Mystery of the Half-Scratched Lottery Ticket

At my eighteenth birthday celebration, my cousin gave me a half-scratched lottery ticket as a coming-of-age gift.

When he realized I'd won twenty dollars, he suddenly demanded to buy the ticket from me for two hundred thousand.

Something about it felt wrong, and I refused.

Then he snapped. Like a man gone mad, he cursed me, wishing me dead, and in front of all the guests, shoved me off the balcony.

Dozens of people watched, including my own parents, silently condoning him—joining in, shouting that I deserved to die.

And then I opened my eyes… and I was back half an hour earlier.