He Saw My Ghost All Along, And Grew Tired Of My Clinging Chapter 08

He Saw My Ghost All Along, And Grew Tired Of My Clinging Chapter 08

A crimson tear hit the ground at my feet.

I couldn’t look away from the glass. When I finally found my voice, it came out hollow.

“So when he came home and said he could see me… when he said he hated me… that was all a lie

“The girlfriend. The cruelty. Burning everything I owned. He did all of it to make me give up on

him.”

The Guide said nothing. The glass answered for him.

Night. Reid sat alone in his study, hunched over a notebook, writing.

My name. Every page. My name, written over and over until there was no space left?

His tears fell onto the ink, smearing my name across the paper.

And the next morning, he stood in the yard with a face like stone and set fire to everything I’d ever

touched.

The decision must have torn him apart.

I squeezed my eyes shut. The pain in my chest was suffocating.

“You idiot. You absolute idiot.”

A bark echoed from the glass. My head snapped toward it.

Scout. He was lying in the sun in a familiar yard, the Vaughn family estate. Reid’s mother sat beside

him, one hand resting on his back.

“He never abandoned Scout. He sent him somewhere safe and let me believe the worst.”

I pressed my hand over my heart. Even without a body, the ache was crushing.

My mouth opened. Nothing came out. I couldn’t breathe.

In the glass, Reid stayed at the cemetery until the following evening. When he finally stood, he

could barely walk.

He didn’t go home. He drove somewhere else.

A sick feeling crawled up my throat. I already knew what I was about to see.

He pulled up to another estate. He got out. He went inside.

The breath left my body.

The bedroom was mine. It was an exact replica of the one he’d torn apart.

Every detail was identical. Down to the way my dolls were arranged on the shelf.

Reid stood in the doorway. Then his legs gave out.

He crawled forward, reached for the doll I’d loved most, and pulled it against his chest.

The breakdown that followed was silent. His body shook, but no sound came out.

“Reid…” His name tore out of me, raw and broken. But he couldn’t hear me anymore.

“He gutted my room. Then he rebuilt it somewhere else, piece by piece, exactly the way I’d had it.

“He never let go. Not for a single day.”

If I’d known the truth, I would have chosen to be erased before I ever left his side.

But I didn’t know. So I blamed him. Hated him. Let my heart shatter until there was nothing left.

And Reid knew exactly what he was doing.

Every cold word, every act of cruelty, he forced himself through it.

How much did it cost him? Every single time?

How much did he suffer?

I tried to breathe. The sobs tore through me instead.

I didn’t know what to do. I just stood there, staring at his face in the glass, unable to look away.

The Guide stepped beside me. He watched Reid in the glass for a long moment, then let out a heavy

breath.

“I’ve looked into your case. The charitable legacies of both the Vaughn and Carver families have tipped the scales, enough to earn you a second chance. But there’s a cost. In your next life, you won’t come back as yourself. You’ll be placed in the body of a stranger. Are you willing?”

My head snapped up. I didn’t even bother wiping my face.

I stared at the Guide. Words wouldn’t come. I just nodded. Hard.

Of course. I didn’t care what form I took.

All I knew was that I couldn’t let Reid destroy himself. I needed him to know I didn’t hate him.

That loved him. That I never stopped.

“Please. Send me back. He’ll die like this. You can see it. Even if it’s only for one lifetime, even if I come back as a nobody, I need to be with him. I don’t care about what comes after. Just let me go.

back.”

I dropped to my knees and grabbed the hem of his robe.

I couldn’t leave. Not like this. Not without him knowing.

I wanted to see Reid. e

The Guide looked at me for a long time. Then he sighed, not with frustration, but with something

closer to tenderness.

“So be it. If this is what you both chose, then make sure you don’t regret it. Some things are written long before we understand them.”

The weight on my chest broke. I could breathe again.

He lifted his pen and wrote something in his book.

Everything went white. His voice came from far

away.

“The merit of both families will carry you. Go. You’ll have a new body waiting.”

The words faded. And so did I.