I Won't Take the Fall for Your Virus

In my previous life, my mother found the emergency meds hidden in my sister's designer bag. I stood in the dean's office while Paige gripped my sleeve, her face a mask of sobbing desperation.

Sloane, if the university finds out, my scholarship is gone. Please, just tell them they belong to you... she wailed. My heart softened like a total idiot. I nodded and took the fall for her.

From that day on, my life was a total dumpster fire. I lost my dream internship at the law firm, and everyone in our small town treated me like I was radioactive.

Meanwhile, Paige felt safe and lived even more recklessly. Six months later, she actually contracted the incurable virus. When my mother found out, she went ballistic.

She grabbed my hair and slammed my head against the drywall until I saw stars. "It's your fault! You corrupted Paige!" she screamed. "I should have given you up for adoption the day you were born!"

Mom locked me in the dark crawlspace under the house and let me starve to death in the pitch black. But I've been reborn.

I am back at the exact moment Mom is holding the bottle, screaming her head off. Paige is looking at me with teary eyes, begging for my sacrifice. But this time, I'm not taking the bullet for you.

"Tell me, whose pills are these!" My mother's scream exploded in my ears like a gunshot.

I opened my eyes and saw my sister, Paige Miller, cowering in the corner of our kitchen. Her tears were already flowing, right on schedule.

"Sloane, I'm so sorry. I promised I'd hide them for you, but Mom found them anyway!" She grabbed the hem of my hoodie and whispered, her voice trembling with fake terror.

"Sloane, if the college board finds out, I'll be expelled. Please, just help me out this once!"

I looked at the orange pill bottle on the floor and stayed silent. In my last life, I felt sorry for her and nodded. But after that, my life spiraled into a total nightmare.

My photos were posted on campus forums with captions saying, "Sloane Miller is a walking biohazard." My colleagues treated me like toxic waste.

My boss forced me to resign to save the firm's reputation. My mother told the entire neighborhood I was a disgrace.

She took my savings and kicked me out of the house, terrified I'd infect them. And Paige? Because I took the fall, she had no worries.

She partied harder than ever at those underground clubs. Six months later, she came down with a high fever. At the hospital, she tested positive for the incurable bug.

Mom lost her mind. She slammed my head against the wall while screaming at me. "It's your fault! You're the bitch who ruined my Paige!"

She wouldn't listen to any explanations. She broke my legs and locked me in the basement. There were no windows. No light.

Just a small flap in the door where they shoved a bowl of water every day. I don't know how many days I lay there, screaming for help until my throat bled.

Eventually, I didn't even have the strength to crawl. When I finally starved to death, I weighed less than seventy pounds.

"You shameless thing! I raised you, and this is how you repay me? With this filth?" Hearing my mother's voice again made me grit my teeth.

I've already died once. I won't do it again. I reached down and peeled Paige's fingers off my shirt one by one.

"Those aren't mine."

Mom's hand stopped mid-air. She looked at Paige, who was visibly stunned. "Paige, are they yours?"

"No!" Paige didn't expect me to refuse. She shook her head frantically. "The meds are Sloane's! She was scared you'd be mad, so she asked me to hide them in my room!"

Mom immediately glared at me with pure hatred. "It's not enough that you're dirty? You want to drag Paige down with you?"

She slapped me so hard my head spun. I had to grab the kitchen island to keep from falling. A second later, I looked Paige straight in the eye.

"Paige, those are strictly controlled prescription meds. You need a doctor's order and a specific ID to get them."

"Should I call the pharmacy? Or maybe check the insurance billing records for the name?"

"The neighbors are already listening through the thin walls. Maybe we should let them hear the truth too."

The hallway outside was buzzing with whispers. Paige rushed forward to grab my hand. "Sloane, stop!"

She looked at Mom for help. Mom's face turned ashen as she realized the pharmacy records wouldn't lie.

"Paige, was it really you?" Mom whispered the question, her voice cracking.

Paige finally broke. "I'm sorry, Mom... I went on a spring break trip with some guys. When I got back, I found out one of them might have been sick."

"I was scared, so I bought the meds from a guy I know..." She started sobbing for real.

Mom immediately pulled her into her arms. "My poor baby! Why didn't you tell me? I could have taken you to a private clinic in the city!"

Then Mom looked up and glared at me, the victim. "What are you standing there for? Your sister is traumatized."

"Quit your job and stay home to take care of her. That stupid office job is useless anyway..."

Here we go again. Since we were kids, I was just Paige's unpaid nanny in my mother's eyes. My life didn't matter.

When she had a cold, I had to skip school to nurse her. When she had exams, I had to serve her hand and foot.

If she messed up, she was just "young and naive." If I messed up, I was beaten and eventually left to die.

"If you're so worried, you take care of her," I said. I grabbed my bag.

"But let me remind you, if she's infected, you're at risk living under the same roof."

I opened the door. Mom's roar followed me out. "Sloane Miller! How dare you curse your sister!"

"Get back here! If you walk out that door, don't you ever come back!"

I didn't stop. I walked past the gossiping neighbors and slammed the door shut.

But I knew this wasn't over. My mother would never let her precious Paige suffer alone.

To protect her, she would do anything to make sure I was the one who took the fall.

The next day, my phone wouldn't stop buzzing. Paige was blowing up my texts, begging for help like I owed her my soul.

I silenced it. When I left work, Mom was waiting at the parking garage. She forced me to come home for a talk.

In the living room, Paige was there, her eyes red from crying. Mom's face was dark.

"Paige's academic advisor found out about the meds. She's not expelled yet, but the other students are blacklisting her on social media."

"I've decided. You're going to her college tomorrow and telling the board the meds are yours."

I refused immediately. "Mom, the meds belong to her. I'm not taking the blame for her reckless mistakes."

"Sloane! Are you disobeying me?" Mom slammed her hand on the coffee table.

"Your sister is only twenty! If people find out, her entire future is over! You already have a career. What does it matter if you take the hit?"

I stood up, laughing at the sheer absurdity. "What does it matter?"

"If I take the hit, I lose my job. I'll be labeled as easy for the rest of my life. Her life can't be ruined, so mine doesn't count?"

Mom started to argue, but Paige suddenly dropped to her knees. "Sloane, I'm begging you! Just this once! I promise it's the last time!"

"When I graduate and get a high-paying job, I'll pay you back for everything..."

I looked down at her. Her face was flushed, and she was shaking like a leaf. She had knelt just like this in my past life. And what happened?

She partied even harder and got closer to a low-life thug named Jaxson Sterling. For six months, whenever Mom suspected something was wrong, Paige blamed me.

I was the one who got screamed at and beaten. Once I admitted to it once, no one ever believed me again.

"Get up. I'm not doing it."

Mom kicked the chair I had been sitting in. "Sloane! You're really going to let your sister rot?"

"Mom, if you care so much, take her to a real doctor. If she's actually sick, her career is the last thing she needs to worry about."

Mom cursed and threw a glass of water at me. "Fine! Just you wait!"

The glass shattered against my back. I didn't look back as I walked out the door.

I didn't have to wait long. Two days later, I walked into the office, and the atmosphere was thick with tension.

My coworkers were avoiding my eyes. No one would even say good morning.

Then, my boss called me into his office. "Sloane, someone sent this to the HR department via courier."

I looked at the open envelope on his desk. My heart skipped a beat. It was a positive test report for the virus.

My name was clearly printed on it in bold letters. It had the official seal of the Saint Jude's Medical Center, dated last week.

My boss looked at me with a mix of disgust and anger. "The person who sent it said you knew you were sick and still came to work."

"You realize you put this entire floor at risk?"

I didn't even have to guess. This was my mother's handiwork. I suppressed my rage and put the report back on the desk.

"This is a forgery. I can call the hospital right now and prove it."

My boss waved his hand dismissively. "I don't care about proof. This has caused a massive scandal in the office."

"Until this is sorted out, you're suspended without pay."

I walked out of the office with my fists clenched. The stares from my coworkers were like daggers in my spine.

Someone looked up from their cubicle and immediately ducked back down. Whispers followed me to the elevator.

The cleaning crew was already disinfecting my desk before I even left the building. Someone had leaked the report to the company Slack channel.

It was a total disaster. "Is Sloane actually positive? God, she sits right next to me."

"Why hasn't she been fired yet? How are we supposed to work in a biohazard zone?"

They were tagging me in threads, demanding I explain myself. I sat in my car for a few minutes, eyes closed, breathing through the panic.

Then I drove straight to a different hospital for a real, certified test. When I got home, Mom looked like she had just won the lottery.

"I knew you'd come crawling back. Now that you've lost your job, are you still going to be stubborn?"

"Go to the college and claim those meds. We can put this behind us."

Paige had lost her humble act. She smiled at me playfully, like a cat with a mouse.

"Thanks, Sloane. Mom said you're the best sister ever for doing this."

I stayed by the door, refusing to step inside that house. Once she stopped talking, I crossed my arms and stared her down.

"Paige, didn't your boyfriend ask you to meet him at The Rusty Anchor tonight?"

Her smile froze instantly. Mom's head snapped toward her. Paige stammered.

"Sloane, what are you talking about? I'm busy studying. I don't even have a boyfriend..."

"No boyfriend? Then who's the guy with the bleached hair who picks you up from campus?"

I raised an eyebrow. "And if you're not seeing anyone, whose bed are you sleeping in at that motel by the interstate?"

"I'm not! Stop lying!" Paige screamed to drown me out, but Mom's voice was even louder.

"Paige! Who is this guy? What motel?"

Paige shook her head, tears of terror falling. Mom spoiled her, but she was obsessed with our family's reputation.

If she found out Paige was dating a low-life thug, she'd lose it. I didn't give her a chance to lie.

"The motel is right by the red-light district. You can look it up. Her boyfriend, Jaxson Sterling, is a regular there."

"Sloane! Shut up!"

"And he takes a different girl there almost every night."

The living room went dead silent. Paige gasped. "What do you mean..."

"It means you think you're special, but you're just one of many girls he's playing."

Mom clutched her chest, her lips trembling. I looked at her.

"Mom, you can't handle that? I haven't even gotten to the best part."

"Word on the street is that ninety percent of the guys Jaxson hangs out with are infected."

"If he's sick... what do you think the odds are for your precious Paige?"

Paige looked like she'd seen a ghost. She struggled to breathe.

"No... he said he just touched a sick person's phone. He told me the meds were just a precaution..."

"A phone? Are you stupid? You don't catch it from a phone."

I smirked and turned to leave. Before closing the door, I left them with one last thought.

"Don't say I didn't warn you. You better get checked before the symptoms start."

I felt light as I walked away. As I reached the street, a piercing, terrified scream echoed from the apartment.

"GET TO THE HOSPITAL!!"

I thought Mom would take Paige to get tested immediately. But a few days later, I came home to find a mob outside my apartment complex.

A middle-aged woman was hanging a banner on my door. In bright red letters, it said: "Sloane Miller gave my son a death sentence! Give him his life back!"

A guy with bleached hair was crouching nearby, smoking a cigarette. His face was pale and sickly.

The neighbors were all watching from their windows. My mother was there, wailing to the crowd.

"My Paige is an innocent college student! Her sister did this horrible thing!"

"She planted her meds in Paige's bag to frame her!"

Paige was behind her, head down, sobbing right on cue. The moment Jaxson's mom saw me, she lunged at me like a wild animal.

"Sloane Miller! You ruined my son! I'm going to kill you!"

I stumbled back, and she grabbed a handful of my hair. "Let go! I don't even know your son, and I am not sick!"

"Liar! Your own mother gave me the medical report!"

She screamed like a maniac, waving those forged papers in my face. The neighbors backed away in horror.

"It's true! She really has it! She looks so normal, but she's a monster!"

"We can't let someone like this live in our building! She has to move out! Now!"

My mother wiped her eyes, pretending to be the heartbroken victim. "Sloane, honey, just apologize. Your sister is being bullied because of you."

I glanced at the papers. I could tell they were the same photoshopped fakes my mother had made.

I saw Jaxson and Paige exchange a look. Jaxson put out his cigarette and pulled on his mother's arm.

"Mom, let's just get the money for the treatment."

His mom snarled at me. "He's right! Sloane, my son is only twenty-two. You ruined him."

"You're paying for everything. Five hundred thousand dollars, or I'm not leaving this spot!"

I had clearly overestimated Paige's intelligence. Jaxson was actually sick, and she was still working with him to extort me for money.

In my last life, she never listened to my warnings. Jaxson gave her a little attention, and she was hooked.

She didn't get scared until she was actually dying six months later.

"Mom, did you and Paige ever actually get tested?"

Paige didn't answer. She just gave me a smug, triumphant smirk. Mom walked over and slapped me across the face.

"Shut up! Paige said she and Jaxson are just friends. She doesn't need a test!"

The slap sent me reeling into a lamppost. My back throbbed with pain.

I hissed, then reached into my bag and pulled out my real report. I held it up for everyone to see.

"This is my test from the City General Hospital. It's negative. I'm not sick. My mother forged those reports!"

Then I pulled up a photo on my phone and shoved it in their faces. It was a picture of Paige with her arms wrapped around Jaxson's neck, kissing him deeply.

"Ma'am, Jaxson and Paige have been dating for six months. Paige isn't his only girlfriend, but she's definitely the most loyal."

"I heard... he's been hocking your jewelry to take her to motels?"

Jaxson's mom stared at the screen. Her hand began to shake. She slowly turned to look at Paige. Her eyes were filled with murderous rage.

"So... it was you, you little tramp!"