Born Again for Blood

My colleague Jessica Davis begged me to swap shifts with her.

I refused.

That night, she was caught abandoning her post in the ER and got terminated.

Eight months pregnant, I was climbing the stairs when she appeared behind me.

"You destroyed everything! Your perfect little life ends tonight!"

She slammed me down the concrete steps.

Blood pooled beneath me as my baby's heartbeat faded.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the moment Jessica first begged for that shift swap.

But this time, I knew the truth.

She wanted that night off to sleep with my husband.

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1

I stared at the surroundings, a place both familiar and strange. I couldn't believe I’d come back to life.

A sharp, phantom pain in my chest was a stark reminder that this was no damn nightmare. I was back at work. Back at the hospital.

As I was trying to piece together the bloody memory of my death, Jessica Davis sauntered over. I glanced at my phone. The time was right. I knew exactly what she wanted.

That summer was hot as hell. The emergency room was always packed, and we nurses were on call 24/7.

On that particular night, a massive car crash brought in a flood of critical patients. The head nurse did a surprise inspection, and Jessica was nowhere to be found. She was too busy messing around with some guy.

She was caught ditching her post during a major medical incident. The next day, she was fired.

The incident was a total disaster, which is why the date was burned into my memory—July 25th.

After she was fired, Jessica aimed all her anger at me. She believed that if I had just agreed to switch shifts with her, none of it would have happened.

She tracked me down when I was eight months pregnant, about to give birth.

She cornered me at the top of the stairs and shoved me.

She pushed me right down.

She killed me and my unborn child.

Thank God, I was given a second chance. I was reborn, sent back to the day before the tragedy began.

This time, I wouldn't let anyone hurt me.

Just as the thought crossed my mind, Jessica stood before me, ready to ask me to switch shifts.

“Jessica,” I said, cutting her off. “Can I ask you for a favor?”

She looked at me, suddenly on guard. “What is it, Floyd?”

“I’m trying to buy a house, and I’m a little short on cash. Could you lend me fifty thousand dollars? I know you have it. You’re such a good friend, you’ll help me, right?”

Jessica’s face froze. Confusion, anger, and disbelief flickered across her heavily made-up features.

Before she could recover, I grabbed my bag and headed for the door.

“You have to help me, Jessica!” I called over my shoulder. “You have my bank info, just Zelle it to me. I’ve got to run to my mom’s. She promised to chip in, but if I’m late, she’ll get mad and take back the offer.”

Another nurse nearby snickered. “Who does she think she is, Jessica? Asking for fifty grand. She’s nuts. Just ignore her.”

That was Kevin Park—Jessica’s number one suck-up at the hospital.

When I got to my parents’ house, I was surprised to see my husband, Ryan, was already there.

He was in his white coat, laughing and chatting with my father—the founder of this medical group—in the study. It should have been such a warm, perfect scene.

Tears almost welled up.

This time, everyone who wronged me would pay me back, with interest. I would live well and watch them all burn.

The next day, I walked into chaos at the nurse’s station.

“Floyd, did you hear?” my colleague Mary whispered. “Something big happened in the ER last night. Someone ditched their post!”

Just then, I saw Jessica blocking our supervisor’s office door, clutching her arm and sobbing. “Please, give me one more chance! I had a real emergency last night, I was only gone for a little while.”

The supervisor shook her off in disgust. “Jessica Davis, you’re fired. You should be in HR filling out your paperwork, not wasting my time here.”

Doctors and nurses from other departments peeked out of their rooms to watch the drama unfold. After all, gossip was the best distraction for a high-stress job.