Riley’s POV
I blinked, trying to picture it.
"I used to braid your hair for you," she continued, her voice calr now but still filled with sothing emotional. "And sotis I had to help you get dressed because you were always too impatient to do it properly."
I frowned slightly. "That doesn’t sound like ," I said, even though part of already knew she wasn’t lying.
She smiled a little, like she expected to say that. "It is you," she said. "Every part you Aem" She called in short which made pause for a minute, it sounded too familiar, like sothing that had been branded in my mory for a long ti.
As her hand kept moving gently through my hair, sothing shifted again inside my head, and this ti I recognized the feeling imdiately because it had already happened once before.
Another chunk of mories started rushing in.
Not slowly. Not one at a ti. They ca in flashes, sharp and quick and very hurting.
I saw myself younger, sitting down while soone stood behind , fixing my hair while I complained, trying to move away, and then I saw her again, Carian, laughing and telling to stay still, her hands steady as she continued anyway like she was used to it.
Another flash ca.
trying to rush out of sowhere, her stopping and fixing my clothes properly before letting go.
Another one.
arguing with her over sothing small, and her still helping like it didn’t matter.
It kept going.
More monts.
More mories.
All of them real.
All of them mine.
And it made sohow cringe because I realized these weren’t things I had imagined or made up, these were things that had been taken from , things I should have known all along.
She must have noticed the change in my expression because her hand stopped moving, and she slowly pulled it away from my hair, giving space.
"You’re starting to rember," she said quietly.
I didn’t answer right away because I was still trying to process everything, trying to hold onto the flashes before they slipped away again.
After a mont, I looked at her.
"You said you wanted to see ," I said, bringing the conversation back because I needed to stay focused.
She nodded. "I’ve wanted to see you for a long ti."
I hesitated slightly before asking the next question because this was the part that didn’t sit right with .
"Sumr said you want to co back," I said.
Her expression shifted again, becoming more serious.
"Yes," she replied.
I leaned forward slightly, watching her closely. "You can co back?" I asked, because that alone didn’t sound normal.
"Not on my own," she said.
I frowned. "What does that an?"
She looked directly at , not avoiding the question this ti. "It ans I can only co back with your help."
That made pause, and I leaned back slightly, trying to understand what she was saying.
"My help?" I repeated, because that didn’t make sense to yet.
She nodded. "Yes."
I stayed quiet for a mont, thinking, then asked the next question that ca to mind because I needed to understand everything clearly.
"If you can move on," I said slowly, "why not just go to the afterlife instead of trying to co back?"
The mont the words left my mouth, I saw the change in her face imdiately, and I knew I had said sothing wrong.
Her expression tightened slightly, and the way she looked at changed.
"Do you want gone that much?" she asked quietly.
That hit hard, and I shook my head imdiately.
"What? No," I said quickly, because that wasn’t what I ant at all.
"I didn’t an it like that," I added, trying to fix it. "I just don’t understand why you would want to co back instead of moving on."
She stayed quiet for a mont, and I could tell she was thinking about it, and then she nodded slowly.
"I understand," she said.
Her voice was calm again, but I could still tell I had affected her, and that made feel a little uncomfortable because hurting her wasn’t my intention.
I exhaled slightly and looked at her again. "Is there a reason you want to co back?" I asked.
"Yes," she said without hesitation.
I held her gaze. "What reason?"
She didn’t answer imdiately, and that made narrow my eyes slightly because it felt like she was choosing her words carefully.
Then I asked sothing else."Is it because of Gunnar?" I said.
She went silent. Completely silent. And that silence told enough.
I didn’t speak, I just watched her, waiting for her to speak to confirm my words.
After a few seconds, she looked away briefly, then back at .
"A little," she admitted.
I raised a brow. "A little?"
She nodded. "Part of it is because of him."
That made sense, at least a little, but it didn’t feel like the full answer.
"But not entirely," she added.
I leaned forward again, more serious now. "Then what’s the main reason?" I asked.
She looked at in a way that made swallow hard slightly because sothing about it told I wasn’t going to like what ca next.
"The main reason I want to co back," she said slowly, making sure I heard every word clearly, "is to fix sothing I did."
I didn’t interrupt her, I just waited.
"What did you do?" I asked.
She didn’t look away this ti."I commited a sin," she said.
That word didn’t sit right with at all but I still wanted to know.
"A sin against who?" I asked, even though I already had a bad feeling about it.
She held my gaze.
"Against you,"
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