Later that night, Ashley sat on her bedroom floor with her old piggy bank cracked open in front of her. Coins, bills, old stickers, and paperclips spilled out onto her bedspread.
She began to sort everything with care.
Every cent she saved would count. She'd need it for a very specific future investment: bitcoin. Years from now, that single investment would be her golden ticket. She wasn't greedy – just enough to buy her mom a house and build something sustainable. Just that one move to buy some time and freedom for her family later.
She reached under her bed and pulled out an old spiral notebook. On the first page, she wrote three big goals: keep mom healthy and happy, build financial freedom, and help Arthur and Anthea follow their dreams
Then beneath that, she scribbled: "We don't need to be rich. We just need to be free."
She stared at the list. In the past life, everything had gone wrong in waves.
Helen had died too young – exhausted, sick, betrayed. She had stepped up as the oldest, taking care of her younger siblings while their father vanished into a new family. Arthur had dropped out of university and spiraled into a fog of depression. Anthea had buried her ambition to avoid becoming a burden. And her? She'd spent over a decade trying to hold everyone together – and losing herself in the process.
Not this time. She tore the page out and stuck it on her wall, covering a glittery poster of a boyband she no longer liked. She smiled at the contrast.
It was a weird thing – being fourteen and forty at the same time. But Ashley was starting to feel like this second chance was more than just a cosmic redo. It was a quiet promise from the universe:
This time, it would be different.
This time, she would bloom early.
This time, she'd make sure no one she loved ever wilted again.