Chapter 1 Goodbye

Chapter One: Goodbye 

If life were a movie, Jessica’s story would have been panned by critics for being too depressing to be realistic. No single human being should have been able to possess that much bad luck without being cursed by an ancient, spiteful deity.

Jessica was behind the counter of a flickering convenience store, clutching a warm coffee. It was the only thing keeping her upright. 

She had just finished her third shift of the day. Between the morning spent at a cafe and the afternoon scrubbing office floors, Jessica was currently more caffeine than person.

Living in a leaky apartment in a neighborhood where the stray cats looked like they were struggling too, there was no other choice for her. Still, she kept a smile on her face. 

Well, Jessica had to. After her mother passed and her father vanished into a war that didn't even send back a medal, Jess had learned that the world didn't have room for her tears.

Her foster years had been surrounded by secret alcoholics, who treated her like a punching bag. When they eventually tried to sell her to a debt collector to cover their gin habits, Jess had jumped out of a second-story window and never looked back. She had worked three jobs ever since, living on expired donuts and pure spite.

"Excuse me, miss? Could you help me?"

A man leaning heavily on crutches approached the counter. His leg was wrapped in a filthy bandage, and his face was etched with pain. Jessica’s heart, which should have been a diamond by now, softened instantly.

"Oh, of course! Long day," a small mutter came from her lips, offering a genuine smile. "Is that all for you?"

"Just the bread and milk," the man wheezed, fumbling with a tattered wallet. "I lost my job after the accident. It’s been rough."

Jess felt a pang of guilt for complaining about her own life. "Don’t worry about the change. It’s on me today. Consider it a bit of good karma."

The man looked like he was about to cry. "You’re an angel, miss. Truly."

As he hobbled toward the door, he paused. "Oh, I think you dropped your wallet by the freezer?"

“What?” Jess gasped. Her rent money was in that wallet. She stepped out from behind the counter, squinting at the floor. "Where? I don't see…"

In a move so fast it blurred, the "disabled" man dropped his crutches and bolted. He didn't grab a wallet; he snatched her phone from the charging port and sprinted out the door.

"Hey!" Jessica yelled. "What are you doing? That’s my alarm clock!"

Adrenaline fueled by pure, unadulterated annoyance travelled through her. She burst out of the store, her cheap sneakers slapped against the wet ground, well, surprisingly Jessica was fast when she was angry. 

Eventually, gaining on him, dodging through the main intersection.

"Stop! Give it back, you jerk!"

She saw the green light for pedestrians and lunged forward, her fingers inches from the thief’s jacket. She didn't see the black-and-white cruiser speeding toward the intersection with its lights off.

The irony hit her a split second before the bumper did.

There was a dull thud, a moment of strange silence, and then a very hard landing. As the world blurred, the poor girl looked up at the city lights.

‘Of course,’ she thought, her final spark of consciousness started vanishing. ‘I get killed by the police while trying to stop a crime. The universe really does have a twisted sense of humor.’

As her vision began to fray at the edges, the cold asphalt felt surprisingly like a bed. For the first time in twenty-four years, Jessica didn't have to worry about the morning shift, didn't have to worry about the rent or the hole in her shoe that let the rain in.

‘Is this it?’ wondering, her breath started hitching in her chest. ‘The grand finale of the girl who couldn't catch a break?’

Regret started flooding into her brain…oh, how heavy and bitter that felt. She regretted the fiver she gave that thief, regretted jumping out of that window only to end up under a tire. 

Most of all, this poor soul regretted that she’d never really lived, but only survived. Memories of her foster parents’ basement came by, the scent of cheap gin and the sound of aggressive steps. 

Remembering the hunger that used to make her dizzy and the way she’d learned to hide her bruises with cheap foundation, Jessica’s eyes started seeing weakly-painted stars. 

It was a miserable, unfair loop of a life.

But, in this darkness, a strange memory welcomed her. It wasn't of her mother’s face or her father’s voice, but of a book. A year ago, during a particularly lonely Christmas spent in a 24-hour laundromat, Jess had found a discarded novel titled;

 ~The Twisted Story.~

She had read it cover to cover, obsessed with the character of Neria Virethorn. The fictional Neria was a villainess, a woman with everything who still managed to be miserable. For some weird reason, Jess really, really hated her. She had spent her last few coins on a digital subscription just to see how that “Neria” died.

‘Why am I thinking about a web novel now?’ In that thought, her heartbeat slowed down. ‘I should be seeing a white light, not a plot summary about a murderous crown prince and a secret bastard brother.’

The details of the book began to play like a movie behind her eyelids. Jess saw the dragon eggs, the crystal chandeliers of the palace, and the cold, terrifying face of Sebastian Blackmoor. 

This story was etched into her mind with a weird, unnatural clarity. It was as if the book were a life raft and the rest of her memories were the sinking ship.

‘I hope the next world has better traffic laws,’ a short whisper gathered in her mind, though no sound left her lips.

With a final, useless breath, Jessica Munro closed her eyes. The sirens disappeared, and that stabbing pain inside her heart finally vanished. 

And so, the unlucky girl from the convenience store let go of the world, leaving nothing behind but a broken phone and a life that had been far too short.

‘Goodbye…’