Chapter 1
Everyone knew my grandma was a terrible person.
She only cared about boys. The moment I was born, she tried to sneak me out in the middle of the night and dump me in the river. Only when someone caught her did she grudgingly bring me back home.
She was stingy as hell. Even if the meat was ruined and trampled, she'd rather waste it than let me have an extra bite.
She was a real vampire. From the time I was a kid, she snatched up every scholarship and grant I ever got, never gave me a single penny, like she wanted to drain me dry.
When she finally passed, everyone was relieved that I was finally out of that nightmare.
Years later, when the time machine was finally built, I was one of the first to sign up for the trial.
The very first thing I did with that machine was travel back to the moment I first met that old hag.
Everyone thought I was going to make her pay.
But when I looked back across time and saw everything clearly, the truth hit me.
Instead, I broke down and hugged her when she was still strong. My heart felt like it was being ripped to shreds.
*****
After the time machine was finally built, I volunteered to be one of the first testers.
The whole trial was live-streamed online, and the venue was jam-packed. Tickets were selling for tens of thousands of dollars.
People weren't there for anything else. They just wanted to see me, a broke kid who managed to get into the country's top university after retaking the exam, travel back in time and slap that old hag who used to abuse me right in the face.
My parents were bawling their eyes out in front of the reporters and cameras, talking nonstop about all the abuse I went through as a kid.
My mom said, "We didn't have much money, so when we left to work out of town, we had no choice but to leave Brenda with her grandma.
"Who would've thought that old monster was just a real beast behind that human face? She abused Brenda again and again, and even stopped her from taking the college entrance exam!
"Who knows how much more Brenda would've suffered if we hadn't found out and taken her back in time!"
My mom added, "Thank God that old monster died right after Brenda's SAT. She was nothing but trouble while she was alive!"
With my parents sobbing and telling their side of the story, everyone was sure my grandma was the worst kind of person.
After all, they'd been posting short videos for years, and every clip from home showed grandma's scowling, bitter face.
She never bothered to make us a hot meal, and sometimes she'd even toss sand or bugs into our food.
Whenever my parents bought meat just for me, she'd rather throw it on the ground and stomp it to pieces than let me have a single bite, no matter how hard I cried my eyes out.
With all that, this old lady from the countryside had already become public enemy number one online.
So when I stepped onto the test platform and checked the live stream comments through my brain chip, all I saw were people trashing her.
No matter how nasty the curses got, I totally agreed with every single one.
After all, I'd resented Grandma to the core my whole life. She was the woman who raised me, yet made my life a living hell.
Just like everyone else around me, I saw her as a complete menace. I wanted to watch her downfall all over again.
The machine whirred to life.
After a dizzy spell, I was jolted awake by the screams of the crowd right next to my ears.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I realized I was stark naked in a washbasin. My chest tightened, and a wave of hatred crashed through my mind.
My first landing point was right after I was born.
It was the exact moment when my grandma was about to toss me into the river.
This memory only existed in my mom's tearful retellings.
Back when I was born, my grandma hated the fact that I was a girl. She tried to secretly dump me in the river and drown me.
Now, someone was clutching me so hard, rough fabric smothering my face. I could barely breathe, the pain nearly choking me.
Everyone watching, both in the live stream and at the scene, was left totally stunned.
[That old hag is ruthless! Throwing the baby in the river wasn't enough. She had to smother her first, just to make sure she wouldn't make it out alive!]
[No wonder she got what was coming to her. She totally deserved it!]
[Am I the only one who feels bad for Brenda? She's just a newborn, and already being put through hell. Poor thing... my heart breaks for her.]
[For all we know, it might not even be her grandma. All we see is some cloth. What if it's someone else?]
[Who else could be that cruel if not her grandma? Seriously, stop trying to whitewash her.]
The barrage of comments started to fade out in my mind. Just when I thought I was about to suffocate and get yanked back to reality, something unexpected happened.
The woman who was smothering me suddenly got scared by something, dropped me, and ran off in a panic.
I hit the ground hard. When I reopened my sore, tightly shut eyes, I saw my grandmother. She was more than ten years younger.
She was actually quite pretty, but her brows were always furrowed, like she was perpetually pissed off at the world.
Just as I was about to sink my teeth into her, Maya's familiar voice rang out from the roadside, cursing up a storm.
"Mrs. Dunlap, how could you be so cruel!"
"Yeah, she's a girl, not as valuable as a boy, but she's still a living person! How can you be so heartless!"