Two Years, A Cosmic Lie

Two Years, A Cosmic Lie

Tamarah Lupton

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I poured every spare dollar from my part-time jobs and scholarships into a scuffed-up piggy bank, dreaming of a future with Chloe and a promise ring that would seal our love. But then I heard her laugh-a laugh that wasn't for me. Just an hour after I ended things, saying "We're over," my best friend, Liam, walked up, clueless as ever, showing off an expensive watch Chloe had helped him pick out, a watch that screamed what a joke my cheap promise ring was. I ducked into a stairwell, my heart pounding, and pulled out my phone. In our shared photo album, I found a selfie of Chloe and her friends at a fancy rooftop bar. Zooming in, I saw it-my piggy bank, next to a bottle of champagne, being used as an ashtray. The memory hit me: overhearing Chloe brag to her friends about using me as "A tool, a pawn to make Liam finally notice me," all while calling me "a little charity case" and "so boring." My world shattered. Two years, all a lie, a game where I was just a prop in her drama with Liam. The cheap daisies I held for her surprise visit were crushed in my hand, my stomach churning with nausea. I spent the night walking, my mind a blank, howling void. The pain solidified into a cold, hard resolve: I had to disappear. Five years of isolation. No friends. No family. No Chloe. To me, it sounded less like a punishment and more like a rescue. I went to see Professor Davies and signed up for the Ares Project.

Introduction

I poured every spare dollar from my part-time jobs and scholarships into a scuffed-up piggy bank, dreaming of a future with Chloe and a promise ring that would seal our love. But then I heard her laugh-a laugh that wasn't for me.

Just an hour after I ended things, saying "We're over," my best friend, Liam, walked up, clueless as ever, showing off an expensive watch Chloe had helped him pick out, a watch that screamed what a joke my cheap promise ring was.

I ducked into a stairwell, my heart pounding, and pulled out my phone. In our shared photo album, I found a selfie of Chloe and her friends at a fancy rooftop bar. Zooming in, I saw it-my piggy bank, next to a bottle of champagne, being used as an ashtray. The memory hit me: overhearing Chloe brag to her friends about using me as "A tool, a pawn to make Liam finally notice me," all while calling me "a little charity case" and "so boring."

My world shattered. Two years, all a lie, a game where I was just a prop in her drama with Liam. The cheap daisies I held for her surprise visit were crushed in my hand, my stomach churning with nausea.

I spent the night walking, my mind a blank, howling void. The pain solidified into a cold, hard resolve: I had to disappear.

Five years of isolation. No friends. No family. No Chloe. To me, it sounded less like a punishment and more like a rescue. I went to see Professor Davies and signed up for the Ares Project.

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The last thing I remembered was the freezing water filling my lungs. My adoptive parents, the Millers, had sold me, a tool for their precious biological son. They took money from Olivia Hayes's family, the very girl who made my high school years a living hell, and used it to force me out of school, arranging a marriage to a man twice my age. Then, a sterile, mechanical voice echoed in the void, "Host soul detected. High levels of grievance and resentment. Revenge System activating." My eyes snapped open. I wasn't at the bottom of a lake. I was back in my classroom, the day it all started, the day Olivia Hayes framed me for cheating. The system's voice revealed a shocking truth: "You are Ava Hayes, the true heiress of the Hayes family. The woman you know as Olivia Hayes is actually Olivia Miller, the biological daughter of your adoptive parents. A deliberate swap was made at the hospital eighteen years ago." My tormentor was their real daughter, and I belonged to the wealthy family she pretended to be a part of. The sheer irony was suffocating. Olivia, my "sister" in this twisted reality, continued to mock me, ordering me to do her "brother" Liam's homework. Liam, the lazy, entitled leech, expected me to be his personal servant. In my past life, this refusal led to my destruction. But this time, I saw the resemblance between Olivia and "Mom" Miller, the woman who sold me. A cold smile touched my lips. "You're right. Family is so important. You know it's funny. Liam looks so much like his dad, but you… you look exactly like his mom. Almost like you're her real daughter." Planting the seed of doubt, I knew they would soon learn how to play my game. The old Ava was gone. This time, I was setting the board.

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