Pregnant With Baby No. 2, and All Our Pets Want Me Dead

Back home, I surveyed the house and finally relaxed. At least there were no more safety hazards.

Then I heard Harper's dejected voice from across the room. "Mommy, why aren't the goldfish moving?"

I walked over with the fish food. "Maybe they're hungry? Try feeding them a few pellets and see if they eat."

Harper carefully counted out five pellets from the bag and dropped them into the tank. The goldfish immediately swarmed the food, devouring every last piece.

"Mommy, they were hungry!"

I nodded and grabbed a handful of food myself, sprinkling it across the surface.

This time, the exact same thing happened as in my previous life. The fish scattered as if the pellets were contaminated, swimming away from anything that fell from my hand.

Just as I'd suspected, they only refused food from me.

Except this time, their resistance was even stronger. They didn't even last until the next morning. By that evening, every single one of them was dead.

What I didn't expect was the call from my mother, Gloria Hayes.

"Leanne, are those three pets sick or something? They won't eat anything."

I knew they were on a hunger strike, but I told her it was just stress from the new environment and that they would settle down in a couple of days.

Two days later, Mom called again.

"Leanne, you need to find somewhere else for them. I can't take this anymore. They've been howling from dawn to dusk!"

I asked her to hold on a little longer while I figured out another arrangement.

Three days after that, Adam and I were picking Harper up from school when we found Sunny and Whiskers sprawled on our doorstep, panting heavily.

Mom lived out in the countryside, a full six miles away. Under normal circumstances, I would've been touched, thinking they'd made the journey because they couldn't bear to be separated from us.

Now, I just found it deeply unsettling.

The moment they saw Adam and Harper, they whimpered and nuzzled into their arms.

Harper stroked their heads, her voice breaking. "You're so skinny now!"

Then she looked at me, tears streaming down her face. "Mom, can't we keep Sunny and Whiskers at home? They came all the way back because they missed us!"

Before I could answer, Adam was already pouring dog food and cat food into their bowls. He watched them wolf down the food before turning to me, his voice gentle but firm.

"If we send them away again, they'll die out there."

"Mom, please!" The word "die" made Harper burst into tears.

I couldn't say no. In the end, I agreed. At least with just the two of them, I could manage.

I was still working out a strategy in my head when a voice came from behind me.

"Hello, Leanne Foster!"

Kiwi had come back too. She perched on the windowsill, pecking at a succulent as if demanding we hurry up and feed her.

"Kiwi's back too! Our whole family's together again!"

Harper's face lit up instantly, her misery forgotten.

But I knew better. This was a coordinated effort. All three of them were in on it.

To avoid repeating my past mistakes, I called Mom and asked her to come and stay with me starting tomorrow. Then I locked all three pets in their cages.

Later that night, I passed the windowsill on my way to the bathroom. That nightmarish phrase rang out again.

"Die, Leanne Foster!

"Die, Leanne Foster!

"Die, Leanne Foster!"

Kiwi repeated it three times. I glared at her in warning. "Say that one more time and I'm throwing you in a frying pan."

This time, she had the sense to shut up.

I glanced over at the dog crate. Whiskers and Sunny were curled up together like always. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

After using the bathroom, I reached for the flush. The second I looked up, I found myself staring into two pairs of glowing green eyes.

Somehow, Whiskers and Sunny had gotten out of their crate. They stood just outside the bathroom door, watching me with an expression so unnatural that it made my skin crawl.