When I Let Her Ride, I Signed My Death Sentence

My best friend Luna was riding with me for the holidays. Before leaving, my husband Alex warned me quietly, She's pregnant. We can't let anything happen to her. Whatever you do, dont let her drive.

On the highway, exhaustion set in. Luna offered to take over, but remembering Alexs warning, I refused. I pulled into a rest stop to rest briefly.

I woke to find the car wrecked on the highway. Luna was pale, blood filled the air. Clutching her stomach, she screamed, "My babys gone!"

Both our husbands rushed over. Through tears, Luna blamed me, saying I drove while exhausted. Alex then showed a video of me driving with my eyes closed, accusing, "I never thought you'd try to kill her. You're a murderer."

Before I could defend myself, Lunas husband Mark dragged me out and beat me to death on the roadside.

After dying, I learned the truth: Alex had taken out a large life insurance policy on me. He and Luna had been having an affair.

When I opened my eyes, I was backone day before the trip.

"Jasmine, you can't let Luna drive, you hear me?" Alex said, his face a mask of concern after learning I was giving her a ride home tomorrow. "A pregnant woman behind the wheel if anything happened, we could never live with ourselves."

"You be careful too," he added.

I nearly choked. To think I had actually been reborn.

Looking at Alexs face, a wave of nausea washed over me. In my last life, he and Luna had set a trap that led to my brutal end.

I mumbled a few noncommittal replies, got dressed, and headed out.

Leaving the house, I drove straight to a local car rental agency. In my previous life, Alex must have tampered with my car. I didn't have enough time to find proof, so swapping it out was the next best thing. Luckily, I found a rental that was the exact same make and model as mine.

As I left the agency, a message from Luna popped up on my phone, telling me to pick her up at eight tomorrow morning.

I replied with a simple "Okay."

The next morning, at eight o'clock sharp, I was parked outside Lunas building. She kept me waiting for a full half hour before finally sauntering downstairs. As she got closer, I caught a whiff of her heavy perfume.

"Jasmine! I'm so excited we get to drive home together," she gushed, handing me a thermos. "You must be freezing. I brought you some hot water to warm you up."

I stared at the thermos, not taking it.

In my last life, Id been so worried about drowsy driving that I went to bed early. There was no reason I should have been that tired. Thinking back, the crushing fatigue had set in right after I drank the water Luna gave me.

Seeing my hesitation, Lunas smile tightened. "Jasmine, don't tell me you're turning your nose up at my water."

I thought for a second, then took it and sipped. "Of course not," I said with a forced smile. "Get in."

She seemed pleased that Id drunk it.

As she moved to put her bags in the trunk, I turned my head and spat the water Id been holding in my mouth onto the pavement.

But when Luna opened the passenger door, she froze. "Jasmine, who is this?"

A man I didn't know was sitting in the passenger seat. He gave her a little nod.

"Oh, this is Phillip," I said quickly. "He's catching a ride with us." I'd posted in a local rideshare group yesterday, and he was the only one who'd responded. I wasn't bringing him along out of the goodness of my heart; I wanted a witness.

Luna pulled me aside, her voice a harsh whisper. "Jasmine, are you crazy? Letting a total stranger in your car? What if something happens on the road?"

"Don't worry," I said, patting my chest reassuringly. "Phillip's a decent guy. I've already seen his ID. Besides, it's just a few hours. What could happen? And a little extra gas money never hurts."

Luna was still not having it. "I'll cover the gas. Just tell him to leave. I'm not comfortable sharing a car with a strange man."

I feigned annoyance. "Luna, what is this, the dark ages? I already promised him a ride. I can't just kick him out now."

Seeing I wouldn't budge, she gave up and tried to switch seats with Phillip. "Excuse me, could we trade? I get carsick in the back."

"Sorry, I get carsick too," Phillip replied without missing a beat.

Luna paused, then turned back to me. "Oh, I forgot something," she said, and ran back upstairs.

A few minutes later, she returned, got in the car, and handed Phillip two small pills and a bottle of water. "I have some motion sickness medicine. Here, take this."

Phillip took them, studied her for a moment, and said, "Thanks." He then tipped his head back and swallowed the pills.

Luna visibly relaxed as she watched him take the medicine. I, on the other hand, noticed her perfume seemed even stronger now, almost cloying.

Once we were on the road, Phillip quickly drifted off to sleep. And just as we hit the main highway, my own eyelids felt like they were lined with lead.

A few minutes later, Luna tapped my shoulder. "Jasmine, did you not sleep well last night? This is so dangerous."

I rubbed my eyes. "I'm fine," I said, my voice thick.

"Let me drive," she insisted, her voice laced with worry. "You're scaring me."

"It's okay, you're pregnant," I waved her off. "I can push through."

Beside me, Phillip stirred. "Just let her drive," he mumbled. "Fatigue kills."

This time, I agreed immediately.

I pulled the car onto the shoulder, and Luna and I switched places.

Sitting in the back, I pinched my thigh, trying to force myself to stay awake, but the drowsiness was like a tidal wave, pulling me under. I don't know when I finally fell asleep.

The next thing I knew, a voice was screaming in my ear. "Jasmine! Jasmine, help me! My baby! My baby is gone!"

The thick, metallic scent of blood clogged the air.

I forced my eyes open. I was in the driver's seat. The car was smashed against the guardrail.

In the back seat, Luna was howling, clutching her stomach.

It was happening all over again.

Lunas screams startled Phillip awake. He looked at me, his face a mask of confusion. "Didn't you two switch? When did you get back in the driver's seat?"

I wanted to ask the same question.

Luna had been driving when I passed out. How did I end up back here? But there was no time to figure it out. Phillip was already on the phone, dialing 911.

The police and an ambulance arrived quickly. All three of us were taken to the hospital. On the way, I called Luna's husband.

After Luna was wheeled into surgery, Phillip tried to leave.

"You can't go," I said, blocking his path.

He looked me up and down. "I have places to be. I was just a passenger. Her accident has nothing to do with me, right?"

"It has nothing to do with you, and it has nothing to do with me," I said, pulling two water bottles from my bagthe ones Luna had given us. "I need you to do me a favor. Take these to a lab and have them tested for any sedatives. I'll pay you a thousand dollars."

Phillips eyes widened, but he still shook his head. "It's not about the money. I don't have time. Find someone else."

Facing another refusal, I played my last card. My eyes filled with tears. "The truth is that woman is having an affair with my husband. I think they're trying to set me up."

Phillips expression hardened instantly. He took the water bottles. "Don't worry," he said, his voice firm. "I'll get to the bottom of this for you."

Not long after Phillip left, Luna was wheeled out of the operating room.

I walked over. "How are you?"

She shot me a look of pure hatred and started sobbing, a performance that continued until her husband, Mark, and my husband, Alex, arrived.

The moment she saw Mark, her sobs intensified. "Honey, our baby our baby is gone! It's all my fault! I couldn't protect our child!"

Alex rounded on me. "Jasmine, what the hell happened? I told you to be careful!"

I looked at him calmly. "What are you doing here?"

"Luna was in your car when this happened!" he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Of course I had to come!"

I gave a small, humorless laugh. "Is that so? Funny, I don't remember telling you about it. How did you know?"

Alex flinched, suddenly flustered, stammering as he tried to come up with an excuse.

Before he could, Mark grabbed a handful of my hair. "You killed my son," he snarled, "and you have the nerve to smile?" He shoved me hard, sending me sprawling out of the hospital room door. Mark was a man with a notoriously short fuse.

I landed hard on the floor, a sharp pain shooting through my tailbone.

Inside the room, Lunas wails grew louder. "Jasmine Taylor! I warned you not to drive tired! Why didn't you listen? Did you want to kill my baby? You give me back my child!"

I watched the scene unfold with cold detachment, waiting. It was Alex's turn to play his part.

In my last life, his video had been the "proof" that sealed my fate. It showed me driving with my eyes closed, ignoring Luna's pleas to pull over, before I supposedly snarled, "Shut up! You think being pregnant makes you special? Go to hell with your damn baby!" and swerved the car.

Sure enough, just as Mark's face darkened with rage, Alex stepped forward, just like before.

"Jasmine, how can you be so twisted? You were always going on about how you were jealous of Luna's pregnancy, how you wanted to get rid of her baby. I thought you were joking. I can't believe you actually did it."

His words were gasoline on a fire. I could see the rage building in Mark's eyes, his face flushing a deep red. A primal fear gripped me as I remembered how he had beaten me to death.

Forcing myself to stay calm, I scrambled to my feet. "That's a lie, Alex. Luna losing her baby has nothing to do with me. I wasn't even the one driving at the end! She crashed the car herself! She wanted to get rid of her own child!"

My words sent a shockwave through the room. Luna shrieked, "Jasmine, are you insane? You'd say anything to save your own skin, wouldn't you? Why would I crash the car on purpose? Do you have any idea how hard I worked to have this baby?"

It was true. Luna and Mark had tried for five years before she finally got pregnant. Shed subjected herself to endless herbal remedies and countless injections. Once pregnant, she became a recluse, avoiding anything that could possibly harm the baby, even giving away the dog shed had for years. The idea that she would intentionally cause a miscarriage was something Mark would never believe.

He didn't speak, just stared at me, his eyes promising violence.

Luna pressed her advantage. "Jasmine, I know you're scared because of what happened, but you can't pin this on me! You were in the driver's seat, I was in the back! The police and the paramedics saw us! They can back me up! My blood is all over the back seat!"

The commotion had drawn a crowd, including a couple of nurses. After confirming one of them had been on the emergency call, Mark asked her coldly what she had seen.

"The patient was indeed in the back seat when we arrived," the nurse confirmed.

Luna clung to this like a lifeline. "You hear that, Jasmine? I was in the back. So please, explain how I crashed the car from the driver's seat and then somehow swapped places with you while you were sleeping like the dead."

She turned to Mark, her face a mask of wounded innocence. "Honey, losing the baby is hard enough. But for her to slander me like this I don't want to live anymore. I just want to die." With that, she tried to lurch off the bed and run headfirst into the wall.

Mark caught her, holding her tight, his eyes dark with a brewing storm.

After he had calmed her down and settled her back on the bed, he turned to me, his voice dangerously low. "You said she did this on purpose. Why? Why would she kill our child?"

I knew if I didn't tell the truth now, my previous life was about to repeat itself. I pointed a shaking finger at Alex. "Because those two have been sleeping together for a long time. Because Alex took out a massive life insurance policy on me. They wanted to get rid of you and me so they could be together, and they sure as hell didn't want your baby getting in the way."

The room fell silent for a beat. Both Alex and Lunas faces went pale.

Alex recovered first. "Jasmine, you're acting like a rabid dog, just biting at everyone. There is nothing going on between me and Luna. We're just friends."

He pulled out his phone. "Jasmine, we were married. I didn't want to show this to anyone. But since you're making these wild accusations, I have to show Mark the truth. This is from the dashcam in your car. You know damn well what you did."

The video was identical to the one from my last life, with one exception: Phillip was in it.

My eyes widened. "You're saying this is from the dashcam in my car? Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure," Alex said with absolute certainty. "Don't you remember? Your dashcam is linked to my phone. I can access the recordings anytime."

I saw Mark's fist clench, ready to swing.

I decided to drop the bomb. "There's just one problem. This time, I wasn't driving my own car. The car Luna and I were in was a rental. How could my dashcam possibly have this footage?"