Witness [A First Contact Romance]

38. An Invitation (Part 1)

Earth

2027

Rory clutched the bathroom counter and wiped her mouth with a shaking hand. Over the past three days, she'd forced herself to chase her memories, no matter how it felt when she finally caught them. Theo had struggled to watch her go through it, so she'd tried to convince him to let her be alone, only he refused.

As deep as Rory had gone, there was still more, but it came hard and fast now. That damn Replica had been right. The memories were unlocked and she'd started holding herself back.

Raising her chin, she looked at herself in the mirror, not recognizing who she saw, but uncertain of who would look familiar to her now. If she looked into the eyes of the woman she'd been on Lumiea, that face would look foreign too.

Somehow she no longer felt like Aeryn or Rory and yet she felt like them both.

It was up to her to shape herself and take her own life back. There was no more waiting. She'd waited long enough.

"Did you get sick again?" Theo asked.

"Yeah, but I'm okay."

He opened the bathroom door and the sight of him crushed her heart. There were memories returning to her that were too painful to hold with Theo close. Too confusing. Even so, she wanted him nearby.

If she gave in to the chaos in her heart, she'd never find her way out. "There's more. I'm going to try again."

"Maybe you need a break." Worry clouded Theo's eyes.

"No." Rory settled onto the bed in the dark and breathed out slowly. This morning, she'd remembered taking Levi swimming for the first time, and it had been far too much for her. As deeply as it wounded her to see him and then open her eyes to the reality that he had never had the chance to know her, she wanted desperately to return to him. It was like tearing herself in two.

Theo had respected her space when it came to memories of the family she'd had to leave behind on Lumiea. She would share it with him, but it was still too raw for her, and she suspected it would be for him as well. Despite how it must have pained him, he stayed by her side unless she told him she truly needed to be alone.

Sitting beside her now, he took her hand. "Don't be scared. It won't hurt forever."

Tears pinched her eyes. But it would. Some pains never eased. Theo couldn't understand and she would sacrifice anything to ensure he never experienced what she had.

The present fell away so quickly this time. Soon, she was sitting beside the man who she could barely stand to remember. Even as the past returned to her as viscerally as if she lived it, he remained shadowed, a form in her peripheral vision.

"I'm not going to go," Aeryn said. "She won't choose me. She'd be crazy to choose me." The words poured from her lips and sounded more desperate by the moment. "There's no way–"