Quantum Entanglement ~ Tamber

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this is finale, hope you enjoy go check out my other books, all of them are abt tamber ;) love yall <3

Tara's eyes shot open the second she had enough strength for them to do so. She wasn't sure what she was expecting to find, but she knew it wouldn't be good. Maybe she'd be shrouded in that dark nothingness that carried her with it into the past. Maybe she'd be burning in hell alongside her girlfriend. Either way, she had failed and there was no future for her. She accepted that long before she opened her eyes.

When she glanced around, though, she was even more confused. There was no darkness or putrid flames. There were shelves and shelves of books. There were familiar tables and chairs. She knew where she was. She was in the Blackmore library, hunched over a pile of books on torts and ethics in law. She heard a song booming through the expensive headphones Sam had worked three jobs to buy her the Christmas before; it was the song she'd now associate with Amber for the rest of her days.

She had fallen asleep in the library again – in a timeline that felt like an entire lifetime again. She wasn't the same person she had been when she fell asleep. She didn't have the same thoughts, feelings, or even priorities.

This was, perhaps, a worse fate than anything she had imagined. As reality sunk in, so did panic. Was it all a dream? It couldn't have been, right? She felt it – she felt every stab, every kiss, ever whispered "I love you" against her skin. It was real; it had to have been. She was a dreamer, but not even she could build such an elaborate world in her fortress of a mind.

Tara grabbed her phone and started looking for proof that it wasn't some fucked up, elaborate dream. Surely, there would be pictures of the two of them together. There would be texts, right? They had so many messages between them – so many inside jokes and declarations of love – so many pictures. They had to be something there.

Only they weren't. Barely anything was on her phone but a small text thread between her and her sister consisting of only two texts, both of which had been sent by Sam. The first one read, "Dinner tonight at 7?" with a smiley face. The second said, "Hey, text me please. I'm worried about you." The lack of texts wasn't unusual. She went on random deleting sprees after Amber died. She thought that if she deleted all traces of Amber's existence that it would be easier on her – that she could wipe her from her mind completely and pretend she didn't existence. Unfortunately, that had led to several drunken nights spent crying herself to sleep while faceplanted on the bathroom floor. Amber was gone, and her pictures and videos and texts were all gone now, too. One day she would forget her voice completely; she'd struggle to recall which side her birthmark was on. It was a terrifying thought.

Tara stared blankly at her phone, still trying to process the fact that it was only just a dream. The longer she looked at it, though, the angrier she got. How could a dream warp her sense of reality so much that she didn't trust where she knew she was?

Pissed and feeling helpless, she threw the phone across the room, hitting a cart full of books that were set out to be returned to the shelves. Before anyone could say anything to her, she sheepishly retrieved her phone, grabbed up her books and mumbled, "I'm fucking going. I'm going!"

It was already past seven, so there was no way she was making whatever bullshit dinner her sister had invited her to. She loved Sam, but she was mourning in a new way, as if she'd just lost everything all over again. And she had. One moment, she had the love of her life in her arms with the possibility of a future laid out at their feet. Now it was all gone – taken in an instant. How could she explain to anyone who knew her this new grief she felt? How could she explain it when she'd lost everything and nothing at the same time?

She leaned against the library building as soon as she stepped outside. She felt like if she didn't, she might collapse – like the world was spinning too fast for her to stand upright. She slid against the wall and allowed herself to give in to the waves of grief. She was hyperventilating, but it didn't matter. What good was breathing if Amber wasn't there with her – if it had all been for nothing?