Chapitre 2: Disbelief

Ella closed her eyes, and she felt her soul leave her flesh. She stood just above her lifeless body.

Isn't life extraordinary? In her wildest dreams, never had she ever thought one day she would see herself in such a sorry state. She thought 'who would want to see themselves like this? Even the craziest person would not want to see themselves like this'.

While in her thoughts, she heard footsteps getting louder. She turned to the direction the footsteps were coming from and a person walked towards where body laid.

The person continued to walk towards her lifeless body. Unfortunately, it was dark, and all she could make out was, the person was a woman but not her identity. The woman approached her body and knelt down. It was then that Ella could make out the face, the woman was none other than her eldest sister, Maria Palmer.

Ella felt sorry for her sister. She thought her sister would be hurt seeing her in this state, however laughter pierced through Ella's thoughts. Her sister's sudden laughter confused Ella. 'Has my sister gone into hysterics from seeing my dead body'. Ella was so worried seeing her sister like this, she wanted to apologise for the pain she had caused her sister and tell her she loved her very much.

Maria continued to laugh "ha ha ha Ella, Ella, Ella. Never have I, in my wildest dreams thought you were this stupid. Finally, you're out of my way, from now on everything belongs to me." said Maria. Her sister continued to laugh at her Ella's dead body, but Ella thought Maria was hurt by her death. Hearing Maria's words, Ella's mind went blank for a moment.

'What does she mean by this?' Ella thought. 'Was her sister happy because she had died? No, no, no why would she be? But my sister said just now, with her own mouth. Why is she behaving like this?' Ella could not believe her ears, nor could she ignore her sister's statement Ella could not understand. Her sister loved her the most, she doted on her.

Ella's stood there trying to process everything when she heard "now I am the only daughter of the Palmer family. I am the only heir to the estate uncle Israel has. I wonder how he will feel when he finally realises that all his estate will end up in the hands of the brother he never wanted to acknowledge. I am the next CEO of Palmers Inc. And oh, the future Mrs Xavier McCann. I wonder how sister will feel knowing I beat her to taking him away from you." said Maria cheerfully. Ella felt so confused, 'Papa has a brother? I thought I was Maria's only sister? what is she talking about? Who are these people?' Ella was lost in her thoughts.

Ella stood there, she felt cold all over as if her body had been suddenly drenched in ice water. She couldn't process what was happening fast enough. It dawned on her; Maria had killed her. She planned the abduction, she planned her murder, her sister Maria Palmer that she loved the most and trusted unconditionally had planned her demise. No, she's no sister of mine. Ella could not believe her eyes and ears. Her sister, Maria Palmer had killed her. Her sister that she had always cherished, her sister that she had always believed to be kind, loving and gentle had killed her.

Just because Maria wanted everything from her father, she had killed her own kin. How cruel could she be? To kill the one person who loved her so unconditionally, trusted her so blindly. Suddenly memories of her arguments with Xavier came flooding her memory. Ella had misunderstood him. 'Xavier had never cheated on me. He could never and he didn't' thought Ella sadly. Then Maria's voice broke into her thoughts. "oh Ella, Ella, Ella, how foolish you have been. You're stupid that you believed Xavier would cheat on you." Maria mocked. "What? Did you feed your brains to the dogs? What a fool. Grandma will be so proud of me. Finally, after so many years, I can go home and bring wealth to my family" mocked Maria.

Ella started laughing crazily. Her life was a joke, the worst joke she'd ever witnessed. Just because she trusted her evil sister, she'd hurt the one person who'd loved, protected, and cared for her, only her. 'Father has a family?' she thought.

"Ella, because of you, Xavier never looked at me. He only sees you and only loves you. Do you know how much I hate you and for how long I've hated you, Ella? He always looked at you with so much love in his eyes, as if the world begins and ends with you, but you always just ignored him. Still, Xavier treats you like you're the most precious jewel of his life. I have loved him for over a decade, he never cared for me, not even a little bit". Said Maria.

Maria glared at Ella's dead body with hatred and continued her speech; "He always ignores me just because you don't like it when he looks at other women. Do you know how much effort I put into getting his love and care? Only because of you, he looked at me like I don't even exist in his eyes". Maria paused seemingly caught in her memories, then continued. "Even our parents always gave you everything you wanted. They also only cared for you only loved you. So, for Xavier and everything else I had to do this. See I had to make you vanish from our lives. From now on, you'll be out of our lives for good. Next week Xavier will marry me; I will be Mrs Xavier McCann, ME. So, you see my dear foolish sister, I won" Maria giggled.

Ella stood there frozen as every argument she'd had with her parents and Xavier played out in her mind. She stood there unable to digest everything Maria had just told her. Maria sounded like a maniac, but she sure had points. she Ella had been a fool.

"Come here" called out Maria. Two men walked over to Ella and Maria. Maria stood up and ordered "Toss her body in the ocean. Make sure no one can find her body". She looked at back at Ella's body with a smile and said "Goodbye little sis. Let's not meet in your next life. If we meet again in our next life, your life will be the same as this. This is your fate". Maria turned on her heels and walked away.

Ella begun cursing herself. Because of Maria, she had hurt everyone, not only that, but she could also not make amends because this crazy witch had killed her. Ella cried uncontrollably, suddenly her vision became blurred, and everything turned pitch black.

꧁ ........ ꧂

Ella's eyes trembled as she hesitated to open them, however she could no longer continue sleeping. She opened her eyes, the room was bright, and the surface she laid on felt familiar. Ella sat up; the bed was enormous. 'Where am I? ' Ella wondered. Ella looked around, and everything looked so familiar to her yet strange. Ella pulled herself into a kneeling position on her bed while she looked around. As she took everything in, her eyes widened, and her jaw dropped in disbelief. 'This is my room!' Elle thought and fell back into a sitting position. 'Did they inject me with a hallucinogenic substance of some sort' she thought to herself. 'NO, NO, NO IMPOSSIBLE' shouted Ella in her mind.

Ella closed her eyes and opened them; she was met with the same scene. Ella repeated this numerous times before drawing one long breathe to calm her nerves. She realised she wasn't dreaming; this is all real. With eyes wide opened, Ella was baffled. She jumped off her bed, quickly dashed to her bathroom. Ella looked into the mirror, touching face, she could not believe what she saw. There were no scars on her face, meaning, she had not been kidnapped yet. Ella released the breath she was holding. She walked over to where her phone was charging and checked for time and date. 'What? Thursday,14th April XXXX' Ella thought. This means her wedding was Saturday, the coming week.

Ella sat down trying to process everything. When she had run away from her wedding, someone had kidnapped her. She ran away from the wedding because she thought Xavier had cheated on her. After leaving her hotel suite in a fit of rage, someone had kidnapped her. That someone had gone as far as to ruin her face with acid, and it turned out this was all her elder sister, Maria's plan. Ella clearly remembered the pain, she remembered Maria's mini monologue over her dead body, she remembered how her sister killed her using her own trust and love against her. She remembered how her sister is plotting on stealing her father's wealth to give to her long-lost uncle. 'If all the pain and memory are real, does that mean i had been reborn?' Thought Ella.

'Oh my god, I have been reborn. Given a chance to make things right. Protect my family' Ella felt like someone had dropped a massive blessing from sky to her lap.