CHAPTER 3 :THE GIRL IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
1839 Words
My hands started shaking so badly the photograph almost slipped from my fingers.
“She died two years ago.”
The words blurred together.
I looked at the woman in the picture again.
Me.
No… not me.
It couldn’t be me.
The girl beside Damian was smiling softly while he looked at her like she was the only thing keeping him alive. Behind them, snow covered the streets and tiny golden lights glowed through the dark evening.
It looked real.
Too real to fake.
My throat tightened painfully.
“This isn’t funny.”
Damian didn’t answer.
I slowly looked up at him.
“You expect me to believe I died?”
“No,” he said quietly. “I expect you to remember.”
The room suddenly felt colder.
I stared at the photo again, searching for something wrong. Editing. Photoshop. Anything.
But the scar near the collarbone was there.
Exactly where mine was.
A scar I hadn’t even noticed until this morning.
“How old is this picture?”
“Two years.”
“And you’re saying the woman in this photo is me?”
“Yes.”
“But I’m alive.”
His jaw tightened slightly.
“Physically, yes.”
A chill moved down my spine.
“What the hell does that mean?”
Before he could answer, a sharp pain exploded behind my eyes again.
I gasped softly and grabbed the side of my head.
Another flash.
A dark room.
Smoke everywhere.
Someone screaming.
Then Damian’s voice—
“Open your eyes! Stay with me!”
I blinked hard and the vision disappeared instantly.
My breathing became uneven.
Damian leaned forward immediately. “What did you see?”
I hesitated.
Something inside me didn’t want to tell him.
“I heard you.”
His expression changed slightly.
“What else?”
“Fire,” I whispered.
For the first time since I met him, Damian actually looked afraid.
Not angry.
Afraid.
He stood up immediately and walked toward the window again.
Like he suddenly couldn’t stand being near me.
“You shouldn’t force the memories,” he said quietly.
I frowned.
“You keep saying things like that.”
“Because it’s dangerous.”
“For who?”
He didn’t answer.
That silence told me enough.
For him.
The realization settled heavily in my chest.
Whatever happened before the accident… Damian was hiding a huge part of it.
And somehow I was connected to something worse than memory loss.
I looked down at the photograph again.
The girl in it looked happy.
Not fake happy.
Actually happy.
Was that really me?
And if it was… what happened to turn us into this?
“You loved her,” I said softly.
Damian’s shoulders stiffened.
“Yes.”
The way he answered hurt for reasons I couldn’t explain.
“Then why do you look guilty every time you look at me?”
His eyes met mine slowly.
“Because I should’ve let you go.”
Silence filled the room again.
Outside, rain continued sliding down the hospital windows in endless streaks.
I suddenly felt trapped here.
In this room.
In this story.
Inside a life that apparently belonged to someone else.
“I need air.”
“You shouldn’t leave the bed yet.”
“I don’t care.”
I pushed the blanket aside and tried standing up.
Big mistake.
Pain shot through my body instantly and my legs almost gave out beneath me.
Before I could fall, Damian caught me easily.
His hands wrapped around my waist.
Warm.
Steady.
Dangerously familiar.
The second he touched me, another memory flashed violently through my head—
His lips against my forehead.
My laughter.
Snow falling around us.
“Promise me this never ends.”
“I swear.”
I jerked away from him immediately.
My breathing became shallow.
Damian noticed instantly.
“What did you remember?”
I stared at him.
“You kissed me.”
The room went silent.
A strange emotion crossed his face.
Not embarrassment.
Loss.
“You remember that?”
“Only pieces.”
I pressed my fingers against my temple again.
“This is insane.”
“Yes,” he agreed softly.
“You’re acting like all of this is normal!”
“It stopped being normal a long time ago.”
Something about that answer made me angry.
Maybe because he kept talking in riddles while I was drowning in confusion.
“You know what?” I snapped. “Maybe Celeste was right.”
That got his attention immediately.
“She doesn’t know the full story.”
“Then tell me the full story!”
His expression darkened slightly.
“You really want the truth?”
“Yes!”
A long silence followed.
Then Damian walked back toward the chair beside my bed and sat down slowly.
For the first time, he looked tired.
Not physically.
Emotionally.
Like he had been fighting something alone for too long.
“The woman in that picture,” he said quietly, “was named Elena.”
My heart skipped.
Elena.
The name hit me strangely hard.
Like hearing music from a forgotten dream.
“Elena,” I repeated softly.
“You hated your name at first,” he said, almost smiling. “You said it sounded too delicate.”
I frowned.
“How do you know all these little things?”
“Because you told me everything.”
There was something intimate about the way he said it.
Dangerously intimate.
I looked away.
“So Elena died in the fire?”
His face lost every trace of softness.
“Yes.”
“How?”
He stayed silent long enough for me to realize he didn’t want to answer.
But eventually he did.
“She was murdered.”
The air left my lungs.
“Murdered?”
“Yes.”
“By who?”
His eyes locked onto mine.
“That’s what you were trying to uncover before your memories were erased.”
I stared at him.
Nothing about this sounded real anymore.
It sounded like one of those crime novels people read in airports.
Not my life.
Not me.
But deep down…
Something inside me already knew he wasn’t lying.
I looked at the burned photograph again.
“She looks happy.”
“She was.”
“What changed?”
Damian didn’t answer immediately.
Then quietly—
“She met me.”
The sadness in his voice almost hurt more than the words themselves.
I studied his face carefully.
Every expression felt controlled, but not fake.
Like a man constantly trying not to fall apart.
“Were you the reason she died?”
That question hung heavily between us.
Damian looked away first.
“Yes.”
The honesty shocked me more than denial would have.
I swallowed hard.
“Then why am I still with you?”
He looked back at me slowly.
“Because even after everything… you refused to leave.”
A strange ache spread through my chest again.
Like my body remembered loving him before my mind could catch up.
And honestly?
That terrified me.
A sudden knock interrupted the silence.
Before either of us could respond, the door opened slightly.
The nurse from earlier stepped inside carefully.
“There’s someone asking to see her.”
Damian stood immediately. “No.”
The nurse hesitated nervously.
“He says it’s urgent.”
“I said no.”
But then a male voice came from the hallway.
“Still controlling everything, Damian?”
The second I heard that voice—
My entire body froze.
Something inside me reacted instantly.
Fear.
Real fear.
Damian’s expression turned cold immediately.
A man stepped into the room.
Tall.
Dark blond hair.
Sharp features.
Expensive black suit.
But his eyes…
There was something deeply wrong with his eyes.
Like he was constantly pretending to be human.
“Well,” he said softly while looking directly at me, “this is unexpected.”
The room suddenly felt dangerous.
I didn’t know why.
But every instinct inside me screamed at me to run.
Damian stepped slightly in front of my bed.
Protective.
Possessive.
“What are you doing here, Victor?”
Victor smiled faintly.
“I came to see if the rumors were true.”
His gaze returned to me again.
“And apparently,” he continued softly, “dead girls really do come back to life.”
A sharp pain stabbed through my head instantly.
Victor.
The name triggered something.
A ballroom.
Music.
Me arguing with someone.
Then a gunshot.
I gasped softly.
Victor noticed immediately.
“Oh?” he murmured. “You remember me?”
“No,” I whispered automatically.
Lie.
Because somehow…
I did.
Not clearly.
But enough.
Enough to know he was dangerous.
Victor smiled slowly.
“That’s disappointing.”
Damian’s voice became deadly calm.
“Leave.”
Victor ignored him completely.
Instead, he walked closer to me.
“You know,” he said softly, “you used to hate hospitals.”
The closer he got, the worse the feeling became.
Cold panic spread through my stomach.
My fingers instinctively grabbed Damian’s sleeve without thinking.
The second I touched him, Victor stopped walking.
His expression changed slightly.
Interesting.
Like he noticed something important.
Damian noticed too.
Slowly, his hand covered mine briefly.
A silent reassurance.
And somehow…
It worked.
Victor laughed quietly.
“Still choosing him.”
“I don’t know you,” I whispered.
His eyes met mine directly.
“You did once.”
The exact same words Damian said earlier.
But coming from Victor…
They sounded wrong.
Twisted.
I saw Damian’s jaw tighten.
“You’re done here.”
Victor sighed dramatically.
“You’re always so dramatic.”
Then he looked at me one last time.
And smiled.
“You should ask Damian what happened the night you disappeared.”
My heartbeat stopped for a second.
Disappeared.
Not died.
Before I could speak, Damian grabbed Victor by the arm hard enough to make the nurse gasp.
The atmosphere in the room shifted instantly.
Violence.
Real violence.
Victor looked amused instead of scared.
“You can’t hide the truth forever,” he said quietly.
Damian’s voice dropped dangerously low.
“She’s not part of this anymore.”
Victor’s eyes returned to me.
“That’s where you’re wrong.”
Then he leaned slightly closer.
And whispered words that turned my blood cold.
“He’s the reason they found your body.”
Body.
Not accident.
Not fire.
Body.
My chest tightened painfully.
“What does that mean?”
But Victor only smiled.
Then he walked out of the room.
Just like that.
The second he disappeared into the hallway, the silence became unbearable.
I slowly turned toward Damian.
His face had gone pale.
“What did he mean?”
No answer.
“Damian.”
Still silence.
Fear crawled slowly into my stomach.
Because suddenly…
I realized something horrifying.
Maybe I wasn’t trapped in this hospital with Damian.
Maybe I was trapped here because someone outside was still trying to finish what they started two years ago.
chapter 4 coming soon.........
- Writer
