The monster in me

Our wedding invitations were chosen, promising a beautiful future with Mike, my college sweetheart of eight years.

Then, Mike arrived, face ashen, eyes haunted.

He thrust an envelope at me: "I can't do this, Sarah."

Pure terror consumed his face as he fled.

That was just the first loop.

Friends whispered about "what they saw" and abandoned me.

I lost my job to "disturbing incidents."

My beloved cat mysteriously died, then my mother collapsed, eyes wide with paralyzing fear.

My father, seeing something monstrous in me, whispered, "It's better this way," as he smothered me.