The Vipers We Loved

“My name is Jennifer Johns, and for twenty years, I poured my life, my love, and every dollar into raising my best friend' s children as my own. I did it because their mother, Sabrina, supposedly died of cancer, and her last wish was for me to protect them. Then, my adoptive daughter, Molly, stood before a judge and accused my husband, Andrew, of sexually abusing her for years. Andrew was convicted and died in prison. My adoptive son, Caleb, had me committed to a psychiatric facility, where I died, utterly broken and alone. Shortly after, the ghost of my best friend, Sabrina, walked onto a national talk show, alive and well, pointing at the camera and screaming, "I trusted you! And you let your sick husband use them!" My heart shattered, my reputation ruined, and my life extinguished by the very people I sacrificed everything for. How could I have been so blind, so foolish? The betrayal tore me apart, the injustice a gaping wound that never healed. Until I wasn't dead. I jolted awake with a gasp in my own bed, the phantom touch of restraints still clinging to my wrists. Andrew was next to me, his eyes mirroring the horror in mine. And then, the doorbell rang. Sabrina was here, alive, poised to reel me in with her same cruel lie – but this time, Andrew and I remembered everything. This time, we were ready to fight back. This time, we would write our own ending.”