He Saw My Ghost All Along, And Grew Tired Of My Clinging Chapter 03

He Saw My Ghost All Along, And Grew Tired Of My Clinging Chapter 03

“I’m annoying?”

I couldn’t stop staring at his face. My voice shook.

I died for him. And even after that, I stayed. Four years.

Moving on was fine. I could live with that. But going after my family?

I swallowed hard and stepped back.

“Fine. I get it.”

I turned around without another word, walked straight through the wall, and left.

Morning came.

I was curled up in a corner when noise from the yard dragged me out of myself.

I peered through a gap in the window. My blood went cold.

The staff were hauling large boxes toward the stone fire pit in the backyard.

The lids were open. Inside were my dresses, the ones I’d loved most when I was alive.

New pieces I never got the chance to wear. Dresses Reid had picked out for me himself. They tossed them into the fire pit like they were nothing.

And underneath the clothes were stacks of yellowed letters.

Every letter I’d ever written him by hand, back when we were together.

I’d poured every ounce of happiness I had into those pages.

He used to keep them locked in a safe. He told me they were my heart on paper, and nobody else was allowed to touch them.

Now Reid stood in the yard watching his staff pile it all up, and his face showed nothing.

Once they’d stacked everything into a heap, he walked over. He stepped toward the pile without a word.

Dread hit me like a wave.

The next second, there was a sharp click.

A moment later, the pile was engulfed in flames.

“No… don’t burn them!”

Everything in my head whited out. I threw myself outside.

Our first date was in those letters. My promise to stay with him forever. They were the last proof I’d ever existed.

“Reid, stop! Stop! You can’t! Those are mine!”

I rushed toward the fire, desperately reaching for the letters.

My hands went straight through. I caught nothing.

“No!”

I watched the letter that said [Forever yours.] curl, blacken, and crumble into ash on the wind.

I kept reaching toward the fire, desperately trying to save anything I could.

But there was nothing to hold. It all burned right in front of me.

I screamed until my voice gave out.

Reid stood by the fire and watched. His face didn’t change once.

Like none of it meant anything. Not the love. Not me. Just garbage, burning.

Nadine stood next to him in a white dress, all wide eyes and soft edges.

She coughed and wrinkled her nose.

“Reid, the smoke is getting to me.”

He’d been staring into the fire like stone. The second she spoke, he turned.

All that coldness melted right off his face.

“Come on. Let’s go inside.”

He took her hand and pulled her close, lifting his free hand to block the smoke from her face.

For one second, I saw the man I remembered. The one who used to look at me like that.

He’d held me the same way once and whispered, “You and me. That’s it. Forever.”

But someone else was standing where I used to be.

They walked back into the house together, fingers laced.

Reid draped an arm around her shoulders and leaned in to say something. Nadine ducked her head, laughing behind her hand.

They looked like they belonged together.

Not once, not a single time, did Reid look at me.

Like I was already gone.

I sank to my knees beside the fire and watched them disappear inside. The pain came in waves, each one sharper than the last.

The fire crackled on, eating through everything I’d ever held dear.

Firelight poured through my transparent body. I couldn’t feel any of it.

Just numbness. Nothing else.

The same man who once panicked for an hour over a paper cut on my finger had just set fire to every trace of my existence.

All I did was stay. I stayed with him for four years.

Was that really so unforgivable?

What did I do that was so terrible he had to destroy me like this?

The fire gradually died down.

All that was left was a pile of charred memories, scattered by the wind.

I stared at the ashes. Tears ran down my face, but I didn’t feel them.

There’s a point where heartbreak stops hurting. After that, you just go numb.