Chapter 3

The campus doctor had arrived, Gail was awake, and it was over.

I had rewritten my brother's fate.

John came over and ruffled my hair, his voice carrying a hint of helpless indulgence.

"You. You scared me half to death back there. Why make such a scene out of it?"

I looked at his unharmed face and my eyes stung, tears almost spilling over.

"I just didn't want your good intentions getting twisted around."

"All right, all right. It's fine now." He smiled.

I nodded hard, ready to leave this whole mess behind with him.

Then, out of nowhere, May shouted.

"Something's wrong! Gail's passed out again!"

I whipped around and saw May come bursting out of the lounge doorway a little way off, her face twisted with terror.

She ran straight to my brother and grabbed his arm.

"Senior Mason! You have to come check on Gail!"

"She collapsed the second she got into the lounge, and we can't wake her no matter what we do!"

"Hurry! Go save her!"

And with that she was dragging him toward the lounge with everything she had.

Alarms went off in my head. Something was very wrong.

They'd changed locations.

"John! Don't go!" I screamed, lunging to pull him back.

But the moment I moved, several male students clamped down on my arms.

"Flora Mason, what are you trying to pull now?"

"Won't you be satisfied until Gail dies right in front of you?"

"We're not letting you get away with it again!"

They berated me, righteous and furious, and their grip was frighteningly strong, pinning me where I stood.

I could only watch as May shoved my brother into the lounge, and then, with a deafening slam, locked the door behind them.

"Let go of me!" I thrashed like a madwoman.

"You're the ones hurting my brother!"

But they didn't budge. If anything, they pressed down harder.

"Calm down! Your brother's saving someone!"

"How can a woman be this vicious? We wasted our praise on you earlier."

I stared at that shut door in despair, my chest hurting so much I couldn't breathe.

Everything was lining up with my last life.

Last time, the tragedy had happened in broad daylight.

This time, I'd stopped them, and they'd simply moved it to a sealed room with no witnesses.

Just as everything inside me went dead,

a shrill scream tore out of the lounge from Gail.

"Ah!"

The next second, the door was yanked open from the inside.

Gail came stumbling out, her clothes in disarray, a long tear ripped down the collar of her training uniform.

Her hair was a mess, tear tracks down her face, every inch of her the picture of someone who'd been violated.

She threw herself, sobbing, at the academic advisor who had just arrived.

"Mr. Lambert! Help me!"

"John Mason was in the lounge, and under the excuse of giving me first aid, he molested me!"

My brother came out right behind her, his face all shock and helplessness, completely lost as to what had happened.

"I didn't! I never touched her!"

He tried desperately to explain, but his voice was swallowed whole by the wall of fury around him, the curses crashing down from every direction.

Every classmate and instructor now looked at my brother differently, their eyes full of contempt and disgust.

"Shameless. Using a rescue as cover to grope a girl!"

"Looked so decent, and turns out he's an animal in a nice suit!"

May rushed forward, caught the swaying Gail in her arms, and turned to glare at us.