Dark clouds
"Alice! Alice! Wake up!"
The voice echoed through the darkness.
"Alice!"
Her eyes snapped open.
She gasped.
Alice lay beneath an old apple tree, the cold rain dripping from the leaves above her and landing softly on her parted lips. She stared at the gray sky, confused and afraid.
Where am I?
Her once colorful dress was now covered in mud, and her delicate ballerina shoes were torn almost beyond repair.
She slowly sat up, trying to remember how she got there.
But there was nothing.
No memories. No answers.
Only a voice calling her name.
"Alice..."
A name that felt strangely familiar...
Yet somehow, she knew it wasn't hers.
The wind whispered through the branches of the old apple tree.
Alice slowly pushed herself up, her hands trembling as she touched the wet grass beneath her.
Something was wrong.
She should have been afraid. She should have been panicking.
But deep inside her chest was a strange feeling... like her heart already knew this place.
A small red apple fell from the tree and landed beside her.
She stared at it.
A memory flashed before her eyes.
A warm hand holding hers.
A voice promising, "I will find you, no matter how many lifetimes it takes."
Alice gasped and grabbed her head.
The image disappeared as quickly as it came.
"Who are you?" she whispered to herself.
A sudden c***k came from the forest behind her.
She froze.
The rain grew heavier, and the trees seemed to lean closer, hiding whatever was watching her.
Then she heard it.
A low growl.
Alice slowly turned around.
Between the trees stood a large wolf, its silver eyes fixed on her.
But it wasn't attacking.
It was waiting.
And strangely... Alice wasn't afraid.
The wolf stepped forward and lowered its head, almost like it was greeting an old friend.
"Do I know you?" Alice whispered.
Before the wolf could answer, a deep voice came from behind it.
"You don't remember him..."
Alice turned.
A tall man stood at the edge of the forest, his dark hair wet from the rain and his eyes filled with an emotion she couldn't understand.
Pain.
Relief.
Love.
He looked at her like he had been searching for her forever.
"But he never forgot you."
Alice stared at the tall man standing before her.
His dark eyes reminded her of the endless night sky, deep and full of secrets she couldn't understand. His broad shoulders seemed to relax the moment he saw her, as if he had been holding his breath for a very long time.
Strangely enough, Alice felt like she knew him.
Not completely...
But enough.
A faint memory stirred somewhere inside her—a feeling she couldn't explain, a name her heart seemed to recognize before her mind could.
"Liam..." she whispered.
The moment the name left her lips, his expression changed.
Before she could understand why, the world around her began to fade. The sound of the rain became distant, the forest blurred, and her tired eyes slowly closed.
And with Liam's name still on her lips, Alice fell into darkness.
Liam's POV
He couldn't believe his eyes.
Lying in the mud before him was Alice.
His Alice.
How could this be possible?
The first thought that crossed his mind was not how she got there, but if she remembered him.
Did she know who he was?
How could she be here?
And what had happened to her?
His mind was filled with endless questions, but his body refused to move. He could only stand there, staring at the person he thought he had lost forever.
He had heard from his trusted wolf that there was a woman lying beneath the old apple tree, but he never expected it to be Alice.
Not her.
Not after all this time.
Then he heard it.
His name.
A faint whisper from her lips before she slipped into unconsciousness.
"Liam..."
His heart stopped.
She remembered his name.
Or maybe... her heart did.
He rushed toward her and gently lifted her into his arms, not caring about the mud staining his clothes.
All that mattered was that she was real.
As he held her close, a familiar feeling washed over him—the same feeling he had carried for so long.
The fear of losing her.
The pain of waiting.
The hope that one day she would return.
He leaned closer and whispered softly into her ear.
"Now I have you..."
His voice trembled.
"I won't let you go again."
