Chapter 11: When Fate Targets Someone Else
672 Words
Everything happened too fast.
The sound of her body hitting the steps echoed through the cafeteria like a nightmare.
Students screamed.
Someone dropped a glass—it shattered loudly against the floor.
But all I could hear was my own heartbeat pounding in my ears.
“Hannah!”
I rushed forward, pushing through the crowd.
She was lying at the bottom of the stairs, completely still.
Too still.
My chest tightened painfully.
“No… no, no, no…”
I dropped beside her, my hands shaking as I reached for her.
“Hannah, wake up,” I whispered desperately.
Her eyes were closed.
There was a small cut near her forehead, a thin line of blood trailing down.
But that wasn’t what scared me.
It was the stillness.
The silence.
“Move,” someone said behind me.
Liam.
He knelt beside us, his expression focused, controlled—but I could see it.
The fear.
He checked her pulse quickly.
Then looked at me.
“She’s alive.”
My breath came back all at once, shaky and uneven.
“Thank God…”
But Liam didn’t look relieved.
Not really.
His eyes met mine, and I understood why.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
Not to her.
Not yet.
Chloe appeared beside us moments later, her face pale.
“It’s happening,” she said quietly.
“What?” I asked, my voice breaking. “What’s happening?!”
She looked at Hannah.
Then at me.
“It’s spreading.”
My stomach dropped.
“What do you mean spreading?”
“In the past timelines,” she said slowly, “it was always just you.”
The words felt heavy.
“But now…” she continued, her voice lower, “the loop is affecting others.”
I felt like the ground beneath me had disappeared.
“This is my fault,” I whispered.
“No,” Liam said firmly.
“Yes, it is!” I snapped, tears filling my eyes. “If I didn’t get close to you—”
“She would still be in danger,” he cut in.
I froze.
“What?”
“This isn’t just about us anymore,” he said.
The way he said it…
Made everything worse.
Before I could ask anything else, paramedics rushed in, carefully lifting Hannah onto a stretcher.
I stood there, frozen, watching as they carried her away.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
She wasn’t part of this.
She didn’t deserve this.
And yet…
It happened anyway.
Later that evening, I sat on my bed, staring at nothing.
My hands were still shaking.
My chest still tight.
Every time I closed my eyes, I saw her falling.
“This is just the beginning.”
Chloe’s words echoed again.
I hated how right she was.
A soft knock came at my window.
I looked up.
Liam.
Of course.
I walked over and opened it quietly.
He climbed in, his movements familiar—like he had done this before.
Maybe he had.
In another life.
“Is she okay?” I asked immediately.
“She’s in the hospital,” he said. “She’ll wake up.”
Relief flooded through me—but it didn’t last.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen,” I whispered.
“I know.”
I turned to him, anger and fear mixing inside me.
“Then fix it.”
He went still.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?!”
“Because this…” he gestured between us, “this is already different.”
Silence filled the room.
Then I asked the question that had been building inside me all day.
“What are we fighting, Liam?”
His expression darkened.
For a moment, I thought he wouldn’t answer.
But then he did.
“Not what,” he said quietly.
My heart pounded.
“Who.”
A chill ran down my spine.
“What do you mean… who?”
He looked at me.
And for the first time since all of this began…
I saw fear in his eyes.
“Someone else remembers too.”
- Writer
