The Crimson Mark, Reborn to Become Me

I suffer from gender identity disorder. Only my sister never looked down on me — she even started calling me her brother. So I spoiled her like a princess. Until the day before the SATs, in front of her many admirers, she cried and falsely accused me of sexually assaulting her. I was tortured to death while she celebrated having one less competitor for the college entrance. When I opened my eyes again, my sister was crying as she cut up my dress. She hugged me and said she would always stand by my side. "If you kick her out of the house, I'm leaving with her!" The delicate voice, pure and sweet, sounded like a demon whispering. It yanked me back to reality in less than a second. Lily Harper stood there holding a pair of scissors, shattered fabric scattered all over the floor. Tears streamed down her face like beads falling off a broken string. I felt dazed, and then I heard my mom scream. "Lily, why are you siding with that freak? She's eighteen, not eight! Can't she even tell if she's a boy or a girl?" Lily sobbed. "I don't care! I'm actually happy to have a brother now! Weren't you the ones always saying boys are better at showing affection?" As she spoke, she looked a bit wronged and reached out to push Mom, completely failing to notice Mom's slightly bulging belly. Mom stumbled, her face going pale with fright. She immediately touched her stomach. Dad anxiously comforted Mom. The doting look he always reserved for Lily was now tinged with a weariness he couldn't quite hide. He held Mom close and rushed her to the hospital, his heart pounding with fear. Lily had no idea Mom was pregnant. She just assumed they were giving in to her again. Grinning, she came running over to me. "Big sis... no, I mean brother. Mom and Dad are just behind the times. Abroad, people switch their genders whenever they feel like it. You just want to be a guy, and they still won't agree?" She tilted her head. "Brother, I'm on your team. I cut up all your dresses for you. From now on, you're a boy!" The way her eyes curved into crescents made her look as beautiful as an angel. And it was this very angel who, on my way to bring her an umbrella, had her people rape and beat me to death. That rainy night was bitterly cold. So cold that every memory of holding her tenderly in my hands felt like karma striking back at me. Smiling, I pointed at the dress shreds on the floor and said softly, "Thanks, Lily. But my performance outfit was in there too. Without it, I can't compete." Lily grabbed my hand and shook it. "Brother, then let’s just skip it! Playing piano is for girls. That kind of competition isn't right for you. You should be playing basketball." I smiled and pulled my hand free. "I borrowed that performance outfit. If it's ruined, I have to pay for it. I remember I gave you the money from my part-time job to keep safe." Lily froze for a moment, then quickly dodged the subject and fled. Of course she wouldn't give me my money back. She'd already handed that cash out long ago — to a perfectly healthy homeless guy by the school gate who just never had money for food. She was always this kind and sweet, the pure white moonlight in everyone's heart. Mine included, once. Mom and Dad wouldn't give me money either. In my last life, to pay back the cost of that performance outfit, I worked day and night saving up, even skipping meals. Sweet Lily, wanting me to get a good night's sleep, purposely turned off the alarm I'd set for the day of the competition. And so that day, the first place in the piano competition wasn't me. It was her. Lily stole my original sheet music, replaced me, and became a rapidly rising piano prodigy. But this summer, Lily's good days are about to end.The girl in the mirror had sharp, neat short hair and refined, striking features. But a terrifying birthmark stretched from her left eyebrow to the bottom of her left jaw — like a trail of tears. I touched my own face. Quinn Harper. Are you a boy or a girl? Reborn into this life, I still can't tell. Lily had already finished breakfast. While complaining to me that Mom and Dad were nowhere to be found, she dragged me off to school. These days she'd gotten a new boyfriend — a notorious troublemaker at the vocational school next door. She was far too busy to notice anything different about Mom and Dad lately. I thought about the little boy from my last life, the one Mom and Dad went through countless IVF treatments to finally conceive. I glanced at her. Just then, Lily pointed ahead and shrieked. "Brother, someone fell into the river!" My heart lurched. Exactly like before. A little boy was thrashing in the water. His movements were growing weaker and weaker. Lily's tears looked ready to fall. She begged me, "Brother, hurry up and save him!" An old woman with graying hair came running over, kneeling on the ground, howling. "Oh, please save my poor grandson!" I didn't budge. In my past life, I'd dived straight in without a second thought. But that boy actually knew how to swim — he and that old woman were working together. The area was remote with no cameras. Whoever jumped in to rescue the boy would immediately be accused by the old woman of pushing him into the river. Last time, I never figured out if Lily was too scared to speak up, or if she did it on purpose. When strangers asked her what happened, all she did was shake her head, eyes brimming with tears, and say she didn’t know. She didn’t know? She knew better than anyone. She saw everything. But when the old woman clutched her and said she just wanted to scam some money to treat her grandson’s illness, Lily’s heart still softened. "Brother..." I cut her off. "I'm sorry, Lily. I can't swim." Lily looked at me pitifully. "But it's a human life!" The old woman on the ground wailed even louder. I looked straight at her and said seriously, "But you can swim. Remember when Mom saw that news report about a flood sweeping away all those people who couldn't swim, she specially signed you up for swimming lessons." Lily looked a little awkward. "But I'm a girl! If a girl gets in the water, her clothes get all wet." I stared at her in silence, utterly stunned by how ridiculous this was. "Didn't you just say it was a human life?" While we were going back and forth, the little boy in the river seemed to really start sinking. The old woman panicked and immediately shoved Lily, who was standing closest to the river, right into the water. Lily swallowed a huge mouthful of water. Before she could even react, the boy latched onto her with all four limbs. Just as it looked like both of them were about to drown, a figure leaped into the water with a "whoosh." It was Lily's boyfriend, Ryder. The same guy who'd led the assault on me the first time around.Ryder held the soaking-wet Lily in his arms, his glare slicing toward me like a blade, full of cold menace. He'd tossed the little boy aside like a piece of trash. I glanced at him, then picked up my backpack to head to school. "Hold it!" I kept walking. Behind me, Lily's voice came out weak and delicate. "Don't blame my brother..." I couldn't hear the rest, because Ryder had already bent down and was fiercely biting Lily's lips. Lily closed her eyes and soaked in the kiss. She didn't say another word. I felt nauseous beyond belief. Thinking back to my last life, I'd scrubbed myself inside and out more times than I could count, and the disgust still made me want to vomit. I remembered how, after hearing Lily accuse me of molesting her, they were overjoyed to discover my female body. They humiliated me, calling me a "freak," torturing me. I wanted to take a knife and slice them to pieces, one by one. And I actually did exactly that. Just when they all thought I was dead and started talking about dismembering my corpse, I snatched a knife from them and slashed Ryder's carotid artery. Before the SATs, my biggest dream was to become a doctor — saving lives and healing the sick. When Ryder's blood sprayed onto me, I saw the disbelief in his eyes. That was when I knew my dream would never come true. "Quinn, Quinn! Do you understand or not?" A clear, pleasant male voice broke through the desperation festering in my heart. Our class president, Cameron, handsome as always, furrowed his brow and tapped my test paper lightly with his pen. His words were blunt. "If you don't start actually studying, just take the easy admission route and leave already." I snapped out of it and looked at him with total sincerity. "I'm sorry. I'll study hard from now on." His expression softened a little. He was about to say something else when the door was kicked open. "Quinn Harper, get your ass out here!" Ryder stood at the door, smirking coldly. I started to walk out, but Cameron blocked my path. Ryder looked Cameron up and down and let out a disgusted snort. "What's with the pretty-boy face? You think you can stop me?" Cameron didn't move. Annoyance flickered across his face. Ryder walked over, grabbed Cameron by the collar of his school blazer, and was just about to threaten him when Cameron landed a brutal punch right in Ryder's face. In an instant, our mild-mannered class president turned into a completely different person. A fight exploded on the spot. All the guys in our class jumped in. Ryder had two fists but couldn't fight off dozens. He got beaten black and blue. Our vice class president figured Ryder had been pummeled enough and hurriedly called for a teacher. The teacher was clearly biased toward Cameron — the student likely to become the state's top scorer. Meanwhile, Ryder, who wasn't even a student at our school and had a terrible reputation around here, got yelled at and kicked off campus. Cameron didn't get any punishment at all. The teacher pulled me aside alone. "Quinn, you need to go home. Your parents seem extremely angry..." I gave a soft "mm-hmm." Under the teacher's surprised gaze, I smiled faintly. "Teacher, can I finish my classes first before I go home?" I tilted my head and glanced at Cameron. He was sitting in the sunlight reading a book, a bruise still visible at the corner of his mouth. The classmates were stretching their heads out the door, watching. That unique vitality of being young and alive filled the air. This summer, I don't want to lose. 【Paid content node】