered, trying to keep her voice steady, "I don't understand. What do you want from me?"

"Sign the contract," he growled, pressing the gun harder against her side. "Are you damn dead or something? Sign it, and I won't harm you."

Rachel's hands shook as she reached for the pen he handed her. She quickly scanned the document, her mind barely processing the words. It was a marriage contract! 

What?!

Well, still she signed it. She would rather be married to a strange Richard that she totally doesn't recognize as the man who cherished her before, than marry Derek, the man who took everything, including her existence from her.

"That's all I need," he said, his voice barely above a whisper.

He took the contract quickly, getting down from the car in the process. "Very well," he said, his voice cold. "Driver, take her to the hall. We shouldn't keep her groom waiting."

He stood up abruptly, pocketing the contract.

Without another glance at Rachel, he turned and walked briskly down the street, blending into the crowd.

Rachel sat in stunned silence as the car continued its journey to the wedding hall. This had never happened in her past life. This was not the Richard she knew.

Rachel: ".…"