Lily
3 months later.
As expected, when the police arrived at Florence's house, she was already packing her bags and everything to escape. If it hadn't been for Kyle and me, she would have escaped without anyone suspecting her involvement. After all, no one knew about her relationship with Oliver, so just like in our original timeline, she would have gotten away with what she did.
Brandy received murder charges, tampering with evidence, and obstruction of justice. In the end, she confessed that she'd killed Oliver in a fit of rage after he humiliated her at the party, then framed me out of revenge. She wanted to destroy the person Oliver had been obsessed with and position herself as Leo's savior during his darkest time. She thought if she could make Leo lose everything, he'd turn to her for comfort, and she could finally have him the way she'd always wanted. Her obsession with my brother had twisted into something dark and possessive, and Oliver's cruelty had simply given her the excuse she needed to act on it.
What she didn't know was that my brother would havetaken all the blame for my supposed crime. Her twisted revenge against me would have been pointless anyway, destroying the very person she claimed to want to protect.
And Kyle and I finally had the peace and justice we were looking for.
Despite the tragedy, this version of the past felt like what it should have been from the beginning. And I was grateful we'd made it possible.
I was amazed by how different life could be when you had people to count on, when you weren't drowning alone in guilt and self-recrimination. Having Kyle by my side, having my family whole and happy, having Leo free to be himself, it was everything I'd dreamed of during those dark years.
And just as I'd promised Kyle when we started this journey, now it was time to find a way back to our reality.
We'd spent three months avoiding the subject, making sure everything would be stable before we left. But deep down, we both knew we'd been prolonging our stay because we wanted to enjoy our families and each other in this life a little longer. We wanted to savor what it felt like to be young and unburdened, to have our whole lives ahead of us instead of behind us.
But I'd thought of a way to return to our present, and it felt like the right way to repay Kyle for everything he'd done, being there for me unconditionally, helping me find justice, never giving up on us even when I'd pushed him away.
That Saturday morning, I got up early, showered, and put on the new pink dress my parents had bought me for passing all my subjects with excellent grades. I went downstairs and made breakfast for my whole family, then spent time hugging my mom, dad, and brother, memorizing the feeling of having them all safe and whole.
I could only hope that when we returned to our time,everything would remain exactly as we'd left it here. The alternative, waking up to find that none of this had mattered, that Leo was still in prison and my mother was still gone, could destroy me.
But in the end, that's what life was all about: a leap of faith in our decisions, hoping everything would turn out all right.
"So your plan is to break into a building under construction, go down to the basement without proper safety equipment, and pull a lever that probably isn't even properly installed yet?" Kyle asked me, a little worried.
"When you put it that way, it sounds like a terrible idea," I admitted, "but it's a risk we have to take."
A few weeks ago, I'd driven past the Waldo building where we'd worked before the accident and noticed it was already under construction. My plan was simple: return to the spot where the electrical explosion had sent us back in time, and repeat the action that had brought us here, hoping it would return us to our reality.
But Kyle didn't seem convinced, and honestly, I wasn't entirely sure myself.
"It doesn't cost us anything to try," I said, attempting to sound more confident than I felt.
"What if we went back to exactly where we were before, and everything we've accomplished here disappears? What if none of this was worth it?"
I'd thought about that possibility constantly over the past three months. The fear of waking up in my old body, in my old life, with none of the healing we'd achieved here, sometimes kept me awake at night. What if this had all been a dream? What if we returned to find Leo still in prison, my mother still gone, our love stillbroken?
"I don't know," I said honestly. "I guess we'd have to find another way to bring justice with all the information we have now."
"Yeah, that sounds like a plan." Kyle tried to lighten the mood, though I could see his hands were shaking slightly. "And will you keep your hair short like it is now?"
I touched my hair self-consciously. "I'm not sure. I think I miss my long hair."
"Well, I'll have to get used to whatever you decide. You're beautiful in all your forms."
Those words reminded me, yet again, why I'd been right to give him a second chance. He was the person who'd seen me at my best and worst and chosen to stay by my side. Even when he disagreed with my decisions, he supported me if it made me happy. He was the person I could count on through any crazy plan, no matter how dangerous or uncertain.
"I love you, you know that, right?"
He smiled. "I love you too, I never stopped doing it, and I never will, no matter what happens."
He gave me one of those kisses that assured me that he would be by my side no matter what happened now, and I decided to prolong it as long as I could, feeling his lips for what could be the last time. Then we looked at each other, trying to remember what we were, what we could have been, and what we were no longer.
In that moment, we both knew it was time.
