The Girl Who Came Back
Death...
It was supposed to be quiet.
Yet all Seraphina could hear was Damien's voice.
"Stay with me!"
"Sera!"
"Please..."
His cries echoed through the darkness like someone refusing to let go of a fraying rope.
She wanted to answer him.
She wanted to tell him she wasn't afraid anymore.
But no sound came.
Everything dissolved into white.
...
...
Thwack!
A piece of chalk bounced off her forehead.
The classroom erupted into laughter.
"Miss Vale!"
Mr. Harrington lowered the chalk with an exhausted sigh.
"If you're going to sleep during Advanced Literature, at least don't snore."
The laughter grew louder.
Sera jolted upright.
"...Huh?"
She blinked.
Wooden desks.
Sunlight pouring through tall windows.
The faint smell of chalk dust.
The old green classroom clock.
No hospital.
No mansion.
No blood.
No rain.
She stared at her hands.
Smooth.
Unscarred.
Her wedding ring was gone.
Her chest...
She touched the place where the knife had pierced her heart.
Nothing.
Not even a scar.
Her breathing became uneven.
"No..."
She scrambled to her feet so quickly that her chair toppled backward.
The entire class stared.
Even Adrian Ashford, sitting by the window in his usual seat, looked up from his textbook.
His silver-gray eyes lingered on her for a moment before returning to the page.
As if she weren't worth another thought.
Just like before.
Sera's heart clenched.
That expression...
She had spent years trying to earn something different.
Now it only reminded her of the cold look on his face as he watched her bleed.
The classroom door suddenly opened.
A girl stepped inside carrying a stack of papers.
Long chestnut hair.
Warm smile.
Perfect posture.
Lillian Everhart.
"Sorry I'm late, sir."
"It's fine, Lily."
The teacher smiled immediately.
"Come in."
The room brightened as students greeted her.
Lily thanked everyone with practiced grace.
When she reached Adrian's desk, he quietly took half the papers from her hands.
"You carried too much."
"I can manage."
"I know."
"But let me."
The exchange lasted only seconds.
It still pierced Sera like a thorn.
She remembered spending years wishing Adrian would speak to her that gently.
Instead...
That softness had always belonged to Lily.
Mr. Harrington cleared his throat.
"Miss Vale."
Sera slowly turned.
"Would you like to explain why you're standing?"
She looked at the calendar above the board.
April 7th.
Second year.
Three years before Lily's death.
Three years before the wedding.
Three years before her own murder.
She was really back.
A strange laugh escaped her lips.
Then tears followed.
Not tears of grief.
Tears of relief.
She was alive.
This time...
She would never chase Adrian again.
"Miss Vale?" the teacher asked, concerned.
"I'm... okay."
She picked up her chair and sat down, but her mind had already made a promise.
This life belongs to me.
The lunch bell rang.
In her previous life, this was the moment everything began.
She would sprint to the cafeteria.
Buy Adrian's favorite sesame bread.
Refill his water bottle.
Leave everything neatly on his desk before pretending it wasn't her.
She still remembered every step.
Her feet almost moved on their own.
Then she stopped.
"No."
She turned around.
Behind her, Adrian entered the hallway, chatting quietly with Lily.
He didn't even notice she was there.
For the first time...
Sera felt nothing.
No fluttering heart.
No desperate hope.
Only a tired acceptance.
She walked the opposite way.
Toward the old gym.
Toward the place where one memory refused to leave her.
Damien.
The abandoned basketball court behind the gym was almost empty during lunch.
Exactly as she remembered.
The school's most feared student lay sprawled across the bleachers, one arm covering his eyes.
His uniform shirt was untucked.
His tie hung loose around his neck.
A fresh bruise colored one side of his jaw.
Someone had clearly picked a fight.
Or more likely...
He had ended one.
Damien Cross.
Even at seventeen, he looked nothing like a typical student.
His black hair was always slightly messy, falling over sharp amber eyes that seemed permanently bored. A small silver hoop pierced his left ear, and a thin scar rested near his eyebrow, giving him a rough edge. His broad shoulders, rolled-up sleeves, and scuffed boots made him look more like someone who belonged in an underground fight club than a prestigious academy.
Rumors followed him everywhere.
That he smoked.
That he belonged to a gang.
That he'd once broken a senior's arm.
Most weren't true.
The only people who really knew Damien understood one thing.
He fought to protect people who couldn't protect themselves.
Sera walked toward him.
One step.
Two.
Three.
He sensed her before she spoke.
"If you're here to ask me to beat someone up," he muttered without opening his eyes, "come back tomorrow."
Sera's throat tightened.
That lazy voice.
The same one that had broken apart when he held her as she died.
She whispered,
"...Damien."
He opened one eye.
Recognition flashed across his face.
"The genius's shadow?"
That old nickname.
It made her chest ache.
He sat up, stretching.
"You lost?"
Without answering...
Sera threw herself at him.
Her arms wrapped tightly around his waist.
Damien froze.
His brain stopped working.
"...What."
Students walking past the court nearly dropped their lunches.
"Is that... Seraphina Vale?"
"She's hugging Damien Cross?!"
"The girl who's obsessed with Adrian?"
Damien looked down at the girl clinging to him as though letting go would make the world disappear.
"...Oi."
No answer.
"...Princess."
Still nothing.
"...You hit your head?"
Her grip only tightened.
He awkwardly raised both hands into the air.
"I don't know what's happening."
"Don't cry," Sera whispered.
He blinked.
"...What?"
"In my last..." She caught herself. "...I mean..."
Her voice shook.
"I just... don't want to see you cry ever again."
Damien laughed once.
Short.
Confused.
"I think you've officially gone crazy."
Maybe she had.
But this time...
She wasn't letting the one person who truly loved her stand alone.
Not again.
...
...
From the second-floor corridor, Adrian happened to glance out the window.
His gaze landed on the basketball court.
On Seraphina.
On Damien.
On the way she held onto him as if he'd always been the safest place in the world.
Adrian frowned.
Something about the scene felt...
Wrong.
Very wrong.
For the first time in years...
Seraphina Vale hadn't looked for him.
And he couldn't explain why that bothered him.
Not even a little.
