Chapter 1

I' ve been dead for three years.

From the quiet place I now exist, I watch the world I left behind. I don' t feel cold or pain anymore, I just watch.

I watch my family' s tech company, Miller Innovations, fall apart piece by piece. My father, David Miller, who once stood so tall in boardrooms, now stoops, his face etched with a sickness that has no name. My mother, Sarah, who always prided herself on her perfect health, is a ghost in her own home, constantly weak and tired.

Their once-thriving world has crumbled into dust.

And then there' s my older sister, Brittany. Beautiful, charming Brittany. She' s had five fiancés. Every single one of them died before the wedding day, a string of tragedies that the newspapers called a curse.

The family fortune is gone, their health is failing, and their golden child is surrounded by death. My father, desperate and broken, finally did what all desperate people do. He looked for a miracle.

He hired a spiritual medium.

Madame Zelda arrived at our house, a place now filled with the smell of medicine and despair. She wasn't what I expected. She was a simple-looking woman with eyes that saw far too much. She walked into the living room, took one look at my parents, and didn't even bother with cards or a crystal ball.

"The problem isn' t a curse on this house."

Her voice was calm but carried weight.

"It' s a spirit. A restless soul tied to your family."

My father leaned forward, his hands trembling. "Who? Who is it?"

Madame Zelda' s eyes scanned the room and then settled on a blank space on the wall, right where my high school graduation photo used to hang.

"Your youngest daughter. Chloe."

The name hung in the air, thick and unwelcome.

My mother, Sarah, let out a sound, a mix between a scoff and a growl. It was a sound I knew well.

"That little brat."

Her voice was sharp, filled with a familiar hatred that even death couldn't erase.

"Even dead she' s causing trouble! Always bringing us misery! She was a jinx from the day she was born!"

That night, my mother did something I watched with a hollow ache. She gathered every last thing of mine she could find, the few cheap dresses, the worn-out books, the single photo of me with my dog, Rex. She dragged them into the backyard and set them on fire.

The flames licked at the memories, turning them to ash.

"If I could go back," she screamed at the fire, her face twisted with rage, "I' d make sure she never saw the light of day!"

My father stood beside her, silent, his face a mask of weary agreement.

From my place beyond, a single thought echoed in the emptiness.

"I always knew no one loved me in this world. But I never understood why. Now I see. You were always so worried about ghosts and curses, Mom and Dad. But the real monsters were always right there, living in your house, sleeping down the hall..."

The day after my things were burned, another crisis hit. The investors who were propping up what was left of Miller Innovations pulled out. The final nail in the coffin. My father' s phone rang with the bad news, and he collapsed, clutching his chest.

The doctor said it was another stress-induced episode, his heart getting weaker.

My parents were more desperate than ever. They called Madame Zelda again, their voices cracking with fear over the phone.

"The spirit is angry," my father rasped. "You have to do something. Banish her. Get rid of her for good."

Madame Zelda' s voice was steady on the other end.

"The energy is not coming from your current home. It' s stronger elsewhere. A place with a deep connection to her."

She paused, and I knew what was coming.

"The old family estate. The place she was last seen. That is the source."

The old estate. A place of nightmares I could never forget.

My mother' s reaction was immediate and violent.

"We have to dig her up! We have to burn her bones! That' s what you do, right? You destroy the remains so the ghost can' t haunt anyone anymore!"

Her words were frantic, her eyes wild. The mother who gave me life was now planning to desecrate my supposed grave.

Brittany, who had been sitting quietly, rushed to our mother' s side, wrapping her arms around her.

"Mom, calm down. Don' t say things like that."

She looked at our father, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Poor Chloe... I can' t believe her spirit is so lost and angry. She must be in so much pain to lash out at us like this. We have to help her find peace, for her sake and for ours."

Her voice was so full of gentle sympathy, so convincing. She was always the good daughter, the compassionate one. My parents looked at her with adoration, their hearts melting at her kindness. But I saw her eyes. I saw the flash of cold, calculating satisfaction in them.

The decision was made. The whole family, including my judgmental aunts and uncles who always took Brittany' s side, would go to the old estate. They would follow Madame Zelda' s instructions, confront my "restless spirit," and perform a ritual to end their suffering.

They were all coming for me. They gathered their shovels and their courage, convinced they were the victims, marching off to fight the monster they had created.