After My Last Rewind, They Begged Me to Stay Chapter 10

After My Last Rewind, They Begged Me to Stay Chapter 10

Time moved differently between that pocket world and mine.

For me, only three years had passed. For them, thirty.

All three of them had grown old.

Nathaniel’s hair had gone completely gray at the temples, fine lines etched around his eyes.

His suit hanging loose off a frame that had lost its shape, one shoulder slumped lower than the other.

Julian sat on the edge of a bed, his hair streaked with gray, his once-crisp white coat replaced by a faded

gray shirt worn thin from washing.

When Weston stood, his back was noticeably bent.

Deep grooves lined his face, the creases at the corners of his mouth cut as sharp as knife marks, old scars layered over new ones across his skin.

The three of them stared at me like something too precious to look away from, afraid even to blink.

Nathaniel’s throat worked, up and down, for a long moment before he could force any words out.

“Eleanor. You haven’t changed at all, all these years.”

I looked at them, my voice even.

“You wanted to see me. I’m here. Say what you need to say.”

Nathaniel lurched forward a step, stumbled, and caught himself against the wall.

“Eleanor. Forgive me. Please.”

“For thirty years, I’ve jolted awake every single night. The second I close my eyes, I see you lying on that

floor. I am so sorry.”

“Eleanor, you can stab me if you want. Just- can you forgive me?”

Julian reached a hand toward me.

“Every time I think about the day I cut the tendons in your hands and feet, I want to kill myself for it.”

“Eleanor, I don’t even know what came over me back then. You were the sister I loved most in the world-”

He looked down at his own right hand, bandages wound up to his forearm.

“Every year for thirty years, I’ve cut this hand open myself. Eleanor- please, don’t be angry with me

anymore.”

He unwound the bandages from his arm, one loop at a time, revealing skin crosshatched with scars, old

ones layered under new, some still faintly weeping blood.

Weston stood in front of me, back bowed, eyes rimmed red.

“Eleanor. All these years, I’ve wished it was me who died instead.”

“I don’t know how I ever failed to believe you.”

I looked at the three of them, ruined and broken, and felt nothing at all stir in my chest.

“Is there anything else?”

“If not, I’ll be going.”

All three of them froze.

Then Nathaniel dropped to his knees with a heavy, hollow thud that echoed through the empty room.

“Eleanor. Stay. Please.”

“Stay, and I’ll give you everything I have. If it’s not enough to settle the score, hit me, curse me, do whatever

you want-just don’t go.”

“These past years, we’ve reached the very top of the world. No one dares cross us anymore.”

“Eleanor, we’ll protect you. We’ll make sure you’re the happiest person alive, forever.”

I spoke, calm and level.

“I’d rather go back to my own world and live as an ordinary person.”

“From the moment you gave up on me, I stopped needing any of you.”

“My only wish now is that you never bother me again. Let’s never see each other again.”

I turned and walked toward the light.

“Eleanor!”

“Don’t go!”

Footsteps rushed toward me.

I took another step forward, my silhouette dissolving slowly into the light.

I never looked back.

When I opened my eyes again, sunlight was warm across the flower shop floor.

The orange tabby cat curled by the door turned its head and gave a small meow in my direction.

I picked the flower I’d dropped up off the floor and set it back on the shelf.

Outside, the wind stirred, and the chimes by the door rang softly.

THE END