Chapter 12 - He Remembers What I Forgot
1555 Words
“Please, let me go!”
Avana stared into the man’s eyes, desperation tightening her voice.
She had lost count of how many times she had tried to escape. She had twisted against the restraints until they scraped her skin raw, pulled until her muscles screamed, and fought until every breath burnt through her lungs.
Nothing worked.
The trap held her firmly.
Sweat slipped down her temple as exhaustion finally overwhelmed her. Her chest rose and fell violently, each breath coming harder than the last. Eventually, her strength gave out, and she stopped struggling.
For several seconds, the clearing was silent except for her ragged breathing.
The man watched her without saying a word.
There was something unsettling about his silence. He had captured her, dragged her into the middle of nowhere, and watched her fight against the restraints without showing the slightest concern.
Avana swallowed and forced herself to meet his eyes.
Then he spoke.
“You really don't know who I am?”
Avana slowly raised her head.
“What?”
“Look at me.”
Something in his voice made her obey.
She studied his face carefully.
The sharp lines of his features. The coldness in his eyes. The faint scar near his brow.
Nothing.
She searched through every memory she possessed, desperately trying to find something that would explain why a stranger had gone to such lengths to capture her.
There was nothing.
“I don't know you,” she said firmly. “Now let me go.”
His expression barely changed.
“You're certain?”
“Yes.”
A humourless smile touched his mouth.
“Still stubborn.”
Avana frowned.
“You know my name. You've trapped me out here. If you want something from me, tell me what it is.”
The man said nothing.
Instead, he turned away.
Avana watched him cautiously as he walked toward the edge of the clearing. He crouched beside a patch of earth and picked up a small stone.
For a moment, he rolled it between his fingers.
Then he threw it at a nearby rock.
The sound echoed through the clearing.
Avana flinched.
Something stirred inside her.
Not a complete memory.
A fragment.
A sound.
A place.
A boy's laughter beneath an open sky.
Her breathing changed.
The man turned toward her.
“You promised me you would return.”
Avana froze.
He took a slow step toward her.
“You promised you'd come looking for me.”
Her mind suddenly filled with flashes.
A little girl running through grass.
A boy sitting beneath an old tree.
Two children hiding from the world.
A small hand hooked around hers.
A promise made with the absolute certainty only children possessed.
Avana's lips parted.
No.
The man stopped before her.
“You said you wouldn't leave me behind.”
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
She stared at him again, searching beyond the stranger's face.
The scar.
The eyes.
The voice.
The memory.
Her blood turned cold.
“Elias?”
There is silence.
That was all the confirmation she needed.
Her eyes widened.
“Elias…”
The boy she remembered was gone.
In his place stood a man hardened by years she knew nothing about.
And suddenly, the past came crashing down around her.
She remembered him.
She remembered their friendship.
She remembered the promise.
She remembered the day everything changed.
And, most painfully, she remembered leaving.
She remembered never returning.
“Elias, I—”
He crossed the distance between them before she could finish.
His hand closed around her throat.
Avana gasped.
Her fingers immediately wrapped around his wrist as panic surged through her.
“Don't.”
“Elias—”
“Don't say my name like we're still those children.”
His grip tightened.
Avana struggled for air, her eyes watering as she tried to pull his hand away.
Then she saw it.
Beneath the anger was something far worse.
Pain.
A deep, old pain that had clearly survived far longer than she had realised.
“You disappeared,” he said.
His voice was low and controlled, which made it more frightening than a shout.
“You promised me you would come back. I waited for you.”
Avana's fingers trembled against his wrist.
“I was a child.”
“So was I.”
The words struck her harder than his grip.
Elias released her.
Avana immediately bent forward, coughing as she dragged air into her lungs. Her hand flew to her throat while she struggled to steady herself.
Elias turned away.
His fists clenched at his sides.
“You have no idea what happened after you left.”
Avana slowly straightened.
“I didn't leave because I wanted to hurt you.”
He looked at her.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I expect you to hear me.”
His jaw tightened.
“Then tell me where you were when everything collapsed.”
Avana stared at him.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“That's convenient.”
“I was a child, Elias. I didn't understand what was happening.”
“You understood enough to promise you'd return.”
Avana fell silent.
Because that part was true.
She had promised.
And she had failed to keep it.
But the memory she carried was incomplete.
“I didn't know what leaving would cost you,” she whispered. “If I had known, I would have stayed.”
“Then why didn't you?”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
Avana shook her head.
“I don't remember everything.”
Elias's expression shifted.
“You don't remember?”
“I remember you. I remember the promise. I remember something happening and being taken away from that life.” Her voice trembled. “But everything around that time is broken. There are pieces I can't reach.”
Elias stared at her.
For a moment, he looked almost unsettled.
Then the coldness returned.
“I spent years believing those memories were gone for a reason.”
“Or perhaps you simply decided to forget me.”
The accusation made her flinch.
“I never forgot you because you meant nothing.”
His eyes sharpened.
“I forgot because I was forced to bury that part of my life.”
Elias gave a bitter laugh.
“You expect me to pity you?”
“No.”
“Then what do you want?”
“The truth.”
His expression became unreadable.
Avana lifted her chin despite the fear pressing against her ribs.
“If you came here because you believe I betrayed you, then tell me what you think I did. Tell me what happened after I disappeared. Give me the chance to understand what you're punishing me for.”
Elias stared at her.
“You want answers now?”
“Yes.”
“After all these years?”
“I can't change the past.”
“No.”
His voice dropped.
“You can't.”
He stepped closer.
“You can't return the years I spent paying for what happened that night.”
Avana's face paled.
“What did you lose?”
Elias's eyes turned cold.
“Everything.”
The single word silenced her.
And suddenly, Avana understood that whatever had happened after she left had been far worse than the fragments of her childhood memory suggested.
Elias turned away.
“You think this is about one broken promise.”
“Then what is it about?”
He turned back.
“Making you understand.”
A chill moved down Avana's spine.
“Understand what?”
“What it feels like when someone you trust becomes the reason your life falls apart.”
Avana's lips parted.
Elias's gaze locked onto hers.
“You walked away while I was left behind with the consequences.”
“I didn't know.”
“Exactly.”
His voice hardened.
“You didn't know. You didn't ask. You never came back.”
Tears finally spilled down Avana's cheeks.
“I'm sorry.”
Elias's face hardened.
“I know an apology won't undo anything,” she continued. “It won't give you back whatever you lost. But I won't lie just because you're angry. I didn't abandon you willingly.”
His gaze remained fixed on her.
“And if you want revenge, then take it after you know the truth. Don't punish me for something I don't even remember doing.”
For the first time since revealing himself, Elias became completely still.
Something unreadable passed through his eyes.
Then it disappeared.
He stepped away.
“You really don't remember.”
Avana frowned.
“Remember what?”
Elias didn't answer immediately.
His silence frightened her more than an explanation would have.
Then he looked at her.
“You will.”
And suddenly, something inside Avana shifted.
The clearing disappeared for half a heartbeat.
She saw a black leather ledger.
A frightened boy.
Her uncle's face.
The old woods.
Men waiting among the trees.
Avana's breath caught.
Her forgotten past was no longer completely buried.
It was coming back.
And Elias was standing before her because of it.
But there was one thing Avana couldn't remember
If she hadn’t betrayed Elias that night, why had she collected the black ledger from his hands… knowing dangerous men were already waiting in the woods to take him?
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