An Ackerman's secret

18

Play 'I love you' by Billie Eilish.

"Mila."

"Aslan."

There he was. Standing right in front of me in person, not in my mind, not in my memories or dreams. In real life. Unless this is all just a dream. I pinched myself to check, but it didn't take me long to realise I'm not imagining this.

I collapsed to my knees, unable to process what was going on.

He jumped down so that he was even closer and bent down in front of me. Levi put his hand out to make him back off and I realised they all were probably even more clueless than me right now.

"How.. You're-" I couldn't make out a sentence.

He smiled and reached his hand out for mine. I grabbed it and instantly jumped backwards. That familiar touch was something I had missed for years, how was this even possible?

"I've missed you." Everything was the same about him, he had grown a bit older but he was still him. His hair that was previously shaggy and brown was now cut shorter and framed his face better, the last time I saw him was in the underground, no one looked the same down there. He was no longer covered in cuts like he always used to be. His smile hadn't changed, neither had his voice, it only deepened, the thing that had changed the most was his height. He towered above me whereas before he was only a few inches taller, he had grown up and matured.

By now most of the others had figured out what was going on since I had told them all about him many times over the years. If this is really him, then I mourned someone who was never dead in the first place.

My first instinct was to slap him. He chuckled as my hand met his cheek before turning back to look at me in the eye. His familiar chocolate brown eyes warmed my heart, the exact same colour that I remembered.

"You're meant to be dead."

His face dropped and he lowered his gaze to the floor, "I know, I can explain everything when it's just you and me. Okay?" He raised his hand to wipe away the tear that fell down my cheek. I was surprised that I could even speak, my whole body was shaking. How was I even supposed to react? The love of my life who I thought was dead is now sat in front of me, touching me with his own hands.

"Just come with me and we can have all the time in the world to talk about it." He grabbed my hands and helped me stand up.

Levi moved slightly in front of me, "She's not going anywhere with you." He was right, we were on a mission and I can't just abandon it. I looked up at the roof where the man from earlier was, he's with them?

Aslan stayed silent and observed who I was with. He smiled again, "I see you have finally found your family. It's okay, it is your choice darling." He let go of my hands and hooked into the roof, flying up to stand where he previously was next to his supposed comrades.

I couldn't just let him leave now, after all these years I have spent missing him. Every year on my birthday, my wish would be that I could meet him again, just one last time. How can I turn my back on him now? I can't, I knew deep down inside even if I tried to let him leave, I wouldn't be able to, it would kill me. I still loved him, and seeing him again made me fall in love with him all over again, it was exactly like the night we met. I wished I could go back to that night and meet him again. Now here I am after all these years getting what I believed to be impossible; a chance to touch him, talk to him, hug him one last time. I didn't want it to be the last time though, now that he was alive, having the chance to do all those things is something that can become my normal, like it was before he disappeared.

The other half of me though was filled with anger, he left me for all these years with no note or nothing. I don't know what happened, but he didn't have to leave me in the dark like that and then show up one day and expect me to not be mad. I mourned him every day, I made mistakes that changed me as a person as a result of his death, all that for nothing. I spent ages trying to find out what happened to him, but now I know why it was impossible, because he was never dead. There was no murderer to confront.