Prologue: In-between
634 Words
The last thing I remember wasn't the pain. It was the joy—a cruel, fleeting thing.
My phone had buzzed with a short, rushed message: I'm at the old tree. Please. I want to make things right. I didn't hesitate. I chose to believe it. I chose to ignore the cold, hard memory of the ultrasound picture I’d found on Lucien’s phone just days before—a picture that wasn't mine. We hadn't been "us" in so long that the image felt like a death sentence, yet I still ran to the park. I ran to the ancient, sprawling oak where Lucien had once promised me a life full of love. I thought he was finally coming back to me.
But the person waiting in the shadows of that tree wasn't Lucien.
I didn't see the blade, but I felt the heat of it. Then came the terrifying sensation of being dragged, my heels scraping the dirt, before the world turned into the crushing weight of water. I died in the dark, sinking into the depths, clinging to the fading memories of the man Lucien used to be before work and silence swallowed us whole.
Then, there was the light.
It was a white so aggressive it felt like a physical weight. I searched my mind for the prayers of my childhood—The Judgment. Am I standing before the gates?
"Neither, actually," a voice chirped.
The white blur cleared, and a face hovered inches from mine. He looks ordinary—a guy in a plain hoodie with a bored expression. But his eyes are too still.
"Who... where am I?" My voice sounds like tearing paper. "Am I dead?"
"Technically? Yes. Very murdered," he says with a playful tilt of his head. "I'm Tuin. I run the In-Between. Let’s call this an opportunity, Audrey. You died with a lot of 'what ifs.' How about we try a 'what now' instead?"
He doesn't wait for my answer. He presses his thumb against my forehead. It’s colder than the water that took my last breath.
"Go back. Fix the script. Entertain me," he whispers, his grin widening. "Consider it a gift. No strings attached. Well... none for you, anyway."
The white space shatters.
June, 2012
I am not in a park. I am not in bed.
I am underwater.
The chlorine burns my eyes, and my lungs are screaming for air. I know how to swim—I’ve always been good at it—but my limbs feel like lead. Something is wrong. I try to kick for the surface, but a strange, invisible weight pulls at my ankles, dragging me deeper toward the blue-tiled floor of the high school pool.
My vision begins to tunnel. The shimmering light of the surface moves further and further away. I can see the distorted shapes of students standing at the edge, their muffled shouts sounding like they’re miles away.
I just got back, I think frantically as the last of my air bubbles upward. I can’t die again.
The weight pulls harder. My strength gives out. Just as my eyes begin to close, a thunderous splash echoes through the water. Above me, the surface shatters. A dark silhouette of a man cuts through the light, diving deep with powerful, desperate strokes. He is swimming toward me, reaching out through the blue.
But as the gap between us closes, a sharp, searing flash of white light explodes in my mind. A memory of my wedding day—the way Lucien looked at the altar—simply vanishes, leaving a cold, terrifying hole in my heart.
My vision fades to black just as his hand touches mine.
- Writer
