Project GoldCrest ✓

Chapter 31

Charlotte

Marilee

Marilee!

Marilee! Please hold on. Everything's going to be fine, my love.

"The baby's gone. I can feel her leaving me. Please don't lie saying everything will be okay. I'm going to die."

Don't say such things, Mari! I'll do everything I can to save you. You're not going anywhere.

"Why am I not dead yet?"

"You're Marilee?" Mickey asked once we were too quiet for too long.

"How can I be Marilee?" I asked with a strangled voice. My emotions were jumbled. But the most dominant one was hurt. I had a tight ball lodged in my throat and a tear had just fallen.

I am Marilee. Me.

"I'm so sorry, Mickey."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"You know why. I can't believe that Marilee treated you that way. You never deserved any of it. Please forgive me. Forgive her. Forgive us."

He held my face and looked into my eyes anew. What was it like staring into Marilee's eyes again? "Hey, hey. There's nothing to forgive."

"No, there is. I'm sure that all those other times, Marilee, I, was the same girl who treated you badly. That's why we have the same visons."

"It all happened a long time ago. And besides, we always had a happy ending. In every other life, we had a happy ending. So there's no need for tears, okay?"

I felt myself calming down. Mickey began wiping away my tears. "So much tears for spilt milk, right?"

He smiled. "You worry too much. Just calm down. I'm over all of that. I never thought that we shared the same past lives. Thinking back now, we should have known. Should have considered it a possibility."

"Yeah. All those times... we really should have tried to figure it out more. At least, we didn't find out too late. Now we just need figure out why we have those dreams."

Mickey deflated a bit. "Do we have to do that now? It's late and so much has happened today. I think you should rest."

I sagged my shoulders and lay back on my bed. "Look, I know a lot happened today, but we have to do this one last thing."

"Truth is, I want to go home and let all of this sink in for me. You're single now, and you're Marilee. We have the same visions. That is a lot in one day."

I closed my eyes. What would happen if it all sunk in for him? He said he'd forgiven me, but I wasn't sure if he'd still feel the same way after he's really thought about it.

He may not forgive me after all.

But I'm not Marilee anymore. I'm Charlotte. We're different girls. He can be mad at Marilee but not me.

Marilee is me.

"Charlotte? See what I meant? You should relax and take a nap. It's late."

I shouldn't argue with him. "Okay, I'll rest. But only because I have a long day with tutors tomorrow. Mom's mad because my grades dropped by 8%."

I felt him hesitate. "Is it because of the sneaking out we did?"

"You never forced me. That was my decision."