What happens when the bullied grow up—and decide the past should bleed?
Marla didn’t blink when she saw the third obituary. Just a slow exhale, like someone checking another task off a list. “Three down,” she whispered. The fourth name pulsed behind her eyelids like a migraine that never left—Heather Bloom. The ringleader. The girl who’d taped Marla’s gym shorts to the flagpole. Who’d made her cry in front of the whole cafeteria. Who laughed when Marla’s dog died and wrote “dog killer” in red marker on her locker. The others had fallen like tragic accidents—an overdose, a drunk-driving crash, a freak hiking fall. But Heather? Marla had been saving her. Heather deserved something…special.
Across town, Detective Lena Cruz stared at her murder board, heart hammering. The patterns weren’t obvious—on paper, these were isolated tragedies. But Lena knew better. Her gut was a drumbeat whispering, something’s wrong. The connection was out there. And someone was running out of time—either to kill again…or be stopped.
❓ Three Questions to Dive Deeper:
- Can childhood cruelty truly justify lifelong revenge—or is Marla becoming worse than her bullies?
- What emotional wounds drive people to meticulously plan vengeance over decades?
- Will Detective Cruz stop the cycle of violence—or be the next casualty in Marla’s mind?