Chapter 1
I ran a neighborhood package drop. People shipped stuff here, I signed for it, and they picked it up anytime. No more porch pirates.
One time, some brat ordered a whole nest of roach eggs online and left the package at my shop on purpose. He refused to come get it.
In my previous life, the hatched roaches wrecked my entire store, and my neighbors cyberbullied me until I was driven to jump off a building.
Now that I'd been given a second chance, I smiled as I stared at the wriggling package.
Martha, my neighbor, was always looking for a freebie. So I'd hand-deliver this "million-dollar rare breed" right to her.
*****
The air conditioner fan blades clicked to a stop mid-spin. The shop was thick with the musty stench of soggy cardboard, mixed with that unmistakable sour sting of packing tape.
I gulped down a lungful of that nasty air. My chest burned as my lungs stretched. I was really alive.
Instinctively, I reached for the back of my head. No blood, no shattered skull, no cold concrete floor. Only my hand, slick with cold sweat.
Piles of packages stacked like mountains loomed before me, tombs ready to collapse, boxing me in from every side.
"Hey, I want my package." A boy's shrill voice drilled right into my ears.
I snapped my head up. There he was, a pudgy kid around ten years old in a Superman T-shirt. He had a half-eaten hot dog in one hand, and its sauce was dripping all over my counter. Harry Lawson.
It was Harry Lawson, that troublemaker from the sixth floor of my apartment building.
My pupils tightened, my heart squeezed so hard it felt like it might burst. Memories from my previous life slammed into me, relentless and overwhelming.
Harry had bought five hundred roach eggs online. These were the big, flying roaches from the South. They breed like crazy and crawl with disease.
He deliberately left the package at my shop, refusing to pick it up.
It was August, the hottest days of the year. The shop was stifling and humid, the perfect breeding ground for hatching.
Three days was all it took. From that black package, countless larvae spilled out and spread like wildfire through every corner of my store. Every cardboard box became both their food and their nest.
By the time I realized something was wrong, it was a living hell. The walls, the gaps between the shelves, and even my water cup were all crawling with a dense mass of dark brown antennae.
A customer came to pick up their package, opened it, and a swarm of roaches burst out. The screams nearly blew the roof off.
Then I became public enemy number one.
Even worse, the roaches took over the whole building, crawling through the pipes. All the residents teamed up and came after me for compensation.
Nia, Harry's mom, the one with that loud voice, jabbed her finger right in my face and called me a dirty freak. She said I was too cheap to keep the place clean.
Then she started spreading rumors that I was breeding bugs on purpose. "You have to pay. Harry's having nightmares now!"
I burned through all my savings. I sold my old family house. But it was still a black hole. Nothing was ever enough.
In the end, the landlord kicked me out, and my neighbors slashed my tires and spray-painted "freak" on my door.
On a night of pouring rain, I threw myself off the rooftop.
Right before I died, I spotted Harry in the crowd. That smug grin was plastered across his face. He said, "Man, this is hilarious. What a show."