5
589words
"So it was you all along! The fruit was almost ripe—my son was counting on that money to get married! Now it's all ruined. Your bosses punished you—now it's my turn."
He swung his club at Chris.
Chris turned to run, but Alex stuck out his foot and tripped him.
By the time Chris realized, it was too late—the club hit him hard.
The firefighters who'd been with him stood aside, smoking, as if they hadn't seen a thing.
The other growners were just as furious,
"You monster! How could you do something so evil?"
"You were too scared to fight the fire—but you didn't have to let her take the fall!"
"You're not just a coward—you're a liar who let your wife be blamed. You were after her lottery money, you trash!"
"Let's get him! Make him pay for what he did!"
The villagers charged forward with their tools.
Chris was too stunned to even call for help.
Finally, the chief stepped in, afraid they'd kill him outright,
"Alright, folks—I get how you feel. Let the law handle this—press charges and sue if you must. Stop now—if you seriously hurt him, you'll be on the hook for medical bills. It ain't worth it."
The growers saw the sense in that and dropped their clubs.
Chris was loaded into an ambulance.
Before it pulled away, I stood on the blackened ridge.
Smoke and ash whipped against my face in the sharp wind—whether from smoke or something else, tears ran down without my permisson.
They fell onto the cinders like tiny beads, rolling and vanishing.
This time, I'd escaped my doom and taken Chris and Lily fdown or good!
Alex walked over and handed me a tissue, half-joking,
"Shirley, why hang on to a loser like that? When are you gonna dump him and make room for me?"
Alex and I had known each other since college—back then, Lily also had a crush on Chris.
I'd been so obsessed with Chris, terrified someone would steal him away, that I never ignored how good Alex was to me.
I never thought he'd still like me after all these years.
The first thing I did after coming back was call Alex for backup.
Otherwise, as senior dispatcher, I couldn't have bent the chain of command to get the chopper mobilized.
I took the tissue and wiped my tears,
"I can't divorce him yet."
"What? After all this, you're giving him another chance? You're too kind—a real saint!" Alex said, then sighed,
"They say you can't help someone who's determined to die. It's not just that Chris doesn't deserve you—he wanted you dead. If we'd been any later, who knows what those growners would've done to you."
"And the way he and Lily teamed up against you—it's obvious they're together. I told you in college they were trouble—but you didn't listen."
He had warned me back then, but I brushed him off and told him to mind his own business.
I didn't bother arguing now, "That's why I'm not divorcing him yet. If I do, he'll get half of my $10 million lottery win—not to mention the rest of our joint assets."
Chris and Lily had covered their tracks well—there was no evidence they'd replaced the water with diesel.
The case was on shaky ground.
If I hadn't remembered the last life, I might've let Chris slide.
But this time, I won't rest until he's destroyed—and I'll drag Lily down with him!
