Reincarnate | ✔️

Chapter 4

After about ten minutes of walking in silence, we made it into the woods. "Oh, hey, Owen, what would you say if we leave a carving of our initials on this tree for the people in our next life?"

He looked at the tree the berry bush had grown under and shrugged. "Sure."

I let go of his hand and took out the small knife I always carried in my purse.

Owen jumped after seeing the knife in my hand. "Do you always keep that in your bag?"

I shrugged. "Well, it's not like I have any use for it now, since apparently I'm turning back into a vampire, so..." I carved a heart into the tree before putting the letter L with a plus sign next to it. "Here, your turn."

He hesitantly reached for the knife before I faked lunging at him with it. "Ah! Laine!"

I laughed. "I'm joking, I'm joking!"

He snatched the knife quickly before carving the letter O into the tree. "Is that good?"

I nodded. "Looks good to me." I waved my hand signaling to go deeper into the woods. "Come on, there's something I want to show you."

He smiled and reached for my hand after hand the knife back to me so I could put it away. "What is it?"

I smirked. "You'll have to wait."

He chuckled. "You're such a tease, Laine."

I looked up at him as our hands swayed as we walked. "Is that bad?"

He smiled. "Not at all."

"Good." I looked back in front of me. "Oh, I didn't realize we had walked so fast. It's right up here."

"Well, come on, then-"

"Woah, woah, woah," I held my hand in front of him before he stepped on the grass. "not so fast, Owen. This place is precious."

"Oh, sorry." He looked from me to the golden light of the setting Sun. "What is this place?"

"You'll see," I grabbed his hand and dragged him into the clearing. "come on!"

"Slow down, I'm coming! You're gonna make me...trip..." He dropped my hand and put one to his mouth. "Oh...Laine..."

I smiled. "I thought you knew about this place."

"I had forgot about it until now." He hugged me tightly. "Thank you, Laine."

I closed my eyes and smiled, hugging him back. "You're welcome, Owen." We let go of each other and walked down to the water. It was murky now, since so many people fished in it over the years, but other than that, it was the same as it was when we were in our past lives.

"You know, I remember this pond being a lot clearer." Owen smiled, though, I could tell he was a bit hurt with its lack of appreciation.

"Yeah, it's been centuries since it's really been cherished, so it's not as clear as it once was." I sighed taking a flat stone and skipping it ten times before it sank to the murky bottom, never to be seen again.

I could tell his spirits had lifted as he grabbed a stone and missed just like when we were kids. He taught me a little too well. "I see you still got it."

I skipped another one, this time skipping it eight times. "I was taught by the best."

We both laughed as he skipped one five times. "We both know that's a lie. You're just trying to rub it in."

"Maybe." I looked down at my feet and picked up a stone. "Hey, look at this." I picked up the stone and showed it to Owen.

"I..." Owen said slowly. "I don't remember doing this."