Ellie should resume today!
The thought buzzed in my head, startling me fully awake. Despite the unavoidable thrum of the city, and all other thoughts bleeding through walls and wires to me.
Down the street, someone worried about rent. Upstairs, someone fought with a lover.
But above it all, one thread glowed brighter, clearer, sharper: Ellie.
The name hit me like a slap. The betrayal from the alley, the knife, the blood, her voice saying "I didn't have a choice".
I hadn't thought of her since I woke up reborn, but now, her name pulsed in my skull like a siren.
I stood up, pacing the room, trying to shake the surge of heat rising inside me. My hands trembled not with fear, but fury.
I wonder what she will do when she sees me; there is no way I am taking her betrayal lightly.
She set me up and left me for dead…
I don't know why, but what I'm certain of is that revenge is a dish best served cold, and I will be dishing out a frozen dish to Ellie.
By the time I'm done with her, she will wish for death, but it will be the farthest thing from her.
Ellie had been one of my friends since I was a fresh intern at Start Accounting. She was the intern's manager, and I felt grateful for her kindness in holding my hand through the induction period.
Just a few smiles and checks on welfare, we somehow found a vibe that worked for us, or so I thought. She had laughed with me, cried with me, shared cheap pizza and bad wine on lonely nights.
Then she'd handed me over to my death without hesitation.
The old Elena would've swallowed it all. She would've mourned, forgiven, rationalized. But the woman standing here now, the one who had clawed her way back from death, had no space left for mercy.
It's strange how people we think we know are not really who we think they are. If I'm to be grateful for anything, it is her betrayal that birthed my transformation.
From weak to strong, timid to brave, and naive to cunning. I know she will be shocked, and even if she isn't. I intend to make her life hell.
****
By noon, I was dressed and outside. The office was only a few blocks away, but I took the long route, blending with the crowd, listening.
Every passing mind was a flicker of light, thoughts, emotions, fears. But I wasn't looking for them. I was searching for a frequency I knew too well.
When I reached the glass façade of Start Accounting, I saw her through the tinted doors before stepping in.
Ellie.
No, not Ellie anymore. Eleanor Parks, Senior Accounts Liaison, as her new ID tag gleamed.
She stood by the coffee machine, laughing too loudly with two of the junior analysts. Her laughter was the same as always, bubbly, careless, but her thoughts…
It's good Elena is not around today. I can't believe she survived.
The sound of it made my stomach twist.
I walked in, every click of my heels deliberate and calm. Heads turned. The office buzzed with polite greetings and concealed curiosity—Elena's back, Elena's sick leave didn't last long?
I could hear the undercurrent beneath their smiles.
She looks pale. She must be slipping; she might lose her job soon. Melissa is doing much better than her.
I smiled anyway and addressed loudly. "Morning, everyone."
Melissa emerged from her cubicle, perfect in her pinstripe suit and coral lipstick. "Elena! You're alive. We were worried."
You'd better not ruin my report with your absence.
"I'm touched," I said softly, keeping my tone neutral. "I was a bit under the weather this morning."
Her eyes flickered, just a little, before she smiled again. "Of course. We'll need to go over the Q3 presentation this afternoon. Tiffany already filled me in on your part."
It's my part now, her mind whispered. The manager was impressed.
I nodded slowly, filing the words away. I definitely need to deal with her soon.
****
The day crawled. The office felt smaller. I can hardly concentrate due to the vengeance burning in me. My mind was in tune with every whispered thought in the building.
I tried focusing on my work, but Ellie's mind kept brushing mine from across the room—like an itch I couldn't ignore.
I wondered how she survived that night; maybe she just got lucky and was saved by someone strolling. She has always wanted to prove she is the smart one, well, she isn't all that anyway. She deserved what she got that night.
That last thought shocked me.
She knew.
My throat went dry. My mind stretched out instinctively, brushing deeper into her thoughts.
Fragments flared: faces in an alley, money changing hands, a shadowy voice saying 'She'll be alone.'
An easy pick.
It wasn't just betrayal. It was murder-for-hire.
And she'd watched me bleed and left.
Something inside me snapped.
I didn't remember standing up, but suddenly I was walking toward her. Every step was slow, measured, my blood humming like static electricity under my skin. I stopped beside her desk.
"Ellie," I said softly.
She looked up, blinking. "Elena! Oh my God, you scared me."
"You always were jumpy." I smiled, leaning on her desk. "Got a minute?"
"Sure," she said hesitantly, rising. What does she want?
We walked to the break room; with a gentle click, the door shut behind us. Inside, the hum of the refrigerator filled the air. I could hear her heartbeat pick up, her thoughts scattering like startled birds.
She knows. She can't know. She can't—
I stepped closer. "You've been busy," I said. "Promoted, new title… congratulations."
She laughed, a brittle sound. "Yeah, well, hard work pays off, right?"
My gaze locked on hers. "Is that what you call it?"
Her breath hitched. I didn't need to read her mind to know she understood. "I don't know what you mean."
"Don't you?" My voice was quiet, but each word carried weight. "You led me into that alley. You said it was a shortcut."
Color drained from her face. "Elena, please—"
"You said trust me." My voice rose, sharp enough to cut glass. "And then you handed me over to death."
She trembled, eyes darting to the door. "It wasn't like that. They said they'd kill me if I didn't cooperate—"
"So, you picked me."
Her silence was answer enough.
I took a step forward. She flinched back, but there was nowhere to go. The room was small, and my power thrummed beneath my skin, barely restrained.
I could hear the rhythm of her pulse, fast, and panicked, and a dark part of me—one I barely recognized—wanted to make her feel what I'd felt.
But I didn't move. Not yet.
Instead, I smiled. Slowly. Coldly. "Do you know what it's like to die, Ellie?"
She shook her head, tears gathering in her eyes.
"It's cold," I whispered. "Colder than you think. The blood doesn't even feel real after a while. You stop fighting. You stop hoping. And the last thing you remember…" I leaned closer, my breath against her ear. "…is the voice of the one who betrayed you."
Her sob escaped before she could stop it. "Elena, please, I-I'm sorry—"
"I don't want your sorry." My tone hardened. "I want you to live with the consequences of your actions... I want you to wake up every morning wondering if today's the day you'll pay for it. And I want you to remember that I let you walk away."
I turned to leave, but paused at the door. "Oh, and Ellie?"
She looked up, shaking.
"If you ever whisper my name to anyone or try to set me up again… you won't see me coming, I have got my eyes on you."
The door clicked shut behind me.
Back at my desk, I typed mechanically, numbers blurring across the screen. No one noticed the tremor in my hands, or the faint shimmer in the air that followed me. But I could feel it—the shift. Something inside me had settled.
Ellie's fear pulsed in my mind from across the room, raw and electric. It wasn't satisfaction I felt.
It was something deeper, darker. The realization that I could hurt her if I wanted to.
That I had power and restraint, and both terrified me.
For years, I'd been the girl everyone pitied, the orphan, the doormat, the quiet one who never spoke back. But now…
Now I was something else.
It was already getting dark when I eventually left the building. The city lights were warping in puddles, and the streets were slippery from the rain. My reflection appeared cracked in the damp pavement as I moved slowly.
Somewhere in the distance, I could almost feel Adrian's mind—like a faint heartbeat on the edge of my senses. Alive and calling to me.
And I smiled to myself, relieved, "They took everything from me once. Never again."