CHAPTER 14%
D
Laura
The fire had started to fade, casting a dim orange glow across the rough stone walls. Xavier sat beside me on the worn–out couch, his body at ease but his eyes carrying something heavy–something that refused to be buried.
Between the silence and the ticking of the old clock, I knew he was about to speak. And I knew, whatever came out of his mouth tonight- it wasn’t going to be trivial.
“I need to tell you something,” he finally said.
I nodded slowly, though a strange pressure throbbed behind my temple. A subtle tension I couldn’t yet name–whether pain, dread, or anticipation.
Xavier looked at the fire, then back at me.
“You probably don’t remember… but we met before. Years ago. Before all this. Before our names became secrets and scars.”}
My spine stiffened. My heart kicked faster.}
“When?“>
“You were delivering food. I was bleeding out in the alley, and you brought me into your home. Let me stay for a few days. And then… you vanished.”
I bit my lip. A faint memory stirred–long nights, side jobs to survive, delivering food until my legs gave out. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t recall saving someone. Still, something deep inside–some locked room in the back of my skull–began to stir. Someone was knocking.}
“After you disappeared, I looked for you. You might’ve forgotten. But I… never did.“}
I closed my eyes.
And like water slipping through cracked stone, the memory came–loud noises, blood pooling under dim streetlights, a body crumpled on cold pavement. My hands trembling.
“I… I remember.“}
My breath caught, like I’d just been pulled from underwater.}
I opened my eyes. “You recognized me from the beginning?“}
He nodded. “Not immediately. Your face changed. Your body, too. But your eyes–there was something in your gaze. Like you were holding back an entire world. I knew it was you.”
“I never came back,” I whispered, my voice cracking like a confession. “After that night, I never returned to that rented place.“>
Xavier said nothing. He let the silence hold
“Because something happened that night.
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I swallowed hard. “We got a call. Our home in another city had caught fire. My father… he disappeared that night. We thought he’d died in the fire. But was nobody there.”}
Xavier didn’t flinch, like he already knew this wasn’t just a tale of tragedy. This was the beginning of why I vanished–why I never returned, why my youth felt like a ghost I couldn’t chase.
“After that, everything changed. We had to leave that city. My family wanted to erase every trace of him. We tried to start over somewhere else. A new town. A new name. A new life. But it didn’t last. I lost my mother, My sister.”
My head buzzed. I pressed my fingers against my temple. “I even forgot who I used to be, Xavier.“}
“But you remember now,” he said quietly.
“All I remember is the loss,” I said. “As if my entire life is defined by what was taken, not what’s left.“}
He reached for me, his hand settling behind my neck, his thumb gently rubbing my skin. And for a moment, the pressure in my head eased.
“I kept looking for that girl,” he murmured. “All these years. I know it sounds insane. But there was something in the way you looked at the world–like you were ready to fight everyone who tried to break you, but still desperate for someone to protect you.“>
I furrowed my brow. “You don’t know me.”
“I knew your silence,” he said. “And after that day, I learned to see people not by what they said–but by what they couldn’t say.“}
We fell quiet again.
Then I let out a dry laugh. “Funny. I thought you were just a man with too many secrets and too little empathy.”
“I am a man with too many secrets,” he said with a faint smile. “But for you… I want to start giving them up.”
Lleaned into him. My new leg–the foreign limb that was slowly becoming mine–rested against the warm rug. The wounds of my past, the nameless sorrow, the confusion that had defined me… began to melt, morphing into something I could finally hold.”
“What if I can’t be the person you remember?” I asked, barely above a whisper.
He kissed the top of my head, soft and slow.
“I didn’t come looking for you because you were that girl. I came because you were the only thing left… inside me.”
I looked up, and when our eyes met, it wasn’t just love I saw. It was recognition. It was “permission*.
Then I kissed him.
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1:04 PM CS
“What if I can’t be the person you remember?” I asked, barely above a whisper.
He kissed the top of my head, soft and slow.
“I didn’t come looking for you because you were that girl. I came because you were the only thing left… inside me.”
I looked up, and when our eyes met, it wasn’t just love I saw. It was recognition. It was *permission*.
Then I kissed him.”
This time, I was the one who leaned in.
And unlike before–where there was doubt and hesitation–this kiss carried certainty. Like I was finally choosing. Choosing not to keep punishing myself. Choosing not to let my past decide what I was worthy of.”
His arms wrapped around me, his body grounding me in a strength I never knew I’d longed for. And I kissed him back–not as Laura from the past, not as Oliver’s wife, not as Maureen’s shadow.
But as me.
“You never wondered,” Xavier said suddenly, voice low against my ear, “why your father’s body was never found?”
I pulled back slightly. My heart skipped.
He held my gaze.”
“Or why only your sister died in the car crash seven years ago?“}]
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