Chapter 2

My hands hung limp at my sides, and I clenched them into fists.

My nails cut into my palms, and blood welled up.

"Why? Ivan, what did you see?"

I demanded, my voice cracking on the edge of tears.

Ivan wasn't listening to anything I said. He scrambled and stumbled out of the bathroom.

He didn't even change his shoes, just yanked the front door open and bolted.

The security door slammed shut with a deafening crash.

In the empty living room, the only sound left was my own ragged breathing.

I went to the floor-to-ceiling window and watched Ivan sprinting away below.

He ran in a stagger, tripped and fell flat even on level ground, then crawled up and scrambled into the car and floored it out of the complex.

I sank onto the couch, my heart aching like it was about to split open.

I walked to the entryway, picked up the dark glasses that had fallen to the floor, and put them back on.

I took out my phone and started a video call with my best friend, Tania Pruitt.

Tania was my closest friend. We'd grown up together, told each other everything.

The call rang three times before she picked up.

Tania's face appeared on the screen, a sheet mask on.

"Ali? Weren't you getting the bandages off today? Why are you wearing sunglasses? Did the surgery not go well?"

Her voice was full of concern.

I swallowed the tremor in my voice and took a deep breath.

"Tania, Ivan ran off. He wants a divorce."

Tania ripped the mask off her face, her brows shooting up.

"What?! Has that bastard Ivan lost his mind? You just had surgery and he's picking a fight about divorce? Where is he, I'll go carve him up right now!"

Seeing her burning with outrage on my behalf, a little warmth crept back into me.

I seized the chance to ask her.

"Tania, help me think this through. Why would someone see a pair of perfectly normal eyes and be so scared they drop to their knees begging?"

Tania blinked, her face full of confusion.

"What nonsense are you talking? Unless there's a ghost in those eyes, or the person did something they feel guilty about. What's actually going on with Ivan?"

I bit my lip, unable to explain a single word.

Because even I didn't know the answer.

"Tania, the truth is, my surgery worked."

I raised my hand and rested it on the arm of my glasses.

"I want you to take a look for me and tell me what's wrong with my eyes."

Tania leaned in close to the screen, her eyes wide.

"Okay, take them off and let me see. Is there a scar? Cosmetic medicine is really advanced now, don't be scared."

I took a deep breath, pulled the glasses off in one motion, and looked straight into the phone's camera.

One second.

Two seconds.

On the other end, Tania suddenly froze.

Her eyes went wider and wider, until they were nearly bulging out of their sockets.

The color drained from her face in an instant, replaced by pure terror.

"Aaah——!!!"

Tania let out a scream, shrill beyond anything.

"Get away! Don't touch me! Don't eat me!"

On the other side of the screen she flailed her arms wildly, as if fending off some invisible, monstrous horror.

She grabbed her phone and hurled it at the wall across from her.

With a bang, the screen went black.

The call cut off.

I called back at once.

The system message said: "The person you are calling is busy."

I'd been blocked.

Just like in my last life, she'd blocked me on everything.

The hand holding my phone shook violently.

Why? Why any of it?

Ivan had looked straight into my eyes.

But Tania had looked at my eyes through a phone screen.

Could this terror really spread down a network signal?

This was absolutely not some trick of the mind, and it was no coincidence.

Right then, a burst of frantic pounding came from the front door.

"Bang, bang, Bang! "

The security door shook with the blows.

"Alison! Open the door, you little brat! I know you're in there!"

It was my mother's voice.

My whole body went rigid, and a chill shot up from the soles of my feet to the top of my head.