Guilty Before Sunrise

On the day the SAT scores were released, the police showed up at my front door. They said I had murdered three of the top students in my class. The evidence was conclusive. However, on the day it happened, I had been sitting alone at home, drowning in regret over my poor exam performance. "Worthless girl! Useless burden! How did this family end up with a monster like you?!" My grandmother screamed at me, hurling insults as her fists and kicks rained down. The only thing that could have proven my innocence—the security camera—had been unplugged by her the night before. She said the camera gave off radiation and claimed that we installed it to harm her. In an instant, I became the disgrace of everyone around me. After I was convicted, my parents couldn’t bear the blow. They both took their own lives. As for me? Under the crushing weight of public outrage and endless condemnation, I spiraled into depression and died. Even at the very end, I never understood why every piece of evidence pointed straight at me. Then I opened my eyes again and found myself back on the night before the scores were released. Chapter 1 With the memories of my past life still fresh in my mind, I immediately checked the time. It was exactly the moment the crime was supposed to happen. So I really had no chance to stop the tragedy from unfolding. The only thing I could do… was save myself. I quickly checked the security cameras in the house. As expected, they were already disconnected. I had just plugged the power back in when I heard footsteps behind me. "What are you messing with in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?" Judith Wallace, my grandmother, strode over and shoved my head hard. I lost my balance and crashed straight to the floor. "Studied yourself into insanity, didn’t you? I’ve said it before. Girls should just finish middle school, and that’s it. Every extra day in school is a waste of money!" In my last life, if the cameras had been working, I would have had proof that I wasn’t at the scene. It was all because of her. Who knows where she heard that nonsense about security cameras giving off radiation and causing cancer? She even said installing them was basically cursing her to die early. Before, because she was my elder, no matter how awful the things she said were, I endured it all in silence. Not anymore. "This is our house. Those are our cameras. What right do you have to turn them off?" Her face twisted instantly, the wrinkles pulling tighter as her expression turned vicious. "You ungrateful brat! I’m your grandmother! Your parents listen to me. Who do you think you are, talking back?!" My words had struck a nerve. After Leonard Wallace, my grandfather, passed away, he had left the house to her. A few years ago, when Uncle Owen Wallace’s family wanted to upgrade to a new place but didn’t have enough money, Grandma sold the old house without hesitation and gave them all the proceeds. Just because Uncle Owen had two sons. In her mind, only boys carried the family line. However, Grandma's hygiene was terrible. A few months ago, Aunt Marissa couldn’t take it anymore and kicked her out. My parents, Glenn and Elise Wallace, were softhearted. Grandma only had two sons: Dad and Uncle Owen. They couldn’t just leave her out on the streets. Ever since she moved into our home, not only had she shown no gratitude, but she nitpicked everything every single day. She complained that my mom didn’t take good enough care of my dad. She grumbled that too much money was spent on me and that we didn’t know how to save. "If you hate it here so much, why don’t you go back to Uncle’s place? Oh, right, I forgot. They kicked you out." I didn’t back down at all. "Aren’t you afraid we’ll kick you out, too?" A flicker of panic flashed across her face, but it was quickly replaced by rage. "You little brat! Your parents have spoiled you rotten. Fine, today I’ll discipline you myself!" As she spoke, she raised her hand to hit me. I turned and bolted toward my parents’ bedroom. "Mom! Dad! Grandma’s hitting me!" By the time she tried to stop me, it was already too late. My parents stood in the doorway, frowning, still groggy from sleep. "Mom, Tammy didn’t do well on her exam this time. Please try to be a little understanding." My grandmother practically exploded. "What does her exam have to do with me?! "She’s a girl, so what’s the point of studying so much? In the end, she’ll just get married and have kids. What a total waste! "No matter how she scores, you two won’t be able to rely on her in this lifetime anyway!" Her words made me frown. Could what happened in my past life actually be— Right then, the doorbell rang, cutting off my thoughts. Chapter 2 In my previous life, no one had come to the house at this time. So why this time…? "Is this the residence of Tamsin Wallace?" The police were at the door, and I recognized every single one of the officers' faces. They were exactly the same as in my past life. But they were supposed to come tomorrow. Why had they arrived early? I clung to a sliver of hope. Maybe after being reborn, everything had changed. Maybe the murders hadn’t even happened this time. The moment Detective Micah Reed spoke, every illusion I had was shattered. "Tamsin Wallace, you are a suspect in a major homicide case. We need you to come with us for questioning." My parents froze for a second, as if they thought they had misheard. When Detective Reed repeated himself, panic set in immediately. "There must be some mistake! Our daughter has always been a good kid. She wouldn’t even hurt a bug…" "She just finished her exams. She’s one of the top students at her school." My mind raced. The timeline had moved up. The cameras hadn’t been turned back on in time. I still had no alibi. Everything was going to play out exactly like it did in my last life. Then, what was the point of being reborn? "You should really take a closer look at her. I’ve thought something was off about her for a long time. She's always sneaking around, messing with who knows what!" At Grandma’s words, the officers’ expressions turned even more severe, as if they were ready to cuff me on the spot. "Mom, what are you talking about?!" Mom’s voice broke as tears streamed down her face. "She’s your granddaughter. How can you accuse her like this?!" Grandma let out a cold, mocking chuckle. "So what if she’s my granddaughter? Does that mean she can break the law?!" Dad managed to hold onto a shred of composure. "You’re police officers. You need evidence. If you can’t provide solid proof, I will sue you!" Detective Reed remained calm. "The evidence is conclusive. DNA recovered from the scene is a high-probability match to Tamsin Wallace. And security footage captured her face." My parents looked like they had been struck by lightning. Officer Everett Cole, who handled technical forensics, placed a laptop in front of them. The short video clip, which was just a few minutes long, was enough to drain the color from their faces. Even though the time of the crime had shifted earlier, the person in the footage was still me. In the video, it even looked like I had done it on purpose, even standing directly in front of the camera long enough for a clear shot of my face. DNA evidence. A clear facial recording. There was no way to deny it. My parents slowly turned to look at me. Their eyes were filled with disappointment and pain. "The victims were your classmates: Tyrell Pierce, Elian Whitley, and Brandon Maddox. According to our investigation, in this year’s citywide rankings, you placed just behind them." The three deceased, along with me, had taken turns ranking first in the entire school. We were all well-known top students. Every year, Ravenshire awarded the top scorer a generous prize. Everyone wanted that money and recognition. Even if we never said it out loud, we had been competing behind the scenes all along. The evidence was overwhelming. There was no way my parents could doubt the police now. "Tammy… how could you turn into this…" Mom pointed at me, her hand trembling as she staggered back a few steps. All my life, she had seen me as her pride, and now, she looked at me like I was something monstrous. "Tamsin, how did your mother and I end up raising a demon like you? How could you do this to us?!" Dad’s eyes were bloodshot. I shook my head helplessly, just like in my last life. "I told you long ago, raising a girl is useless! All the money we spent on her should’ve gone to your uncle’s sons!" Grandma beat her chest in frustration. What do I do? No one believed me. And the cameras at home still couldn’t prove my alibi. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted the trash can. Maybe… just maybe… I still had a way out. Chapter 3 "Please come with us." "I'm not the person in that video!" For a moment, everyone in the room froze. "I have evidence. Someone is deliberately framing me!" Grandma let out a mocking laugh. "There you go again, talking nonsense. I suggest you just confess properly and stop bringing shame to this family!" "The officer just said the time of the crime was around 11 a.m. today. At that time, I was at a cafe nearly an hour’s drive from the scene. So there’s no way I could’ve appeared on a security camera at the crime scene at 11:10!" The officers exchanged looks, their expressions complicated as they considered whether what I said could be true. "Don’t listen to her," Grandma cut in quickly. "She’s been clever since she was a kid. Lying comes naturally to her. I guarantee what she just said is completely made up!" Afraid the police might believe me, she hurried forward and grabbed Detective Reed’s arm, acting as if she were part of the victim’s family. My parents had started to waver, but after hearing her words, their guard went right back up. Of course. In their eyes, I was just saying anything I could to escape punishment. Right now, though, I didn’t have the luxury of being hurt by that. I gave them the name of the establishment: Cinder & Oak Cafe. The police quickly went to retrieve the surveillance footage. Just like I said, at the time of the crime, I was there. The forensic tech team examined the surveillance systems at both locations carefully, over and over again. There were no signs of tampering, yet my DNA had undeniably been found at the crime scene. The case suddenly hit a dead end. Even so, I was still the prime suspect. After the police left, my parents didn’t say a single word to me. They locked their bedroom door and even hid their food separately. Meanwhile, Grandma called relatives every single day, complaining nonstop. She went on about how our family had such terrible luck to have produced a murderer. Before, in the eyes of those relatives, I had been the model "perfect child". Now, I had become the ultimate cautionary tale. Every second at home felt suffocating. All I could do was wait desperately for news from the police. Finally, two days later, the doorbell rang. I rushed to open it, heart full of hope, thinking there had been progress in the case. But the moment I opened the door and saw who it was, I froze. Chapter 4 The narrow hallway was packed with people, every face twisted with barely contained rage. I recognized them. I had seen them many times before at parent meetings for our class. They were the parents of the three students who had died. "You shameless monster, how do you even have the nerve to still be alive?!" "You should be in hell! Even the deepest level of hell would be too good for you!" "Give us back our child’s life!" ... Voices overlapped, shouting, surging forward as they tried to lunge at me. "Please, just listen to me!" I kept my voice as steady as I could, trying to make them believe me. "I’m not the killer. If I were, the police would’ve arrested me already. I have an alibi for the time of the crime. "They’ve already verified everything. You can ask them yourselves." The anger on their faces didn’t fade in the slightest. If anything, they pressed closer. "What alibi?! That was obviously something you staged ahead of time!" "You might be able to fool the police, but you can’t fool us!" "The evidence at the crime scene is rock solid. There’s no second person in this world identical to you!" That was the biggest problem. No one knew who the person at the crime scene really was. Sometimes, even I found myself wondering. Could I really be the one who appeared there? "Please, we’ve been classmates for years. I had no grudge against them. Why would I hurt them?" Smack! Without warning, a heavy slap struck my face. The sharp sound echoed through the hallway. "And you still dare to say that?! Wasn’t this all just for the city’s top ranking this year?!" "So young and already this vicious. People like you will only become a danger to society!" "A monster like you should’ve been strangled at birth!" I clutched my face as the metallic taste of blood spread through my mouth. In that moment, I finally understood that there was no reasoning with them. They didn’t want the truth. They just wanted me to die in place of their children. I turned and ran, sprinting toward the apartment. However, what happened next sent a chill straight through my body. Grandma was standing behind the door. At some point, she had appeared there silently. With a strange, twisted smile, she slammed the door shut right in front of me. She wanted me dead at the hands of those parents. I spun around and bolted for the stairwell, racing down as fast as I could. Behind me, they chased like a swarm, relentless. Using the cover of darkness, I ducked into a cluster of bushes, my heart pounding violently. A flood of headlines I’d seen before flashed through my mind: "Families of victims, enraged by verdicts, beat suspect to death." If I couldn’t get away tonight, I might not live to see the sunrise. I refused to die like this. Suddenly, something from earlier flashed across my mind. I pulled out my phone and dialed the police station. "I know who the real killer is!" Chapter 5 In less than ten minutes, the sound of sirens grew louder and louder in the distance. Just as the group of parents was about to find me, I seized the moment and sprinted straight toward the police. "Officer, help! They’re trying to kill me!" The officers moved quickly, pulling me behind them. The parents were furious, their teeth clenched in rage. "You people in uniform, don’t think you can cover for her!" "What did her family give you to protect her like this?!" "Murder must be paid with a life! Even God himself couldn’t stop us today!" The officers did their best to calm them, their tone as steady as possible. "Please, calm down. We will find the truth and give you justice. Tamsin’s alibi is still inconclusive. We cannot arrest someone without certainty." Nevertheless, they weren’t listening at all. "That alibi is fake. It's just a trick to fool you!" "It has to be her. She has the strongest motive!" "If you keep protecting her today, then we’ll get justice ourselves!" One of the parents raised their arm and shouted, "Make her pay for our children’s lives!" "Tamsin Wallace, didn’t you say you know who the real killer is?" At the officer’s question, the crowd suddenly fell silent. All eyes turned to me, filled with suspicion and scrutiny. "Yes. But I can’t say it here. I need to go back home first." "I knew it! You’re just trying to stall!" The parents clearly didn’t believe me, but I had to get back home. "I have to go back to identify the killer. Because the killer is among them." The officers were visibly stunned by my words. Everyone in that house was my closest family. "Tamsin, I need to remind you that false accusations carry consequences." "See? This monster will say anything to get out of it, even accuse her own family!" "Just execute her now! Letting her live will only make her a danger to society!" I met the officers’ eyes steadily. Solving the case was their top priority. "We can agree to that," Detective Reed said at last. "But you’d better not be wasting our time." I walked between the officers as they escorted me. The parents glared, teeth grinding, but they couldn’t get close. They didn’t give up. Instead, they followed us right up the stairs. When the doorbell rang, Mom opened the door. The moment she saw me with the police, confusion flashed across her face, then anger. "Who told you to run outside?!" Before I could respond, Officer Riley Shaw spoke first, "According to Tamsin, the killer is inside your home." Mom looked at both me and the police like we were insane. "You must be mistaken! You’re actually believing her nonsense?!" "See? Even her own mother doesn’t believe her!" The parents behind us smirked, clearly enjoying the scene. Just then, Dad and Grandma came out after hearing the commotion. I raised my hand and pointed at someone. "She's the killer!"