In the days that followed, I “spent all my time” with Nathan.
He rented a small apartment near campus, taking me there for meals whenever he had time. Apron draped, he’d serve all my favorite dishes.
Gotta admit, his campaign pitch that day had substance–outside men really couldn’t compare to Marcus.
As for Rachel, she’d already returned home. My fall had shaken her deeply, though Nathan signed the waiver.
Rachel missed her college entrance exam that year but got into a good school the next. She texted an apology, admit- ting she shouldn’t have deceived me.
Yet my fatal fall seemed to leave lingering trauma, making her avoid me. Not that big a deal–her betrayal cast a long shadow over my previous life too.
I explained everything to Marcus. He found it bizarre but reluctantly accepted it, followed by endless bitterness.
“Oh, wonderful.”
“Congrats then.”
When vacation came, we returned home. Seeing my own grave was surreal. My tombstone stood beside Nathan’s mother and my mom.
Wind howled past my ears. I asked my brother how he found me.
He said severe hallucinations started plaguing him. He’d linger in my room, watching me approach–only to snap back to reality clinging to my clothes when he tried embracing me.
“Dawson and Astrid insisted I needed help. They dragged me to that monastery north of town.”
“There, I saw our past life.”
I listened silently, eyes watery, and leapt into Nathan’s embrace.
“I’m sorry, brother.”
“I owe you an apology. I was so scared back then–scared that just having me around would get you expelled again, then get you killed.”
“Better not to have me at all.”
Nathan covered my mouth.
“But what’s the difference between living and dying without you?”
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Chapter 11
“Don’t you feel the same?”
He gently brushed my forehead.
“The abbot said you weren’t dead, so I kept searching.”
Of course my brother’s a good man–always doing good deeds, never needing fifty years of praying like me.
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“Until one day at the monastery, I met Bradyn. He came for dream reading, saying his stepbrother kept doing strange things in his dreams every night–how to break the cycle.”
“When we talked, he showed me his brother’s photo. But it was a group photo–and you were standing right there.”
“How could I not recognize you.”
I was stunned.
I think my brother and Bradyn could form a victim club–they’d have plenty to talk about.
But since Nathan knows about our past life…
“You won’t see me as an old woman!” I jumped up and covered his eyes. “No! You have to forget!”
Nathan caught my mischievous hands, finally smiling genuinely.
“I won’t forget.”
“But you never saw me grow old.”
Tears welled up instantly. He kissed them away, eyes curved like moons, voice impossibly tender.
“So this time, you must become that old woman… and watch me turn into your old man.”
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