We’ve lost and found each other in every life, and I understand why North keeps being born again, but not myself. The best answer we came up with over the years is although the others stole our baby’s life, we think maybe he left the ability of rebirth behind. But none of us have any real idea how it is possible. It could be part of our punishment, to never know peace, and to always wander the earth looking for the missing part of our soul. Who knows? Not me that is for sure.
The door opens and I pull the covers tightly over my arms out of reflex. My attention is on North’s face, and I smile. That sense of unexplained peace I felt without even knowing who he was to me makes sense now. He is my home. For me, home isn’t a place it is a feeling. North is it for me. I now understand how I found an escape within the arms of a complete stranger. He was no strange at all, I wonder if somewhere in the back of my subconscious I never forget him. I guess it doesn’t matter because we are together now.
We have a lot to figure out. I’m sure by now my face is plastered all over the local news channels with the headlines along the lines of prisoner at large. Honestly, I am too exhausted to worry about it right now, but will have to deal with it as soon as possible. I don’t know how to prove my innocence or stay out of jail while doing it, but I am determined. I’m not going back to that hell hole.
“Good erm…afternoon?” North greets me, his body bends as if he wants to sit, but then he awkwardly straightens his back as if he’s not sure what to do. He doesn’t know that I remember anything. I want to find the right words to tell him, but is thee really a bad way to tell the love of your life that you remember who they are? I don’t think so, but I guess I could be wrong about that assumption.
“Are you hungry?”
“I could eat.”
“How does pancakes sound to you?”
“They sound absolutely amazing!” My response is a bit over the top, but after eating prison food for so long, he probably could have offered me a steal granola bar and I would have reacted about the same, honestly. Everyone jokes about stuff tasting like prison food, but until they actually eat it, don’t understand how truly nasty it can be. But, controversially, not all of it tastes like shit. Some of the food is that they cooked was phenomenal.
“Do you want to get changed and we’ll go out for breakfast?”
I sigh, kicking the covers off my legs and pull my knees up to my chest, securing my arms around them, suddenly self-conscious about having a rap sheet. “That would be wonderful, but I don’t feel like anymore drama right now.”
“Why would pancakes equal drama?”
“Because I just broke out of prison…or you all just broke me out of prison. I don’t know how to describe it.” I wave my hand in the air. “However it happened, you were there. I do not want to deal with any of it right now. Right now, I just want to feed my face and talk in between bites. If that’s ok with you?”
“I didn’t think about that. I’m sorry. I should have thought about that.” He rubs his hand over the back of his neck and stares at the ceiling.
“Don’t be sorry. It’s not your job to think of everything, North. Not everything is on your shoulders. I’m a big girl, I can take care of somethings myself. I promise.”
“You shouldn’t have to, though. That’s what I’m for.”
I glare at him. This is how he has always been, ready to put everyone before himself. Even on the first day I died, he offered himself to save me, but I did the same for him. I knew if I kept pressing the buttons of the others, that they would want to kill me, but prayed for a miracle that they would spare all of us. I did not find a miracle that day as I had hoped, or at least I didn’t think I had. And yet, here I am living my seventh life, and that in itself is a miracle.
“Ok. Ok. I’m going to get pancakes. You’ll be safe here; the guys will see to it. Are you good with that?”
“One-hundred percent. I’ll be fine. Go.” I wave my hands in his direction, shooing him toward the door.
CHAPTER 17
North
I finish my pancakes, crossing my knife and fork over the other, resting them on the empty plate in front of me. Enjoying the view across the table from me. Delayni sighs, sated with a belly full of food. I could never see myself with anyone else. Even when we lose each other in the world, she is the only one for me.
“Now,” I crossed my arm over the other, resting them on my chest. Her attention shot to me at once and she gazed at me through partly hooded eyelids.
“Now what?”
“What do you want do know first? We have a lot of history to go over, and I honestly don’t know where to start. Maybe the beginning? That’s where most people typically start when the tell stories, right?”
Her eyelids bat and the sexiest shade of pink splashes across the tight apples of her cheeks. She chews on the corner of her mouth and wiggles around in her chair, clearly, something is on her mind. I could find out by plucking her thoughts right out of her head, but I don’t want to do that to her. I want to give her a chance to tell me what is going on.
“How about a quick rundown with the ending at the beginning?” She playfully smiles, licking her lips and covers her plate with her napkin after wiping her face clean.
“What are you not telling me? Why would I start at the end? Do you not want to hear everything about us? I know everything about you, well, the other versions of you, but your soul never changes, just where you end up.”
She sighs. “I dreamed of the of my first death while after I fell asleep in your arms.”
“Is that all you remember?”
“No, North. I remember everything. Every kiss. Every heartbreak. Every death. And every tear we shed for one another.”
