8
I couldn’t see, but I could hear the pain in Ash’s voice escalating.
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Chapter 2
Panic seized me. I scrambled to get up, tripped, and hit my head hard on the floor.
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A wave of dizziness washed over me. When it passed, something miraculous had happened. The darkness was receding. The blur- ry shapes in the room were slowly, impossibly, coming into focus.
My heart pounding, I rushed back to Ash’s bed. In the bright moonlight streaming through the window, there was no mistake. The
face contorted in agony was his. It was Caden.
How? How could it be him?
I pinched myself, hard. The sting was real. This wasn’t a dream.
I looked around the small cottage. From the outside, it was humble. But inside, everything was of the finest quality. I didn’t know
how to face him. The man who had wounded me so deeply was also the man who had my life.
ved
Seeing me staring, Caden, still unaware that I could see, forced himself to offer a pained smile. “It’s okay, Annette. Go back to
sleep. Just a bad dream. I’ll be fine.”
Eine? I could see the torment he was trying to hide. What was wrong with him?
I pretended to obey, feeling my way back to my own bed and lying down with my back to him, my breathing soft and even.
Tky
After a long while, I heard him sneak out of the house. I crept to the window and heard his voice, low and desperate, on the phone.
“Is there any way to suppress it? The episodes are getting more frequent…”
A pause.
“No. She can’t know. This was all fated to happen. It’s what I owe her.”
I didn’t know what was happening to him, but a cold knot of fear tightened in my stomach. I couldn’t understand it. He had hurt me,
again and again, for Jenna. But he had also saved me. Who did his heart truly belong to?
“Just give me a little more time,” he whispered into the phone. “I just want to be with her for her birthday.”
For the next few weeks, I continued to play the part of a blind woman, and he continued to play the part of Ash. We existed in a
fragile, unspoken truce.
On my birthday, Caden bought hundreds of sky lanterns and had the entire village help us release them. On each one, he had writt-
en the same wish: For Annette’s happiness and peace.
The older women from the village teased him, calling him a “hopeless romantic,” and playfully pushed us together. He put his arms
around me, a brief, restrained hug, and pulled away almost immediately.
On our way home that night, we were ambushed. Our world went black.
We woke up in a dark caye, tied up. Caden was already awake, positioning his body protectively in front of mine.
“Don’t touch her!” he yelled at our captors. “Take me instead! I’ll give you anything you want!”
A figure stepped out of the shadows. It was Jenna. Her face was horribly disfigured, a grotesque map of scars.
“Caden Astor,” she spat, her voice a venomous hiss. “You ruined me. Do you think you get to hide away here with this bitch and live happily ever after?” She brandished a knife, her eyes filled with a terrifying, crazed light. “You love each other so much? Fine. Today,
I’ll send you both to hell together.”
She lunged at me.
I was bound, unable to move, able to do nothing but watch the blade coming closer.
I braced for the impact, but the pain never came. There was a dull thud, a sharp intake of breath. Caden had thrown himself in
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Chapter 2
front of me. The knife was buried deep in his abdomen.
Jenna yanked the blade out, ready to strike again, but just then, my fas
the swarm of police officers.
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echoed from the mouth of the cave, followed by
I scrambled to Caden’s side, pressing my hands against the gushing wound. “Caden, why?” I sobbed, tears streaming down my face. “Why would you do all this?”
A bitter, pained smile touched his lips. “So… you knew?” His voice
from you now. You’ll be safe.”
was
faint whisper. “I’m sorry. For everything I did. I’ll stay away
“You idiot! Caden, you goddamn idiot!”
He just looked at me, his eyes full of a love so deep and sorrowful it broke my heart. “I’m the idiot. I’m sorry, Annette.”
And with that, his eyes fluttered shut, and he went limp in my arms.
“Caden, you can’t die! You haven’t explained anything yet!”
My father got us to the hospital. In the short time since I’d last seen him, he seemed
to aged decades. “Annette,” he said, his
voice heavy with regret. “I’m so sorry. For what I did to you, to your mother… If you ever need anything, please… come to me.”
I didn’t look back. An apology couldn’t bring my mother back. It couldn’t erase a childhood of pain.
Caden remained unconscious. I refused to leave his side, sitting by his bed in a stubborn, sleepless
nights. Finally, my own body gave out, and I collapsed.
vigil. For
seven days and seven
When I woke up, I didn’t even bother with shoes. I ran back to his room, but it was empty. The bed
was
neatly made.
All that was left was a letter on the nightstand.
Annette,
The doctors say my condition is complicated. I have to go overseas for a long course of treatment. Don’t worry. I’ll send you updat-
es every day. Please, take care of yourself.
A gaping hole opened in my chest, cold wind whistling through it. I had a terrible feeling, a premonition I was too afraid to confirm.
But true to his word, a day later, Caden’s social media updated. A picture of a beautiful, sunny rehabilitation center abroad. A mes-
sage followed.
Annette, I’ve arrived safely. Don’t worry.
From then on, he updated his status regularly. He sent me messages. He even sent postcards from all over the world.
Ten months later, I gave birth to his children. Twins, a boy and a girl. Conceived on that one, stolen night after he had locked me in
the boiler room.
I watched our children grow from tiny infants into bright young adults. I watched my own dark hair become streaked with gray.
I lived until I was eighty. One night, as I had done for countless nights before, I lay in bed and pulled out the only wedding photo I
had of us from under my pillow.
I gently traced the lines of his young, handsome face.
“You fool,” I whispered, a soft smile on my lips. “I’m coming to find you.”
After I discovered I was pregnant, I had wanted to tell him. I asked everyone, but no one knew where he had gone. Still not giving up, I had searched for clues, and in my frenzy, I knocked over the box of postcards he’d sent. They scattered across the floor. And I saw it. The postmark on every single one was from the same local post office.
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Chapter 2
The next day, I waited by that postbox. And I saw my father, now a frail, stooped old man, slip a new postcard into the slot.
In that moment, I understood. My Caden was never coming back.
But he was still alive. He lived on, forever, in my heart and in the beautiful children he gave me.
He lived when I lived. He would die when I died. In life and in death, we were together, never to be parted again.
[END]
