22

OPHELIA WAKING UP IN my bed was strange. Yet I can't dismiss how natural it felt to be beside her. Or how right it feels that she sits in the passenger seat of my truck right now, looking out at the city as we drive.

I should never have left her behind. I should've been there for her. I can't help but wish I had been a different person when I was seventeen.

I wish I had been able to see who Ophelia was to me the entire time, instead of wasting time with someone who didn't truly love me the way I loved her.

I run a hand through my hair, trying to bring myself out of the memories. I don't know how to start a conversation with Ophelia like I used to. Before, it was always so easy. Now I don't know how to keep her comfortable. The silence is slightly unnerving.

"Do you like the city?" Ophelia asks softly, looking at me as I drive.

"Sometimes. The chaos and the noise keep me distracted."

"What are you wanting to be distracted from?"

The question is so innocent and simple, but it catches me completely off guard. I stop at a red light, my hands falling from the steering wheel.

"I guess… our past. I've made a lot of mistakes."

When the light turns green, I make a left turn.

"Where are we going?" Ophelia asks.

"Breakfast. You can't leave this city without trying the best diner you'll ever visit."

"Better than Every Brew Café?"

I laugh. "This isn't a café. This is a diner. Therefore, you can't make me choose which one is better."

Ophelia laughs too, and I realize how much I've missed that sound.

How much I've missed her.

When I park, I quickly hop out and rush to the other side to open her door.

"Wow, it looks like the city has taught you some manners." There's a smirk tugging at her lips as she looks up at me. A rush of heat floods my face, though I'm not entirely sure why.

"I've been well-mannered my entire life, thank you very much. Now tell me, are waffles still the best breakfast food?"

She elbows me. "Absolutely."

"Then you're going to love what this diner has to offer."

"I will be the judge of that," she said, her eyes alight with hope. Despite everything we've just been through, I take a breath and look around. Something about this diner, something about the city, feels a bit like home. The rush of traffic outside. The 50s theme inside.

Stuck in time, many would say.

The waitress wear poofy skirts that hit above their knees, and their hair bounces in ponytails and red headbands.

It's my favorite place to be when I need to get away from the world.

But right now, the weight of the world sits on my chest.

I almost lost Ophelia a matter of hours ago. Something inside me is wanting to protect her at all costs.

I guide her to a booth near the back, by a window. The cloudy, rainy weather is somehow the perfect atmosphere for the diner.

A smiley waitress bounces over to the table. "Welcome to Last Stop Diner. What drinks can I get you started with?"

Ophelia smiles softly. "I'll just take a glass of water."

"I'll take a lemonade, please," I say.

The waitress writes it down, then sets two menus down in front of us. "I will be right back with your drinks."

Ophelia opens her menu, but I playfully take it from her. "You have to have the waffles."

"Maybe I want to explore my options." She smiles mischievously.

"Trust me, that's the only option for a day like today."

She playfully rolls her eyes but releases the menu from her grasp. The waitress returns with our drinks and I order two of the waffle stack plates.

I watch as Ophelia stares out the window, watching the cars drive by on the busy road. The silence between us is comfortable. I don't want to break it yet. I want to take in every flicker of movement, every breath she takes.

I want to feel every heartbeat, remember that she's still here, she's alive. I wasted time thinking love was behind me.

It's right in front of me.

Ophelia turns to me and grins. "You're staring hard. I might start to think you care about me if you keep looking at me like that."

"I do care about you. I think I've proved that."

Her forest green eyes meet mine. "You have. More than proved it. Thank you."

I'm about to say something I may very well regret when the waitress returns with two plates stacked with three waffles each.

"If you two need anything else, just let me know."

"Thank you," I say as she retreats to another table.

Ophelia stares at the waffles, then immediately begins applying butter and syrup. "Time to see if you're right about these waffles."

I wait as she takes her fork to cut off a bite of the top waffle. Her eyes close, and a look of pure enjoyment spreads over her face.

"Okay." She relents with a sigh and opens her eyes again. "You win."

I smirk. "I told you I knew what I was talking about."

The rest of the meal is silent as we eat our waffles and watch the world go by outside.

"Does it ever get overwhelming?" Ophelia asks as we walk back to my truck.

"What?"

"The city. The busy streets. The people who stare right through you."

I shrug, opening her door for her. I make my way around to my side and slide in, turning the key in the ignition. "I find it overwhelming being home, where everyone knows my business and they don't know how to stay out of it. I go home to visit my mom, whom I love dearly. But I find myself getting pitiful looks from Ms. Davis down the street or Mr. Turner as he eats at the café."

"You went through something unimaginable, though."

I lean back in my seat. "Maybe it's harsh of me, but Moriah and I would've been over before high school ended. If she survived that trip to the beach, we would've broken up. I wanted to break up with her." I pause. This revelation is something I've never really acknowledged out loud. I probably look as startled as I feel.

"Obviously, I hate how everything went down, and I do miss her. She was my friend before she was my girlfriend. But it wasn't all sunshine and happiness. Even though everyone else seemed to think it was destiny."

Ophelia looks over at me, her eyes studying my face. "You were going to break up with her?"

"Yes. We had a fight before she got in the water. I was actually going to get my mom to come get me to take me home. But then the storm came, and Moriah…"

Ophelia touches my arm, and I can't ignore the way it makes me feel to have her here with me again. To know she cares about how I feel.

This whole twisted circus with Rook, the nightmare wielder, has been nothing short of crazy. But it's brought me back to her.

We're not yet the best of friends again, but maybe we can be.

I stare at her, studying the way her eyes search mine. Savoring the way she bites her bottom lip as she thinks of what to say.

I've always been frustrated when people get stumped on their words and treat me like some kind of grieving boyfriend who lost his soulmate.

But I don't feel that with Ophelia.

"Even if you didn't feel the same love for her that you did when you started dating, it was still traumatic," she says finally. "And you still grieved."

"And in that grief, I did the one thing I promised never to do. And I have never regretted anything more."

There's a new intensity between us now. A bond forming that can't be broken. We almost died in a nightmare and woke up in the same bed.

It would take less than a second to pull Ophelia in right now and kiss her. Every fiber of my being wants to.

But there are wounds I have caused that I have yet to fix.

"I should probably start driving or else your dad will worry."

"I doubt that," she sighs, leaning away to look out the window. "He still works a lot."

The atmosphere is different on the drive home. It's not bad, but we barely speak. I turn the radio on low. A soft pop song is playing. I think it's about love and loss. I should change it, but I find myself leaving the station on as I put the car in gear and the clouds give way to light rain.

OPHELIA'S HOUSE IS EXACTLY the way I remember it. The bushes line the railing of the front porch. The windows are dark and shuttered.

"Thanks for bringing me home," she says. "Would you like to come inside for a few? Stretch your legs from the drive?"

I desperately want to spend more time with her. I want to talk about so much with her. Lingering here is sounding better and better by the moment.

But then my mom might learn I'm back in town and start to question what's going on. I don't know if I have the bandwidth to explain any of this, least of all the evil shadow demon who's wanting to eat my soul and haunting my nightmares.

Besides, I have work tomorrow.

"I want to. But I need to get back on the road."

She nods. "Okay. Call me when you make it back, okay?"

"Of course."

I do, however, get out and walk her to her door. "Just making sure you're safe."

Ophelia slides her key into the lock, but before she turns the handle, she turns to me. "I think I'm scared of what may come tonight."

"I'll be beside you."

I pull her into a hug, and she rests her head against my chest. I wonder if she can feel the way my heart skips a few beats. I take notice of hers racing, but it could just be the fear of the nightmares.

I doubt it has anything to do with me.

As we pull away, my eyes catch hers. Our faces are not even six inches apart. It would only take a simple turn of the head.

But I won't take advantage of a moment like this. I pull back further and say, "Call me if you need to talk. And I'll call you when I get home."

I turn and walk back to my car, my heart aching to turn around again. I've never felt so sad to leave someone behind, even though it's temporary.

Is it temporary? Or was this day the start of something bigger?

Reconciling with my past isn't easy. My heart clenches every time I think about it. There's no greater heartbreak than losing someone the way I did. But there's also heartbreak in knowing that I should never have let things get this far.

I start to head back to the city, but on impulse I quickly turn my truck down the old dirt road leading to the gravesite. If I'm going to make peace, I have to do one more thing.

I shut my truck off on the dirt road, unable to make it any further. I get out, walking the worn paths to the different graves.

The cemetery isn't much. It's unkempt and forgotten, save for the few graves that are still cared for.

I find Moriah's headstone and take a seat across from it.

The grass brushes my hands and ankles. I hardly notice.

"You were right," I say softly. "You were always right. I shouldn't have doubted you."

Moriah was always conscious of the bond Ophelia and I had. She was scared of it, though I didn't realize it until later in our relationship. I was so focused on loving Moriah that I didn't see the things I should've.

"I'm falling for someone. I don't know if she will love me. I wish I had listened to you. Before everything happened the way it did."

I struggled to understand what was happening after the first argument we had. And every argument after that. I knew I didn't like Ophelia the way I loved Moriah.

But regardless of that, Moriah was worried about it. Until it reached a breaking point, one day when we were at the beach. I couldn't take it anymore. I had pushed Ophelia aside and Moriah didn't want me to let her back in, and I needed that to change. I wanted to leave, that day. Leave the relationship behind.

Moriah begged me to stay, but I didn't want to give her more chances to hurt me. And that decision to leave cost us everything.

It cost her life.

"There's something I can't deny," I tell her now. "Feelings I can't shake. And I want to prove to Ophelia that I'm sorry. But I don't know how."

I stay in the graveyard for a couple more minutes before I finally rise to my feet, brush off the seat of my jeans, and walk back to my car. I need to get back on the road to my apartment. It's time to get out of this town. At least for now.