Daphne sighed heavily as she sat in one of the office stalls of the bathroom. What the fuck am I going to do? She put her head into her hands. Asher is out of the office because of the project we’re working on together, Landon is out sick, and Holly is too busy to help me today. Why, of all days, did Fiona have to dump a bunch of work on me that’s due tomorrow? It’s a Monday morning, for god’s sakes. Daphne let out a little groan.

  She let out a heavy breath, deciding that it wasn’t worth it. I just won’t do it. While it’s true that Fiona will be able to blame me for not getting it done, it’s not like she’s going to look any better passing work off to one of her co-workers at the very last second.

  Daphne picked her head out of her hands and heard the restroom door swing open and closed. High heels clacked against the floor tiling.

  “Hey,” a woman’s voice said, echoing in the bathroom.

  Daphne paused, nearly holding her breath, recognizing the voice but struggling to place who it was based on the single word alone.

  The woman cackled, and Daphne felt her stomach flip flop. Fiona? Shit, she is the last person I want to interact with right now. Daphne pursed her lips. She probably won’t be in here too long, right? I can just wait it out.

  “I keep telling you that I think you’re right,” Fiona said. “I don’t know why you keep double checking with me for reassurance.” The room fell silent again as whoever Fiona was talking to on the other side of her phone call responded.

  “You don’t have to keep convincing me. She’s as stuck up and bratty as you said she would be.”

  Daphne felt her ears perking up. Who is she talking about?

  “You were totally right on that, too,” Fiona said with a chuckle. “She seems to believe she’s some sort of superhuman or something. She doesn’t even flinch when I dump a bunch of extra work on her.”

  Daphne’s breath hitched. Is she talking about me? She shook her head at herself. No way right? Who would she talk about me to anyway?

  “She doesn’t even protest,” Fiona spat. “Not that I’d let her say no if she tried. She seems to be under this delusion that she can manage it all.”

  Daphne swallowed hard, covering her mouth in hopes of muffling the noise. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She is talking about me. Who the hell is she talking to?

  Fiona laughed at whatever the person on the other side of the line said, and Daphne heard her lips smacking together. She must be coming in here to get tidied up after messing around with Trevor.

  “You know I’m doing what I can. I’m doing everything I can to break her at work. Hopefully one of these times Trevor will have the balls to fire her.” She chuckled, seemingly at her own statement this time.

  Daphne shuddered. All this time, and Fiona has actually been trying to get me fired? What the fuck? What did I ever do to deserve this treatment from her?

  A dark thought popped into Daphne’s mind. Her blood felt as though it was running cold, and while she was trying to keep her breath as shallow and quiet as possible, she had to fight the urge to gasp for air.

  Is it possible…that Fiona is somehow connected to my killer?

  The heels on Fiona’s feet clacked against the tiles as she moved around in front of the sinks.

  Oh my God. I hope that she doesn’t notice that I’m in here. Please, if there is a God, don’t let her notice.

  “It is unfortunate that her boyfriend broke up with her before you could steal him out from underneath her,” Fiona said in an agreeable tone. “It would have been satisfying to see the look on her face when she got dumped,” Fiona cackled.

  Daphne’s heart stuttered in her chest. How does Fiona know about that? I haven’t exactly been advertising that Gary and I broke up…is this person having me tailed?

  Daphne felt her face blanche. Who the fuck is she talking to? The events of December twenty-third played out again her mind. Gary had broken up with her on the same night she was killed. He said he was ending things to be with another woman, who would still be able to pay his bills…Is it possible that the same person who killed me is the one who Gary started seeing that caused him to break up with me in the first place?

  Daphne had never felt so cold, or so small. Was it the killer’s goal to break me before killing me? Why? What happened between me and this person? Who could possibly hate me so much that they wanted me dead?

  “I bet she’ll get another boyfriend,” Fiona said with a low laugh. “She seems like the desperate type since she was hanging onto such a loser. Whoever she snags, you can just steal from her. I’m sure he’s bound to be as much of a loser as this last one.” Fiona let out a menacing laugh.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Daphne’s heart dropped in her chest. I know that I shouldn’t give two shits about what cackling Fiona thinks about me or my ex. Her eyes stung, and she started blinking rapidly. She knew full well why she couldn’t risk letting her emotions get to her in the bathroom stall. If she let out so much as a sniffle, it was over.

  Do other people really see me the way Fiona just described? How many other people in my life besides Maggie saw Gary as the complete loser that he actually was? She chewed on her lower lip. Though, the truth is that in the past, I probably wouldn’t have listened to anyone who told me what a complete ass Gary was either. Even after getting this second chance, I struggled when Maggie suggested that Gary was not a good boyfriend. It took revoking the money from him for my eyes to be opened to who Gary really was.

  Daphne swallowed hard, feeling disdain towards herself. Maybe I do come off as desperate. Maybe that’s why Gary targeted me in the first place.

  “Alright, I’ll call you later,” Fiona said. “Love you. Bye!” She drew out her “bye,” and made a kissing sound into the phone, causing Daphne to cringe.

  Does she even realize she’s friends with a murder-to-be? Or is the woman hiding her true intentions from even Fiona? Daphne chewed on the inside of her cheek. Or even worse for me, is it possible that the person Fiona was talking to has nothing to do with my death at all?

  Fiona started running water and humming. Daphne stuck her fist into her mouth as tears started to flow from her eyes against her will.

  Within a few minutes of getting off the phone, Fiona left the restroom, her heels clacking against the floor again, echoing loudly as she walked. Daphne waited a few beats before she left her stall, the toilet automatically flushing behind her. She washed her hands slowly, still processing the words that she had overheard from Fiona’s conversation.

  She dried her hands and then pulled out a new paper towel to wipe her tears, attempting to practice her brave face as she went.

  It had been years since she’d felt so rotten. The only thing that could compare to how she was feeling, had been her death itself.

  She studied herself closely in the mirror with the fake smile plastered to her face. It’s a good thing I overheard that conversation, she attempted to convince herself. It’s good because it made me realize that my killer may be closer than what I’ve been thinking.

  Despite her words attempting to cheer herself up, her heart ached and felt hollow.

  Maybe my mother was right when I was a child. Maybe I really am defective. Surely so many people wouldn’t treat me like I am, if I actually wasn’t, right?

  Her heart started pounding in her chest, panging even more than it had. What did I ever do to deserve to be treated so poorly? What did I do to bring myself so much misfortune down on myself? Am I cursed?

  Her heart felt like it was going to explode. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she pulled it out, grateful for a distraction from her swirling mind. It was a text from Holly.

  Do you want to do drinks after work?

  Daphne couldn’t help but smile a little, feeling grateful that there was at least one person who was on her side at work.

  Sure, she replied, before turning to leave the restroom.

  ~

  Daphne chewed on her lower lip as she sat down across from Asher for the team get together the bar. Holly, who had begged for Daphne to come with her to the event, sat down next to Daphne, a wide grin on her face.

  Outside of the luncheon that Daphne had gone to before Christmas, and prior to her return the past, she was fairly certain that she had never been to a team get together before. She’d never had time, and she’d never had close relationships with any of her coworkers before. As a result, she had no idea what to expect. One thing was for certain, she had not expected individual small tables to be a part of a team get together. Holly had made sure to pick a table as far away from Trevor as possible.

  Glancing over, Daphne couldn’t help but notice that Trevor looked more annoyed than usual. Though typically Fiona was glued to his side, she was nowhere to be found. Daphne had to hold back a smirk. While Trevor had given her a piece of his mind for not completing the extra tasks that Fiona had dumped on her two days earlier, it was ultimately Fiona who had paid the price, since they were work tasks associated with projects she was responsible for. Daphne couldn’t help but feel giddy at the idea that, for once, Fiona’s dumping of extra work onto her had backfired.

  “It’s such a shame Landon is still sick,” Holly said with a sigh. “He’s a lot of fun.”

  “It is a shame,” Daphne murmured, not looking up from her menu. Her heart fluttered at seeing the outline of Asher’s dark head in her peripheral.

  Maybe I should have gone out more in the past. Even though it would have been hard at first.

  She made the decision about the beer she wanted, and then looked up at Asher in an attempt to steal a glance of his face, but, ultimately, met his brown eyes instead. She felt herself gulp at eye contact, and had to quickly look away, as she could hardly breathe.

  The last time he and I talked we were alone. And there might have been a vibe.

  She knew she was lying to herself a little in the moment. There was still a vibe in the air between them. She could still feel it.

  A server came up to take their orders, as Holly mentioned she had to text her husband. They ordered, and not sure what to say, Daphne caught herself meeting Asher’s gaze again, not smiling awkwardly.

  I don’t know what to say. My mind just goes blank every time I look at him.

  A couple of minutes later, the server came back with their beers, and Holly finally put her phone down.

  “Ah, they have such quick service here!” Holly exclaimed, grabbing her glass. “We should do a cheers,” she added.

  “Cheers to what?” Daphne asked, as she and Asher both picked up their mugs.

  Holly grinned brightly at her. “To teamwork and friendship!” She stated, putting her glass over the center of the table. Daphne and Asher raised their glasses to clink with Holly’s.

  Daphne then raised her own glass to her lips and took a big gulp of the cold hoppy liquid. Her heart swelled in her chest as she looked over at Holly. I gotta give myself some props. It hasn’t even been a full month since I returned to the past, and I’m certainly not as lonely as I was before I came back. I have people I can rely on now, both inside of work and outside of it.

  Daphne took another sip of her beer, and looked over at Asher, locking eyes with him once again. She felt her heart skip a beat, and this time, rather than scrambling to look away from him as if she’d been caught, she met his gaze for as long as she could manage it.

  I wanna know. Do you feel the same way I do?