Why Did My Daughter Do That?

After the college entrance exam, my sweet, well-behaved daughter suddenly turned into a monster. She stabbed the grandmother who had raised her with her own hands over and over again, leaving her to bleed to death. She threw her little brother, who had always adored her, straight off the tenth floor. My husband and I were horrified. We begged her to stop, our voices shaking. But she only laughed like a maniac. “Grandma and my brother were too good to me. That's exactly why they had to die! “And you two worked yourselves to the bone to support me, pay for my schooling, and give me a good life. You were good to me too. “So you have to die as well!” Then she set the house on fire with my husband and me still inside. I closed my eyes, furious and unwilling to accept it. But when I opened them again, I found myself back one week before my daughter's college entrance exam. This time, I secretly installed a camera in her room. No matter what it took, I was going to uncover the truth behind why she'd murdered our entire family. But when my husband and I finally saw what the camera had recorded, neither of us could say a word. Chapter 1 I'd always thought that once Hannah finished the college entrance exam, our whole family would finally be able to relax. Until then, preparing for the test had practically become a family project. Hannah's only job was to study and do her best. The rest of us handled everything else. I worked to support the family. My mother-in-law, Margaret, got up at five every morning to make Hannah a healthy, filling breakfast. My husband, Ethan Clove, drove her to school every single day, rain or shine. Even our son, who was still in elementary school, had been repeatedly warned not to bother his sister while she was studying. We'd spent twelve years doing everything we could to give her the best possible future. All of us were holding out for the same thing. Once the college entrance exam was over, we could finally let go of all that pressure, take a family trip, and enjoy ourselves. But I never could've imagined that on the very night the test ended, my sweet, sensible daughter would suddenly become a completely different person. And murder our entire family in the most brutal way possible. “You were all too good to me. That's why you had to die!” Those words seemed carved into my bones. Even after being reborn, I could still hear them over and over in my head. I couldn't understand it. How had the daughter I'd raised to be kind and well-behaved turned into a murderer overnight? So that very afternoon, I ordered a tiny hidden camera with same-day installation. While no one else was home, I had the installer conceal it in an inconspicuous corner of Hannah's bedroom. Before dinner, I told Ethan and my mother-in-law everything. The second I finished, my mother-in-law frowned in disapproval. “Hannah's almost eighteen. She's at an age where privacy matters more than anything. If she finds out you put a camera in her room, she's going to be furious.” Ethan immediately agreed. “Exactly. And her college entrance exam is only a week away. This is the worst possible time to upset her. What if she finds the camera, gets distracted, and it affects her score?” I dug my nails into my palm and told them exactly what had happened in my previous life. But my mother-in-law didn't believe a word of it. “I raised Hannah myself. I know that girl better than anyone. She can't even bring herself to step on an ant. How could she possibly stab me to death?” She looked at me with concern. “Claire, haven't you just been under too much stress lately? Maybe you had a nightmare and it felt real.” Then she turned to Ethan. “Go give your wife a shoulder rub and help her relax. Hannah still has seven days until the college entrance exam. We've all got to hang in there a little longer.” Ethan obediently came over and started massaging my shoulders. I cut him off, growing desperate. “I'm telling you, it really happened...” Before I could finish, the sound of a key turning in the front door made me freeze. Hannah was home from school. She was dressed simply, and exhaustion from senior year was written all over her face. But when she saw Ethan massaging my shoulders, she immediately came over with the same sweet, thoughtful expression I'd always known. “Mom, are you not feeling well?” She reached for my shoulders. “Let me help too.” Chapter 2 Margaret cut her off. “Let your dad do it. Hannah, come eat. I made shrimp especially for you tonight. Your little brother wanted some too, but I wouldn't let him touch any. I saved it all for you.” With that, Margaret headed into the kitchen to bring out the food. Hannah put down her backpack and followed her in to help. Watching how thoughtful and well-behaved my daughter was, I couldn't connect her at all with the blood-soaked monster from my previous life. After dinner, once everything had been cleaned up, I hesitated for a long time before finally going into Hannah's room. I wanted to talk to her. I pulled over a chair and sat beside her, keeping my voice gentle. “Hannah, has anything been bothering you lately? If something's wrong, you can talk to me.” She shook her head. “I'm fine.” I refused to give up. “No matter what it is, you can tell me. I'll always be on your side. Whatever happens, you can always rely on me.” The moment I said that, I noticed her grip tighten around her pen. She looked up at me. Her lips parted slightly. I held my breath. For one second, I thought she was finally going to tell me the truth. Then a sharp crash of breaking glass came from the living room. Every trace of emotion vanished from Hannah's face. She immediately lowered her head back to her workbook and refused to say another word. I went out to see what had happened. Ethan and Margaret had both decided Hannah needed warm milk before bed. And apparently, each of them had insisted on being the one to bring it to her personally. In the middle of their little tug-of-war, the glass had slipped and shattered across the tile, spilling milk everywhere. Things like this happened in our house all the time. Not long ago, Ethan and Margaret had even argued over which of them had bought Hannah the more comfortable clothes. I crouched down to help clean up the glass. “You two act like you're constantly competing for Hannah's attention.” Ethan laughed as he wiped up the milk. “Of course we are. Hannah's the little queen of this family. We've got to compete for her favor.” Margaret immediately took advantage of the distraction and hurried off with a fresh glass of milk for Hannah. By the time we finished cleaning everything up, I tried to go back to Hannah's room. But this time, she wouldn't let me in. “Mom, it's really late. I still haven't finished everything I planned to review today.” I stared at her closed bedroom door. For some reason, it felt just like staring at her heart. Shut tight. Impossible to read. Still uneasy, I went back to the master bedroom. Ethan was already stretched out in bed, ready to sleep. I couldn't. So I pulled out my phone and opened the camera feed. On the screen, Hannah sat quietly at her desk, working through practice questions. Everything she did looked completely normal. I watched for more than an hour. Nothing happened. Finally, I started to think maybe I'd been wrong. I was just about to close the app and go to sleep when Hannah suddenly moved. I immediately sat up straighter. She opened a drawer and took out a pair of scissors. Then she left her desk. The next second, she drove the scissors straight into the stomach of the stuffed doll lying on her bed. Again. And again. Each stab was vicious. And the movements were far too practiced. This clearly wasn't the first time she'd done it. My eyelid started twitching violently. For one horrifying moment, all I could see was the memory of Hannah stabbing Margaret over and over again. I couldn't take it anymore. I shook Ethan awake. He bolted upright in alarm. But when he saw that Hannah was only stabbing a stuffed doll on the camera feed, he let out a breath of relief. Chapter 3 “I thought something serious had happened. She was just stabbing a stuffed doll with scissors.” I stared at him in disbelief. “What do you mean, just stabbing a stuffed doll? Doesn't that prove how much aggression she's holding inside? “Right now it's a doll. Next time, it could be us!” Ethan rubbed his forehead, then took my hand and tried to calm me down. “Claire, Mom already said it. Hannah's the kind of girl who can't even bring herself to step on an ant. How could she possibly murder her whole family? “You're reading too much into it. She's probably just under a lot of stress because of the exam and needed some way to let it out.” Just stress from the college entrance exam? I thought about it. Maybe it really was possible that the pressure had pushed Hannah over the edge in my previous life. So first thing the next morning, I called her school and told them she'd be absent. Then I took the whole family to an amusement park. When Hannah was younger, she'd loved it whenever I took her there. But as she got older and school became more demanding, she'd had less and less time to just have fun. Maybe one full day of relaxing and enjoying herself really could ease some of that pressure. Maybe it could even change what happened to our family. With that hope in mind, I spent the entire day enthusiastically dragging Hannah from ride to ride, determined to make sure she enjoyed herself. And she really did seem happy. Her smile was bright and completely unguarded. Margaret busied herself taking pictures of Hannah and our son, Noah, while they played. Ethan leaned toward me and lowered his voice. “See? I told you Hannah was just stressed about the exam. Look how happy she is now.” I nodded. Watching Hannah laugh so freely, I finally felt some of the tension in my chest ease. Then, in the very next second, my eyes widened in horror. Hannah and Noah were sitting together on a roller coaster. And just before the ride started, I saw Hannah unfasten Noah's safety restraint. That roller coaster went completely upside down. Without the restraint, Noah would fall from the ride. The operator was already reaching for the controls. My voice cracked as I screamed, “Wait!” The operator stopped and turned toward me. I didn't even think. I rushed over and pulled both Hannah and Noah out of the ride area. Ethan and Margaret followed, completely confused. Only when we reached an open space and I finally stopped did they ask, “What happened? Why wouldn't you let Hannah and Noah keep riding?” I pointed at Hannah. “Ask her!” Hannah looked up at me innocently. “Mom, I don't know what you mean.” “Claire, what are you doing?” Margaret clearly didn't like the way I was pointing at Hannah. She stepped in front of her protectively and frowned at me. Even Ethan looked unhappy with the way I was treating our daughter. Seeing the entire family instinctively defend Hannah made me feel both desperate and powerless. “Hannah unfastened Noah's safety restraint on the roller coaster!” I'd thought that would finally make Ethan and Margaret understand how serious this was. Instead, they stared at me in disbelief. “Hannah would never do something like that. Are you sure you didn't see it wrong? “Maybe one of the employees forgot to secure Noah properly.” Noah immediately nodded too. “Yeah. It wasn't Hannah's fault.” Chapter 4 Hannah stood behind them, still looking at me with the same innocent expression. But I could've sworn there was something mocking in her eyes. No matter what I said, Ethan and Margaret refused to believe that Hannah had deliberately unfastened Noah's safety restraint. Watching the two of them defend her so fiercely left me feeling helpless. And suddenly, another possibility occurred to me. Could Hannah's decision to murder our entire family have something to do with the way we'd spoiled her? Had years of excessive pampering somehow twisted her into this? With that thought in mind, I insisted on taking Hannah to a therapist the next day. But the results were the exact opposite of what I'd expected. Hannah was perfectly fine. I, on the other hand, showed signs of severe anxiety. I stared at the results in disbelief. Hannah was fine? How was that possible? Ethan came over and gave my shoulder a reassuring pat. “Now you believe there's nothing wrong with Hannah, right? “Claire, you're just wound too tight. Your anxiety is making you assume the worst about everything.” He softened his voice. “Try to relax. Once Hannah's done with the college entrance exam, we'll all take a proper vacation together.” After handing Hannah a glass of water, Margaret came over too. “Exactly, Claire. You've seen the results yourself. Stop putting everyone through this.” She sighed. “If all this ends up affecting Hannah right before the exam, I won't care what score she gets. She'll always be my precious granddaughter. But you're the one who's going to regret it.” Listening to Ethan and Margaret, I finally began to doubt myself. Was I really just overwhelmed with anxiety because Hannah's college entrance exam was coming up? Had everything from my previous life, Hannah murdering our whole family, my death, even my rebirth, all been some kind of delusion caused by stress? I shook my head and looked over at Hannah. And saw her smiling at me. A smug, almost demonic smile. My heart lurched. “Ethan! Margaret! Look at her!” They immediately turned. But when I looked back at Hannah, she was simply sipping her water like the sweet, obedient girl she'd always been. When she noticed me staring, she even asked gently, “Mom, what's wrong? Do you want some water?” I could hardly believe my own eyes. Ethan and Margaret exchanged a look. Then they came to the same conclusion. “This is exactly what we're talking about. You're too anxious because Hannah's college entrance exam is coming up.” After hearing the same thing from them over and over again, I finally had no choice but to accept that maybe I really was the problem. That evening, we went home. Margaret carefully made Hannah a nourishing soup. Noah cracked jokes at the dinner table. Everything felt ordinary. Warm. Like any other happy family dinner. I looked at the sweet profile of my daughter sitting beside us. And the more I watched her, the more I began to wonder if everything from my previous life, even my rebirth itself, had really been nothing more than something my anxious mind had invented. Of course. My daughter was so sweet and well-behaved. How could she possibly be a monster who would murder her entire family? I kept repeating that to myself. And little by little, I actually started to feel better. But for some reason, a small shadow of unease remained buried deep inside me. That night, just before bed, I instinctively opened the camera feed in Hannah's room again. What I saw made my blood run cold.