Page 60 of Come Back To Me

My heart gets stuck in my throat as he reaches the end, and I drop the card in the water. Eyes widening, I slide forward, and he grabs me by the back of the neck, dragging me under the water. I fight to breathe, gasping for air at the wrong time, and I quickly lose consciousness as he holds me down, thinking of how the words he read to me just might be the last ones I ever hear.

“You wanted to keep me as yours forever, and I’ll always find ways to make sure you belong to me too. In life and death. Now hold still, sweetheart, this will only hurt a little.”

My eyes ache as I open them, a hunger ticking inside me like a time bomb when I get a whiff of blood in the air. I shove at the wooden box that closes me in, kicking at the bottom with my heels. When I try to scream, my sounds come out deep and they hurt my own ears. My body is heavy, my legs acting as if they’re remembering how to exist with the rest of me for the first time. There’s a rotten taste in my mouth and my tongue is as dry as cotton. It’s heavy as I move it, but I try anyway as a horrible shrill noise comes from me.

Light trickles in as the top of the box slides off, and Gareth has the biggest smile on his face as he holds a plate in his hand with something that once had my stomach rolling and now has it groaning with need. “What did you do?”

“What I had to. You asked before how many times I was going to do what I felt I had to, and I think this situation was more dire than others. You need to eat something and then we can go take a walk. It’s a full moon tonight and the sky’s already filling with stars for us to dance under.

“You . . . why?” My words are thick, my skin like a noose around the rest of my body.

“Because I couldn’t stomach the thought of you dying and me not reaching you in time. I don’t have to worry about that anymore. Not when I was able to take things into my own hands. It’s okay, though, because I knew deep down that we’d always come back to each other.”

“You took away my life.” My voice sounds like it’s coming from someone else.

“No, baby. I gave you longer . . . longer with me.”

“How long was I gone for?” It’s the next question that makes it past my lips after battling others.

“A day. No one noticed but me, but that doesn’t matter anymore. You’re back. You came back and now we can return to living like we did before, with things a little more different.”

This shouldn’t be romantic, and I need to be more angry, but what he’s saying makes too much sense to my hopeless heart. I loved him so much that I brought him back from the dead, and he loved me so much that he made sure I could never die again.

I reach for his face and he helps me sit all the way up, gazing at me longingly. “I love you so much, baby. My sweet, beautiful pumpkin bear. And I hope this lets you see that. I hope you really understand why I had to do this. I still tried for you but in a different way. I hurt you so I could set you free, and here you are with those nagging worries humans have a distant memory. And here you are looking readier than ever to finish that forever with me.”

“Here we are,” I say, tugging his face to mine, and he kisses me hard. I deepen it by tangling my fingers in his hair and biting down on his tongue, tasting his blood and fully understanding everything now.

We still have us, it just looks a little different is all.