Reborn for Reservoir Justice

My ten-year-old daughter went on a school trip to the reservoir. Her classmates dragged her to the intake pipe and held her under. When I saw the water turn pink, I lost my mind and pulled her out.

Her face was mangled by the grates suction. She coughed up blood and stopped breathing. The ringleader sneered that she was a minor and untouchable. I hated her anyway. Why did she always beat my scores?

Her mother tossed a handkerchief of cash at my feet. Two grand. More than enough for your brats cheap life.

Grief and rage consumed me. I demanded justice, but my husband held me back. Shes already dead, Lynn. Do you want to ruin another childs life?

I fought desperately, but the bully got only months in juvie. It wasnt enough. Broken, I took a bottle of pills at my daughters grave.

I woke up on the morning of the field trip. I dragged my daughter home, but history repeated itselfanother girl drowned in the reservoir that day.

We had run away from the reservoir in such a panic that my daughter, Lily, left her sandals behind.

I told her to wait for me at the edge of town while I went back to grab them. I also planned to warn the town council that the safety grate on the spillway was broken.

As I approached the water, a chorus of cruel laughter echoed through the trees.

"Look at her! She looks like a dead fish. Come on, move! Why aren't you moving? Hahaha!"

Three girls were laughing hysterically. The tallest one, Ruby, was pressing her foot down hard on a patch of blue fabric beneath the surface of the water.

Seeing that blue floral pattern, the exact same dress Lily was wearing today, made my heart skip a beat. The faint red tint swirling in the water almost made me pass out.

If I did not know for a fact that my daughter was safely waiting for me down the road, I would never have been able to face this nightmare again.

In my past life, Ruby had murdered my daughter out of pure, petty jealousy. Lily had beaten her in the state math exams and found more shells than her during a beach trip. That was all it took for Ruby to kill her.

So who was this girl in the water? And what was her supposed crime?

I did not have time to think. Saving a life was the only thing that mattered. I screamed at the top of my lungs.

"Stop! What the hell are you doing?!"

Ruby looked up, saw me, and casually took a half-step back with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh look, the mother hen is here to protect her chicks. I guess the fun is over."

The other two girls jumped back like startled rabbits, refusing to meet my eyes.

The girl in the water was pinned violently against the intake pipe. The massive suction force had her face pressed flush against the iron grate. Her limbs floated lifelessly in the current.

This was exactly how I found my daughter in my past life. I had thrown myself into the water to pull her out, but the suction was too strong. I could not move her.

By the time the locals ran over and shut off the main valve, the golden window for CPR had long passed. My daughter died right in my arms.

Looking at the blue floral dress, the braided hair, the small frame...

I had to keep repeating it in my head. This is not Lily. Lily is safe. Lily is waiting for me. But my hands were still shaking uncontrollably.

Relying on the tragic experience of my past life, I turned to the bystanders who were just staring in shock.

"What are you standing there for? Can't you see someone is stuck on the grate? Go shut off the main valve right now!"

A few men finally snapped out of their daze and sprinted toward the control shed.

Minutes later, I hauled the girl's limp body onto the concrete bank.

Her face was swollen and distorted beyond recognition.

She had absolutely no breath left. I could not find a pulse.

Ruby stood off to the side, her arms crossed over her chest. A faint, sickening smile played on her lips.

"She told us she could hold her breath for three minutes straight. We were just helping her practice."

"Helping her?"

My eyes went entirely red. I lunged forward and slapped Ruby across the face as hard as I could.

"You pinned her head against an industrial suction pipe and you call that helping?!"

Ruby clutched her stinging cheek and glared at me with pure venom.

"We were just playing around! How was I supposed to know she was so fragile?"

"You actually dared to hit me? Do you know who my dad is? Believe me, I will have my dad destroy your entire family!"

I knew exactly who her dad was. That was why I wanted to tear her arrogant little face right off.

"Playing? Is this how you play? You just murdered someone! Do you understand that?!"

The chubby girl standing next to Ruby finally realized the gravity of the situation. Her voice trembled violently.

"Ruby, did we just..."

Before she could finish, Ruby snapped at her.

"Did we what? You were pushing her down just as hard as I was!"

The third girl immediately burst into terrified tears.

"I... I want to go home..."

I ignored them. I laid the drowned girl flat on her back and immediately started chest compressions. I yelled at the nearest local.

"Go get Dr. Evans from the clinic! Hurry! We might still be able to save her!"

I tilted the girl's chin back to start rescue breaths. As I did, my eyes caught a distinct, dark red birthmark shaped like a plum blossom behind her ear. Something clicked in my memory.

Just then, Jenkins, the old man who managed the reservoir, came strolling down the dirt path. Right beside him was Patricia, Ruby's wealthy mother.

When they saw the gruesome scene by the water, panic washed over their faces.

"What... what happened here?!" Jenkins stammered.

Ruby instantly dropped her arrogant act. She put on a terrified, innocent face and ran crying into her mother's arms.

"Mom! We were just having a contest to see who could hold their breath the longest! She said she could do three minutes, we didn't know..."

"This is ridiculous!" Jenkins turned pale. "I have told you kids a million times not to swim here without an adult!"

"I am sorry, I promise I will never do it again," Ruby sniffled, looking down. Then she peeked up at me and smirked. "But this crazy lady had no right to hit me!"

Patricia saw the bright red handprint on her daughter's cheek. She pointed a manicured finger right at my nose.

"Who the hell gave you the right to touch my daughter?"

She cast a look of utter disgust at the dying girl on the ground, then glared back at me.

"This brat broke the rules and swam where she wasn't supposed to. Her parents clearly don't know how to watch their own kid. You can't blame anyone else for an accident like this, can you?"

In my past life, multiple witnesses confirmed that my daughter had just taken her shoes off by the water when Ruby shoved her in from behind. Then all three of them dragged her to the pipe and held her down.

I knew this girl's final moments must have been exactly the same.

I knew the absolute hell of losing a child. Regardless of who this little girl was, she was completely innocent.

Every second mattered. I did not want to waste my breath arguing with Patricia. I kept pumping the girl's chest and shot a sharp glare at Jenkins.

"You are the caretaker, Jenkins. You are liable for this too. You better call the child's parents right now."

Jenkins trembled violently and started backing away. He stammered out his agreement.

"Right, right. I will go call the town mayor..."

A few seconds later, he stopped and looked back at the girl's swollen, disfigured face.

"Her face is ruined. How am I supposed to know whose kid this is?"

I looked up at him in absolute disbelief.

"Are you incapable of checking? Just count how many kids were supposed to be on this field trip. Subtract the ones who are safe, subtract these three standing right here, and whoever is left..."

Ruby suddenly interrupted me.

"You don't need to check. I know exactly who it is."

She walked right up to me and crouched down. She stared closely at the dead girl's face. Her voice was quiet, but every word stabbed into my ears like a needle.

"This is Lily. Have you honestly forgotten what your own kid looks like?"

"You were acting so crazy a minute ago. I thought you already knew. Or are you just refusing to accept reality?"

I stared at her, my eyes wide.

So that was it. She saw the blue dress and thought she was drowning my daughter. That was why she was so ruthless.

Ruby seemed incredibly satisfied by the shock on my face. Seeing that I was still doing chest compressions, she laughed.

"Stop wasting your energy. Have you noticed she hasn't reacted at all for the past twenty minutes?"

"It took way longer than ten minutes for you to pull her out of that pipe. The golden window for saving her is long gone."

Hearing those words, all the strength drained from my arms. I collapsed onto the concrete, my whole body shaking.

Was I still too late?

I failed to save my own daughter in my past life, and now I had failed to save this innocent girl too.

I glared at Ruby with absolute hatred.

"Why would you do something so evil? Are you not afraid of karma?!"

"Oh wow, I am so scared."

She dramatically patted her chest in mock terror.

"Karma? You mean the law?"

"I am only eleven years old. The law says anyone under fourteen cannot be held criminally responsible for anything."

She was leaning so close to me that I could smell the cheap floral soap in her hair.

Those exact words, and that exact smell, had haunted my nightmares every single night in my past life.

Looking at her face, a grotesque mixture of childish innocence and pure malice, the hatred of two lifetimes finally boiled over. I grabbed her by the hair, fully intending to drag her to the water and hold her under.

"You are pure evil. I am going to let you taste exactly what she felt..."

Patricia swung her heavy designer purse and smashed it directly into the side of my head. The thick metal buckle tore a deep, bleeding gash across my forehead.

The pain forced me to let go. Patricia quickly pulled Ruby behind her.

"Are you insane?!"

"The accident already happened! Why are you taking it out on a child? My daughter is eleven! She doesn't know any better! It was just a stupid accident!"

"An accident?"

I felt the blood rushing to my head, pounding against my temples.

"Go ask the witnesses! Three girls held a child's head against an industrial suction pipe until she drowned. You call that an accident?!"

Patricia glanced nervously at her daughter, who looked slightly guilty. Then, with agonizing slowness, Patricia pulled a thick wad of hundred-dollar bills from her purse.

"So what exactly do you want? Justice? Let me teach you a lesson about the real world. Justice depends entirely on who you are and how much you can pay!"

She took a step forward, practically shoving the money into my face.

"Do you know who my daughter is? She is the heir to the Montgomery Lumber Mill!"

"And your kid? Just the brat of a pathetic middle-management accountant. She is dead, get over it. Did you honestly expect a Montgomery to trade her life for a nobody?"

She threw the money, letting the bills flutter down onto my face and lap.

"There is two thousand dollars. Take the money, shut your mouth, and buy your kid a decent coffin."

"If you dare breathe a word of this to anyone, or if you go to the cops... I promise you, neither you nor your husband will ever find a job in this state again!"

Ruby peeked out from behind her mother's expensive coat and stuck her tongue out at me. There was not a single ounce of fear in her eyes. Only pure, untouchable arrogance.

Jenkins finally realized how bad things were getting. Not wanting to lose his own job, he leaned in and whispered to me.

"Lynn, be reasonable. This was a tragedy, but since the Montgomery family is willing to settle this privately, why don't you just take a step back?"

Take a step back?

I looked down at the cash scattered on the ground, then at the freezing, lifeless body of the little girl. It was absolutely sickening.

They were treating a human life like a cheap business transaction, brushing it off like it was nothing.

My eyes fell on the girl's plum blossom birthmark again. I finally remembered exactly who she was.

Since my ordinary daughter's life was not worth anything to them, I could not wait to see how many lives they would have to pay to settle the debt for this girl.

Ruby was still running her mouth.

"Just look on the bright side. Cash in hand is better than nothing. Your kid is dead, so just go make another one..."

I slowly lifted my head, locking my eyes onto her arrogantly ignorant face.

"Your mother's money is not going to save you this time."

She jutted her chin out.

"Say whatever you want. Nothing is going to happen to me anyway. My mom told me the juvenile protection laws are my permanent shield!"

I gently wiped the bloody water from the dead girl's face. My fingertips brushed softly against the red plum blossom mark.

I took off my jacket and draped it over her small body, wanting to give her one last shred of dignity.

"Your shield?"

A cold smile tugged at the corners of my mouth.

"Then you better start praying that the people coming for you actually care about the law."

Patricia frowned deeply.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

I completely ignored her. I pulled my cell phone from my pocket and dialed a specific number. I leaned down and whispered softly into the dead girl's ear.

"Don't be afraid, sweetie. Your daddy will be here soon."

Then, I turned toward the wall phone mounted on the outside of the caretaker's booth and started dialing 911.

"What do you think you are doing?!"

Patricia finally realized something was wrong. Her voice went shrill with panic.

"I am warning you! This ends here, today! If you dare make that call..."