𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐄 ✔️

Chapter One

A beeping sound was heard from beside me. My first instinct was to groan and flail around in my bed, trying to look for the source of the noise. My hand hit something and knocked it off the side—the beeping stopped. I smiled and relaxed into my bed. And then I felt a stabbing pain in my stomach.

Then it all came back. As a bad dream always does. Fast, and later than it should do. I shot up in my bed, pulling up my pyjama top, which I don't remember putting on, and looking for a stab wound. There was nothing there. I placed my palm over my racing heart and exhaled in relief.

But then I looked up. This isn't my room. A sudden thought jolted through my head, echoing in a voice that...wasn't mine.

Great, school again. Damn my life.

I frowned. School? I don't go to school. I finished school earlier this year with two C's, two B's, four A's and three A*'s. Pretty sure I'm finished.

Nonetheless, I swung my feet over the edge of the bed and pattered over to the window. I peered out of it. Where the hell am I? I had no idea what street I was on, but I vaguely recognised my surroundings.

Frowning, I turned around and found a mirror. I moved over to it, ready to relax my unruly brown hair. Then I froze. The girl looking back at me wasn't me. I fell backwards in shock and landed on the floor with a thud. Now closer to the mirror than before, I pushed myself off the reflection so fast that I nearly broke my hand. Or—her hand.

I swallowed. Staring back at me wasn't brown haired, brown eyes Olivia Clark; it was brown-haired, green-eyed Alessia Trent. The girl who had stabbed me in my nightmare.

I sat as far away from the mirror as I possibly could, just staring at the reflection in the mirror for what seemed like hours. Then, I took a deep breath and crawled back over to the mirror. At first, I stopped a metre away, but I needed to know—I need to know if this was real or if it was just a facade.

I got so close that, when I sat cross-legged, my knees touched the mirror. I tucked my legs underneath me and rose onto my knees, leaning into the mirror. Green eyes, light skin, brown hair, gorgeous lips, a button nose. I was Alessia Trent.

I held onto the chest of drawers beside me to stabilise myself as I pulled myself up off the floor. What the hell is going on? Am I dead? Is this the afterlife?

If that nightmare was real, I am inside my killer's body. A shiver ran down my—Alessia's—spine. I reached up and touched the porcelain skin that covered Alessia's face. It was soft and completely clear of any blemishes. She's pretty, I'll give her that.

But through Alessia's eyes, everything was dimmer. It was as if someone turned the contrast up, the brightness down, and the clarity up. Everything was so dark, and nothing around her held any beauty. It was all strikingly horrid. I blinked.

Okay. Fine. I'll play your game. You stab me, I die, now I live your life.

"I'm giving you one day, and then I'm either dead, or you put me back in my body." I had no idea who I was talking to, but I was more caught up in the fact that Alessia's voice spoke my thoughts.

I turned away from the mirror, wanting to see nothing more. I picked up the alarm clock that I had killed and grimaced as I saw that I had broken off some random plastic part. But it still ticked, so I guessed that it was fine. The time read 7:30 am. School started at 8:30 am. I had no idea where I was, and so no idea how to get to school; I was going to be late.

I closed my eyes, inhaled, and then exhaled. I am Alessia Trent, not Olivia Clark, and I will survive this school day.

I span around in her room in a daze for a few moments. I had never been in Alessia's room before—never mind her house; I had never really been close to her. I went straight to her wardrobe, but upon seeing an array of really extravagant frocks, I shut the doors.