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WHEN THEY REACHED THE mountain, Sarah climbed out of the car, and slowly made her way to a rock she had sat on almost a thousand times before. Daniel sat down beside her, and stared out in front of him. “I left all this behind once, you know?”
Daniel turned to face her, and was once again, totally bewildered and caught off-guard by what she was saying.
“I chose Queenstown over this. I chose the city over you. I was such a fool ...” She lowered her head, when she felt the tears luster in her eyes.
“Sè, I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you are scaring me. You say things like this, and I don’t know what’s going on?”
“I know, Danny. I know it’s crazy. I know, but just listen to me, okay? You can’t not listen to me ...”
He shook his head before he gazed out in front of him,
“I wanted to go and write in the city. I wanted to be the best. I wanted to be someone. I wanted the city lights, the fame and the fortune, and then, then, I wanted to come home to you, and you’d be proud of me. I wanted to matter to the world, Danny, to you, and to the world.” She paused to take in a deep breath. “But, I came home too late, Danny. And each time I achieved something wonderful, I wanted more, so, I stayed. I was going to stay for a year, but I ended up staying for twelve. I came home too late.” She took his hand into hers and placed her other hand over it. “You didn’t tell me. You didn’t let anyone else tell me that, that you were sick. I didn’t know, Danny?”
“Sarah ...”
“Please Danny, let me talk ...” She got up and knelt in front of him. She took both his hands, and gazed into his bewildered eyes.
“Years from now, Danny, they’re going to tell you that you caught a virus, and your parents will figure out that it was this year, this trip planned for December. You are going to suffer so badly, and there isn’t a single doctor in the world that can help you, or save you. It’s going to attack your heart, and by the time they diagnose your condition, it will be too late for a heart transplant. There will be nothing anyone can do for you; don’t you get it?” When her tears began to gush uncontrollably from her eyes, she rested her head on his knees and sobbed wretchedly.
“I don’t know what to say, Sarah? I don’t know how to respond to this. It’s like you’re someone else?”
She looked up, and climbed onto his lap, before she took his face into her hands, “I am someone else, Danny. I am older. I have changed. This has changed me. I have been gone for so long, and I wish I never left. I am not the girl I once was. Danny, just say that you believe me. Don’t go, please Danny? Don’t go, I swear, I won’t move to the city. I will stay right here, but swear to me that you won’t go?”
Danny felt fear invade his entire being when he noticed the unanticipated desolation in her eyes, and heard the utter desperation in her voice. He slowly wiped the tears that were pouring from her eyes. He had never seen them so sad, and he had never heard such an enormous amount of distress in her voice.
Sarah moved closer until her lips touched his. She closed her eyes, wanting to take in all there was about Daniel Kingsley again. She wanted to feel his lips on hers, and she wanted to breathe in the smell of him again. She wanted to feel his arms around hers. She wanted to feel him again. She wanted to feel something other than numb again. Since finding out about his death, Sarah spent her days in a wandering haze, angry at him, and angry at the world. Her heart had shattered into a thousand pieces, but at that very moment, Daniel’s touch was mending what little was left of her.
He kissed her back and pressed her against him. He closed his eyes, and couldn’t help but feel a kind of passion he had never known before. His entire body craved hers, while his lips searched hers over and over again.
“Danny ...” She whispered hoarsely before she hurriedly unzipped his jeans. She lifted herself just enough to pull down her shorts before she pressed herself on top of him.
“Sarah?”
“Don’t say anything, Danny. Don’t say anything. Don’t tell me to stop ...”
“You’re sixteen, Sè ...”
“I’m not, Danny, I’m not sixteen ...” She let out a faint moan, and when he forcefully pressed her down, she threw back her head, and cried out in exhilaration.
He pulled her against him, before she rested her head on his shoulder. “I love you, Sè ...” He whispered breathlessly before she buried her head in his neck.
“I love you, Danny ...”
They sat like that for what felt like forever, before Sarah climbed off, and quickly pulled her shorts back up. She sat down beside him on their rock, and gazed out over their village. “Danny, just promise me, promise me you will never leave me? I know you don’t believe me, but I need you to promise?”
He turned to face her, and took her face into his hands. “I can never leave you, Sarah Swanson, I’m going to marry you someday ...”
She smiled sadly when she realized that if he was to go on that trip, none of what she dreamed of at that very moment would come true. “I will marry you, Daniel Kingsley on the 22nd day of March 2000. Not a day before ...”
“You’ll be thirty, and I’ll be thirty-four?”
“But, you’ll be alive, Danny ...”
“What do you mean, Sè?”
“You die March, 21st of that year.”
Daniel frowned again, and for the first time since she had begun her incoherent talk, he saw something in her eyes that told him, she truly believed it all.
“I don’t want to marry you, and then you die, Danny. You only get sick eleven years from now ...”
“Alright Sarah, I will wait for you at the altar in March, on the 22nd day in the year 2000. That makes it fourteen years from now. It’s a date Mrs. Kingsley ...”
She smiled dejectedly before she bowed her head, “That’s if ...”
“Yeah, let’s see.” He held her intimately against him, and gently stroked her hair.
When Daniel drove her home, he kept glancing over at her. She was deep in thought while staring at the night lights that were shining all around them. “So, you leave me, huh?”
She turned to face him and nodded, before she smiled sadly. When they reached the ranch, Sarah quickly kissed him on his cheek, before she made her way indoors.
When she reached the front door, she turned around, and was just in time to watch him drive out through the farm gate. She couldn’t help but feel that it was all for nothing, and that Daniel would board that ship when the time came. Opening their front door, her tears began to trickle from her eyes once again.
“Sè?” Claire was on her way upstairs when she found Sarah in tears at the front door.
“It’s nothing, Claire ...”
“It’s not nothing, what’s the matter? Mom!” Claire turned around before she shouted into the kitchen.
Cindy hurriedly made her way over to Sarah, and worriedly placed her arms around her. “Come on, my girl, let’s go upstairs ...”
Claire stood staring at them, before she made her way upstairs and disappeared into her own bedroom. Sarah collapsed onto her bed, and when Cindy closed her bedroom door, she sat down beside Sarah. “You have to talk to me, baby?”
Sarah sat up and began fidgeting. “It’s of no use, mommy! Nobody believes me! Nobody listens to me!”
“What are you talking about, Sè?”
She turned to face her mother, and from the look in Sarah’s eyes, Cindy knew that Sarah was in fact, carrying the burden of the entire world on her shoulders.
“I don’t know how to tell you, mom? It sounds so crazy! Daniel thinks so, Sim thinks so, and I can’t prove any of it! Nothing I say, I can’t prove anything, mommy?” Sarah shouted out through the tears that were spilling from her eyes.
“You can tell me anything, baby girl? Just spill it. Let it come ...”
Sarah lowered her head, and when she folded her hands into each other, she looked up at Cindy one more time. “Yesterday, I came home, mommy. I came home from the city. I live there now, but, I came home to Daniel’s grave. Yesterday, was 2001, and I came home eleven months after he died. And then, I fell asleep on his grave, and when I woke up this morning, I was back here. In the now, back in 1986 and I don’t know what to do? It was 2001 just yesterday? I was thirty-one years old just yesterday?”
“Sarah, I don’t understand? What are you saying?”
Sarah bowed her head one more time, when her bottom lip began to quiver. “I am thirty-one years old, mommy. Megan is a mom. You have two grandchildren, Melissa and Michael. She marries David, and Benjamin is going to build beautiful buildings right here on the ranch. Claire is going to sell houses, and Robert ends up being an amazing doctor, mommy! And Daniel, he, he dies ...”
“Sarah, you’re scaring me ...”
She looked up and could barely utter a word over the restriction in her throat. “I know, mommy. I’m scared too. I don’t know why I am back here? I don’t know what I must do? I first thought I was dreaming, but I’m not waking up? I keep thinking that, that this is my one more last chance? That somehow, God gave me this do-over? I don’t think I can live without Daniel?”
She fell into her mother’s chest and sobbed fiercely in her mother’s arms.
Cindy back-tracked slightly, before she lifted Sarah’s chin. “Honey, get some sleep. We’ll talk about this again tomorrow, okay?”
“You don’t believe me either?”
“That’s not what I am saying, Sè. I need to wrap my mind around this, and I want you to get in a good night’s sleep, that’s all.”
Sarah laid her head on her pillow, and turned her back to Cindy. Cindy covered her with a quilt before she turned off the light, and closed the bedroom door behind her. She quickly made her way downstairs, where she found Thomas at the kitchen table.
“Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she’s just tired. Is Megan home yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“Well, you go to bed, I’ll wait up for her.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, you’ve had a long day, go to bed.”
“Alright, night honey ...” He quickly kissed Cindy on her cheek before he made his way upstairs.
Cindy poured herself a cup of coffee, and sat down at the kitchen table. She replayed her conversation with Sarah repeatedly in her mind, and each time she heard Sarah tell her that she had crossed the passage of time, Cindy felt her heart hammer as though it was racing at the speed of a freight train.
It felt to her as though she was reliving a moment she had once spent with her own mother, when she was only a little girl. It all felt so familiar to her, and the conversation she had just had with Sarah, was almost identical to a conversation she once had with her mother.
Her heart began to hammer in her chest when she realized that her mother might once have told her the truth, and yet, she had never believed her.
When she heard the front door open, she glanced at her wrist watch, and realized that it was after two the morning. She must have fallen asleep on her arms at the kitchen table, and when Megan walked in, she was surprised to find her mother slightly unsettled at the kitchen table. “Mom, is everything alright?”
“You’re late, Megs?”
“I know. Sorry mom. Is Sarah home?”
“Yes, she’s upstairs asleep. Sit down, Megan ...”
“I’m sorry, mom, it won’t happen again ...”
“You’re right, it won’t, but that’s not what I want to talk about.”
“Okay?”
“Are you still on track to become a teacher?”
“Yes? I start college after I graduate next year, why?”
“Are you going to marry David Dawson someday?”
Megan bowed her head, unable to look her mother in the eye. “I, I don’t know? I love him, mom. But, I swear, I will finish college first. Who’s been talking to you?”
“Are you going to have children?”
“I guess?”
“What will their names be?”
“What?”
“It’s a simple question, Megan, what will their names be?”
“I don’t know, mom? I haven’t thought that far yet?”
“Come on Megan, long before you or any of your brothers or sisters were born, I had names picked out for you. I chose your names when I was just a little girl.”
“Well, I haven’t, but I do love Melissa for a girl, and Michael for a boy.” Cindy froze when she heard Megan utter the two names Sarah had given her only hours before. Her hands began trembling when she gazed sternly into Megan’s eyes, “Have you ever said that to anyone before? Have you told Sarah?”
“No, come on mom! I don’t even know if I am going to have children. They are names I like and obviously, David would have a say in it too. So, no, I am not about to go around naming children that I don’t even have yet!”
She got up, and stared questioningly at Cindy, “What’s all this about?”
“Nothing, go to bed. This conversation does not leave this kitchen, do you understand?”
“Fine.” Megan hurriedly made her way upstairs and into her bedroom.
Cindy buried her head in her hands, and thought back to a story her own mother once told her. The story her mom once told her when she was barely seven years old. She hastily made her way upstairs, aware of her own heart pounding ferociously in her chest. She gently opened Sarah’s bedroom door, and softly walked over to where her daughter lay sleeping.
She stood staring at Sarah, and was saddened by the fresh tears that laid warmly on her cheeks. She placed her hand on Sarah’s shoulder, and gently nudged her, “Sarah? Sarah, wake up.”
Sarah turned to find her mother standing at the side of her bed, and at once, she sat up straight. “Mom? What’s the matter?”
“Nothing. Here, put this on and come with me ...” She handed Sarah her robe, and lifted the quilt off her.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll see ...”
They tiptoed down the stairs and out to the front door. Cindy grabbed her car keys, and softly opened the door. When they reached her car, Cindy signaled for Sarah to climb in. They drove out of the ranch in silence, and when they reached the bookstore, Sarah turned to her mother, “The bookstore?”
“Come on ...” She switched off the car, and hurriedly unlocked the large, wooden door to the bookstore.
When the both walked in, Cindy closed and locked the door behind them. “Go get that book I gave you ...”
Sarah frowned and quickly made her way to her reading lounge. She took the leather covered book, and hurriedly made her way back to Cindy. Cindy took the book from her before she took Sarah’s hands, and led her out into the communal reading area.
They sat down on the enormous cushions that lay scattered for their readers, before Cindy hurriedly read the blurb at the back. “Do you know what this means, Sè?”
“No?”
“I got you this book, because it once belonged to my mother. She owned this book, and would never let it out of her sight. She would read to me from it, but she never once allowed me to take it. It took me years to trace it and buy it back. I don’t even know why I wanted the book back, but for some reason, it kept haunting me.”
Cindy smiled while gently stroking the book. “My mom lost it when we moved, but she believed that this book had a legend of its own, and that this was the book I told you about earlier. The legend of the angel, remember? Her name was Adelaine Alandrali, and some believed she died of a broken heart.”
Sarah frowned nervously as she listened to her mother tell her the story of the fallen angel who had died from a broken heart.
“My mother once told me how, how I was struck by a car when I was just a little over five years old. She said that I was killed instantly, and that there was nothing anyone could do to save me. My mom said that she picked up my lifeless body, and refused to hand me over to the coroner. She said that her grief almost killed her too. She told me how she laid on my grave after my funeral, and wished with all her heart to go back in time and save me. She begged God for her one more last chance, just like you did, Sarah. She said that she was sure she would die of a broken heart, just as you are sure you cannot live without Daniel.”
Sarah’s eyes grew bigger as she attentively listened to her mother, unable to fully understand what she was saying to her.
“She said, she told me that she fell asleep amidst an enormous storm that had unexpectedly escalated around her, and that she was sure she was struck by lightning, but when she woke up, she woke up in her bed on the morning of the day that I was supposed to die.”
“Mommy, what are you saying?”
“I don’t know, baby? I never believed her, you know? And now you, you come to me with an almost identical story? I must believe you. I have to believe my mother.” Cindy took her daughter’s hands and brought them to her face. “My mother saved me that day, Sè. Somehow, that book gave her a wish of her mind, her heart and her soul when they were perfectly aligned in one wish, just like it says on the back. She was given the gift of going back to one moment in time, and altering the course and the sequence of unfortunate events that were about to take place. I was just a little girl, so it was as simple as keeping me indoors on that da....”
“Oh mommy ...” Sarah embraced her mother, and held her tightly against her before she began sobbing once again.
“I spoke to Megan when she came home. Guess what she plans on naming her children someday?”
“Melissa and Michael?”
“You got it!”
Cindy wiped the tears that were beginning to shimmer in her own eyes, and smiled sadly at Sarah. “So, my angel, you do whatever it takes. If Daniel is going to die, you came back because you could save him. You came back, because there was a way to save his life. Whatever it is, you must find it. You must find a way to convince him that all this is going to happen exactly as you say it is. It won’t be easy, Sarah, but your one more last chance is now. By the way, you really left us?”
“Yeah, but not this time, mommy. I am going to write beautiful stories right here, from this bookstore. Our magical bookstore! I love you, mommy!”
“I love you too. We must keep this between ourselves, okay? The others won’t understand ...”
“Okay, mommy ...”
“Come on, put that book away, let’s go home before anybody notices we’re gone.”
Sarah quickly hid the book on the shelf in her reading lounge before they made their journey back to the ranch. When they stepped inside, Sarah kissed her mother on her cheek, and tiptoed back upstairs, and into her bedroom.
Cindy stood staring at Sarah for what felt like forever. For the first time that day, it seemed as though a mountain had been lifted off her daughter’s shoulder.
When Sarah awoke the following morning, she hurriedly made her way downstairs to find Megan and Claire at the breakfast table. She swiftly glanced around her, before taking an empty seat next to Claire. “Good morning, sisters ...” She smiled when she noticed the confusion in her sisters’ eyes.
“Okay? Morning, Sè?” Megan stared at Sarah, unsure of what to say next. Claire shook her head as she sipped on her coffee.
“Good morning, girls!” They all smiled when Cindy stroll in.
“Sarah, how did you sleep?”
“Good, mom. I slept right through ...”
“I’m glad, you look much better.” Cindy smiled before she handed Sarah a cup of coffee.
“Mom, is Sarah okay?” Megan frowned before she turned to her mother.
“Oh, she’s just fine.”
Sarah lowered her head, afraid that Megan might see right through her. “Do you want a ride, Sarah?” Claire got up from her seat and grabbed her sling bag.
“No thanks, I am going to walk ...”
“Alright then ...”
“Can I get a ride with you, Claire?” Megan jumped up and ran after Claire as she made her way out of the front door.
“So, mom, I was thinking ... I want to write about this. What is happening now, I want to tell it. And, I was thinking of calling it ‘A Moment in Time.’ What do you think?”
“I think it’s a start. Of course, you could label it as non-fiction if you like?”
“Or based on real events?”
“I’m just worried about, you know? The backlash from the community? I remember how my own mother was labelled a crazy person, and I don’t want that for you ...”
“Yeah, you’re right, mom. Maybe, maybe Daniel will believe me if he reads it?”
Cindy walked up to her, and placed her arms around Sarah’s shoulders. “You have time, my darling. It won’t be easy, but you’ve been given time ...”
Sarah smiled before she placed her coffee mug on the table, and picked up her school bag. “See you after school, mom. I never thought I’d have to relive these awful years again.” She burst out laughing before making her way to their front door.
When she opened the front door, Thomas hurriedly made his way indoors. “Daddy, I love you.” Sarah held him firmly against her, before she walked out and closed the door behind her. He hurriedly made his way into the kitchen where Cindy was clearing the breakfast table, “I just can’t put my finger on it?” He whispered before he sat down at the kitchen table.
“What do you mean?” Cindy placed a cup of coffee in front of him and frowned.
“That child, Sarah. She’s different somehow?” Cindy hurriedly turned away from him, and began packing the dishes away. “She’s at that age, just give her time ...” Cindy tried to mask her conversation with Sarah the night before.
“Yeah, I guess. I just can’t remember Claire or Megan going through this. Sarah seems so ... old?”
“She’s an old soul, Tom, let her be ...”
SARAH KNOCKED SOFTLY on Daniel’s front door, and when Margie opened it for her, she was desperate to once again, convince her to tell Daniel the truth.
“He’s in his room ...” Margie turned away from her, before Sarah grabbed her by the arm. “Margie, please, you have to tell Daniel the truth. I know you don’t believe me, but he is going to die if you don’t ...”
“Stop, Sarah! Just stop! There is something seriously wrong with you! I don’t know how you know, and I don’t know who you’ve been speaking to, but you are confused and totally out of line!”
“No! If you tell him the truth, he might believe me!”
“You are a crazy person, Sarah! Just stop this nonsense! I don’t know what your endgame is, but if you think you can humiliate me, you should think again!” Margie freed her arm from Sarah before she disappeared into her bedroom.
Sarah slowly made her way to Daniel’s bedroom, and stood staring at him for what felt like hours. She could barely imagine leaving him, and she could hardly imagine him dying in a few years from that moment.
“Hey Sè ...”
Sarah walked in and sat down beside him. She swallowed back on the lump in her throat, desperate to hide the tears that were laying shallow in her eyes.
“Sarah?” Daniel placed his arms around her, and held her firmly against him. She buried her head in his chest, before erupting devastatingly in his arms. “Danny, please don’t go ...” She dug her nails into his chest when she began sobbing uncontrollably.
“Sarah, I, I know you’re upset, but I promise you, you were just dreaming. We’ve been to Spain a hundred times before, and I’m fine?”
“Danny, this time, you won’t be ...” She wiped the tears from her eyes, gazing into his, unsure of how to make him understand.
“My grandmother, this will be our last visit, Sè. I have to go.”
“I know, Danny. She dies shortly afterwards. You’ll never go back, which means this is when you catch the virus. Please, I am begging you, please believe me?”
“I believe you are afraid, Sarah. But, you cannot predict the future, nobody can. Nobody knows what will happen tomorrow?”
“I do. I know, Danny. I don’t know how it happened, but one moment I was at your grave, and the next, I am here again. I have this one chance, Danny, and you are taking it away from me! I get this one do-over, and you won’t believe me! I don’t know how to do this alone? I don’t know what to say to make you believe me? I don’t know what to do? You are going to die, Daniel! Megan is going to marry David. I am going to leave you, and never see you again! Simone opens up a hair and beauty salon and your sister, Daniel, she plans weddings! She displays little miniature wedding cakes! And she’s angry! And she’s old! And she blames me! And I, Danny, I will die, and everyone will think it’s the storm, but it won’t be. It will be from a broken heart on your grave because I, I can’t live without you! Even though I leave you for so long, I can’t live without you.”
“Stop saying that, Sarah ...” Daniel got up and swiftly pulled on a jacket. “Let’s go, you’re going to be late for school.”
Sarah took her bag and when she looked at Daniel one more time, she realized that he would never believe her. There was nothing more she could say, to make him believe her.
When he pulled up at school, he felt immense guilt for snapping at her only moments before, yet, he couldn’t discard her haunting performance or the words she viciously spewed at him. He felt fear consume his entire being when he considered for a single moment that Sarah was not imagining any of what was to come, in the not too distant future. “Sè, do you want to do anything tonight? We haven’t been out for a movie in ages?”
Sarah looked over at him, and felt entirely defeated and wholly conquered, “I am going to the bookstore after school. If you like, you can join me there tonight. I want to show you something, I want to try and explain ...”
“Sounds good. I’ll bring pizza.”
She kissed him on his cheek before she opened the door, and made her way over to where Simone was standing. Daniel waved when she turned back, and could not shake the feeling that Sarah had become distant and sad.
––––––––
WHEN SARAH ARRIVED at the bookstore after school, she was relieved to find Cindy organizing new books that were delivered that morning. “Hi mom!”
“Hello my darling, I’m glad you came. We have some wonderful new books that I think you might enjoy.” Cindy smiled and was excited to show Sarah the new stock. Sarah walked up to Cindy, and quickly looked through the books her mother was about to shelve.
“Mommy, I have tried so hard to warn Daniel. I don’t know what else to do?”
Cindy placed the books back on the trolley, and turned back to Sarah, “You must keep trying, Sarah.”
“I know. I want to stay tonight after you leave. I’ve invited Daniel over. I want to show him the book, and try one more time. Will that be okay, mom?”
“It’s a school night ... I forget you’re not sixteen anymore, my girl. Of course, you can. Now come on and help me shelve these books!” Cindy handed a weary Sarah half the stack, and in silence, they continued shelving the new books.
“One of these days, I am going to want to know what we’re like? Do I age gracefully? Is dad as handsome as now? What do Melissa and Michael look like? I have so many questions!” She giggled softly while shelving her new books, one by one.
“I don’t know, mommy? I am so ashamed. I don’t come home until after Danny dies. You send me photographs, but it’s not the same, you know?”
It was just after six that evening when Cindy called out to Sarah who had spent most of the afternoon on her manuscript in her reading room, “I’m leaving honey! Don’t forget to lock up when you come home, alright?”
“I won’t mom!” Sarah heard the sound of the ever-familiar bell when her mother left through the large, wooden doors of Fine Books.
She had barely focused her attention back to her manuscript, when the same bell warned her that someone had entered. Sarah closed her laptop, and rushed downstairs. She was surprisingly excited to find Daniel standing there, holding the pizza in his hands.
“Come on up, Danny, mom has left ...” She smiled before she turned, and led the way upstairs. She took the book from her shelf and sat down on the cushions she placed on the floor. Daniel sat down beside her, and frowned when he noticed the uncertainty in her eyes. He placed the pizza on a table behind him, before he placed his hand on her knee. “You okay?”
She was gazing at the book in her hands, unsure of how to tell Daniel about ‘The Passage of Time,’ and how it had magically brought her back to a time she had once forgotten, yet, it was a time that the book had brought her back to, and she had to believe that it was a time that had significant meaning, and that she would understand it someday.
Without looking back at Daniel, she smiled dejectedly, and almost at once, her hands began to quiver.
“Sarah?”
Sarah gently stroked the book before she turned it over. “It says here that for one moment in time, for one call of the heart and the mind to the soul, time is nothing. When the soul agrees that there might have been a fault in the stars, the heart, the mind and the soul will come together, and alter one moment in time. Do you know what that means, Danny?” She whispered hoarsely before she placed the book down beside her and turned to look Daniel squarely in the eye.
“I guess? I mean ...”
“Danny ...” Sarah interrupted, afraid that he might not quite understand. “It means that when your heart, mind and soul has come together after experiencing a devastating event, there is a magic in the pages of this book to take you back in time, and give you one more last chance. Like a do-over ...”
He shook his head, before he interrupted her, “Sarah, again? Magic in a book? This is ridiculous!”
“Danny, it’s not. It’s happening! Please, Danny, please!” She reached over to him, and climbed onto his lap before she took his face in her hands.
“Sarah, I know you come from a world of books and fairytales and magic ...”
“Danny, just close your eyes and listen to my heart. Feel it, feel my soul ...” She closed his eyes before she gently kissed him on his lips. “Not too long ago, I was wandering around a city street. I had just turned thirty-one, and had never felt more alone in my life than at that very moment. The bright lights, the city nights, the glamour, the fame, the interviews, the fans, none of that mattered to me anymore. It was eleven months ago when I saw an artist painting the most beautiful painting, and I asked him to paint me a love story. You, you told me a few years earlier that you’ve, you’ve forgotten me, so I so desperately wanted a new love story, you know?”
Sarah paused to take in a deep breath when Daniel suddenly opened his eyes. “Sè?” He whispered nervously when a shudder entered and overwhelmed his entire body.
She placed her finger on his lips, before she closed his eyes again, “He painted me a love story, Danny, and in it was you, older and greyer, but you. You were always in the stars for me, Danny, and when, when I came home twelve years later, you were gone. I only now put it together that he painted me my love story on the very day that you died. I was too late ...”
Daniel opened his eyes, still entirely dominated by a shudder that had begun crippling him. He gazed into her shimmering eyes and knew at that very moment, that Sarah was hiding a lifetime of sorrow that was glistening through her tears.
“Don’t say anything, Danny. I don’t want you to say anything. I am asking you to see the signs, and to remember this. Remember me, and when you leave on that ship to Spain, I will make plans to leave for the city as soon as I can. I can’t stay here knowing what I know. Maybe, maybe this is how it was meant to be all along. Maybe, I could never change anything. Perhaps, I was never meant to alter any course, but if you, Danny, if you believe me, even just a little, look for the signs, and stay ...”
She gently touched his mouth with hers, and firmly pressed herself against him. When a lost tear rolled down her cheek, she held onto him almost as though her life depended on it. She retreated slightly, before she unzipped his jeans.
Daniel turned her around and lay her down on the carpet. He gazed into her eyes, and for a moment, he was sure he could see the exhaustion and defeat in her eyes. He kissed her as though he believed that he would be gone from her soon, and when his hands trailed down her body, she closed her eyes, determined to take in all she could about Daniel Kingsley.
She wanted to remember the way his skin felt on hers, and she wanted to absorb each emotion she felt when he touched her. Daniel closed his eyes, and kissed her gently, “I love you, Sè ...” He whispered croakily as his mouth explored every inch of her.
Sarah felt her body come alive as he discovered parts of her, she never thought could send shudders down her spine. Her heart had released itself from the intense pain and anguish it had almost gotten used to, and her mind had shut itself off from the outside world.
She wanted to feel him, breathe him, and explore the parts of her body that had woken up as though it had remained in a deep sleep for a hundred years. When she began to moan softly, Daniel opened his eyes, and gazed at her.
Her eyes were closed, her body had begun to quiver, and her hands were clutching at the carpet underneath her. He looked at her for a moment longer, and was sure that Sarah seemed older than the sixteen-year-old she was.
His heart ached at the thought that she might be telling the truth, but when she opened her eyes and pulled him closer to her, he knew that nothing else mattered at that very moment.
“Sè?”
“Don’t say anything ...” She lifted her body until she could feel him, before she gently guided him to her. He moved slowly, while he held her forcefully against him. She tilted her head back, and cried out in animation when her entire body began to shudder uncontrollably.
Daniel watched her as she let out an exasperating moan, and when she looked back at him, he could no longer hold back. His entire body began to contract in pleasure, and when she placed her arms around him and held him firmly against her, he buried his head in the pillow below her.
He laid holding onto her, gasping for breath. She closed her eyes again, and absorbed one more time how his body felt against hers. It was a feeling Sarah did not want to lose. It was as though he was an extension of her, and his body against hers, felt like home to her.
When he rolled over onto his side, he laid looking at her for what felt like forever. She laid quietly, staring at him as though she might never see him again. When he smiled at her, Sarah knew that her fight was not yet over, and that she would do all she could to convince Daniel that she was not crazy, and that she came back to save him.
To save her. She wanted her love story, and she wanted Daniel. Her heart started hammering profusely when she closed her eyes and saw his grave stone that was burned in her mind, come back to haunt her.
It was real. It happened, and she knew at that very moment that she would not survive losing him. She turned back to Daniel, and gently stroked his cheek, “Danny, I just, I love you so much. I made so many mistakes. I thought we had time. I thought I could find my place in the world when, when it was never really anywhere, but here with you. I was gone for so long, and it was muck later than I thought it was.”
Daniel rolled onto his back, and stared at the ceiling without uttering a word. She leaned over to him, and gazed into his frosty eyes, “I know this is a lot. I know I have no proof. I know, Danny, but please, just look out for the signs. Promise me, Danny?”
Daniel took her into his arms, and buried her head in his chest, “I swear, Sè, if that’s what you need from me, I can do that. I can lookout for the signs ...” She squeezed him tightly, before she lifted her head, “Daniel Kingsley, I cannot live one single day without you.”
“You won’t have to ...”
