Renata's footsteps felt incredibly heavy as she walked toward the door of her house. The house standing before her was no longer a warm home, but a shabby building that left behind deep trauma. The remains of the devastating fire from two years ago still stained the brick walls black, while piles of burned wooden debris and rusty corrugated metal had been left in a messy heap across the yard. Only the fairly small main house remained standing intact.
Renata walked slowly into the house and headed for the stairs. But just as her foot touched the first step,
"Renata! Do you have any money?!"
The scream thundered from the living room, making Renata flinch in shock. Her heart pounded as a stout woman with a face full of angry lines strode toward her. Mirna, Renata's stepmother.
Renata reflexively lowered her head and squeezed the edge of her cloth bag with trembling fingers. "I don't have any money, Mom. I haven't gotten paid yet. I'm still training at the restaurant."
Without mercy, the woman swung her hand and shoved Renata's head hard, making the thin girl stagger sideways and nearly fall, slamming into the wall.
"You good-for-nothing!" Mirna snapped, jabbing a finger at Renata's face with naked hatred. "I told you to find lots of money! And don't forget, your father died because of you! If you hadn't acted like some hotshot cooking in the kitchen that night, our restaurant would never have burned down, and your father wouldn't have died!"
Those words struck Renata's chest like a blade. The tears she'd been holding back suddenly poured down her dull cheeks.
"I've told you over and over, I didn't cause that fire!" Renata broke down sobbing, her voice hoarse and trembling with pain. "After I finished cooking, I turned off the stove properly! I checked it!"
The guilt that had haunted her for the past two years came back to ravage her soul. Renata had truly lost her father. If she could turn back time, she would have leaped into the middle of the flames to save him. On that fateful night, teenage Renata had been scared half to death when she saw a terrifying ghost flit through the kitchen. That paralyzing fear had made her run and hide in her room, locking herself in so tightly that she never heard the gas stove explode or her father's cries for help from downstairs.
"Yeah, right. Excuses!" Mirna scoffed without a shred of pity. "You're a real jinx! Your biological mother bled to death after giving birth to you, and then your father died like an idiot because of you too! Listen carefully—someone's coming to buy this land and what's left of the house in one week. Go wherever you want after that. You're not my problem anymore!"
Renata lifted her head, her red-rimmed eyes fixed on Mirna as she breathed heavily. Both her hands clenched so tightly that her fingernails turned white. "But this is Dad's house! You have no right to sell it!"
Mirna only laughed, her laughter dripping with petty mockery. "No right? I've been married to your father for ten years! For ten years, I've been patient and kept giving in while taking care of a jinx like you! I was the one who faithfully helped your father build his business until it succeeded. And most importantly, I'm his legal wife! All your father's documents and assets are already in my name!"
"You scheming bitch..." Renata hissed, her eyes flashing with fury mingled with desperation. "Could it have been you who deliberately burned down this house and killed Dad for the money?!"
Smack!
A hard slap landed squarely on Renata's left cheek. The force of the blow sent her weakened body flying, and she crashed face-first onto the dirty wooden floor.
"Hey! This stepmother is so evil! I really want to yank her hair out!" Amara shouted hysterically as she hovered there, watching the argument. She clenched her transparent fists and tried again and again to hit Mirna, but her body only passed through empty air. "Ugh, what do I do?! How am I supposed to help?!"
Renata clutched her cheek, which was burning red and numb. Without saying another word, she rose with a trembling body, then sprinted up the stairs to the second floor. She charged into her cramped bedroom, slammed the wooden door shut, and slid down until she was sitting hunched on the cold floor.
She hugged both knees to her chest and buried her face against them as her sobs erupted, shattering the silence of the room.
"Am I really a jinx?" Renata whispered hoarsely between sobs. "I hate this inner eye. What's the point of having this ability if it only makes my life miserable?!"