Second Life, Their Freedom

Synopsis

I remained a widow for Alfred Carroll for twenty years. He was a titan in academia, a pioneer in his field, and after he passed, the whole world mourned him. Everyone praised me for being thrifty and devoted, the most beautiful wife in the country. I believed them. It wasn't until I was sorting through his things that I stumbled upon a password-protected journal. Inside, he wrote about how guilty he felt about Selena Lloyd. She once saved his life, and the only way he could repay her was by altering my future. I should have been doing research at the most prestigious university in the country, but instead, I was trapped in a life of cooking, cleaning, and endless household duties. It felt like someone stabbed my heart with a steel needle, and everything went black in an instant. As I blinked awake, the young Alfred's worried face appeared right in front of me. "Lydia, are you alright? You look so pale," he said.