Till I Hear You Sing Once More

Chapter 3: The Past is Another Land

((Hello, dear readers! I've returned! My summer was awesome, but there was a lot of traveling, and only a little wifi. Also, the Wattpad app kept deleting stuff as soon as I tried to save it, so I had some issues there as well, but, as promised, another chapter! This time, you get a little look into Jasmine's past, so yay for that! I hope you enjoy! Please vote and comment! I love getting all of your feedback! -Wolf))

Chapter 3: The Past is Another Land

Don't leave me.

Erik's haunted, pain-filled voice resonated momentarily in my head, and suddenly, it dragged out a memory that I had tried very hard to hide for so very long. I felt every muscle in my body tighten as I was pulled into the memory, and I felt every terrible emotion that I had felt on that night, what felt like so many years ago.

...

It was a cold night. Colder than normal, even. As I neared my home, it was the heat that made me realize something was wrong. There was a terrifying, searing heat , and as I came over the hill, I realized what it was. My family's mansion was ablaze, flames licking up the sides of the once beautiful house. "My God," I whispered, as I took off at a run, sprinting down the hill towards my burning home. We lived on the outskirts of the city, so there wasn't really anyone around that I could go to for help.

"Jasmine!" A voice shrieked as I approached the blaze. It was my little brother.

Christopher!" I screamed his name upon seeing him. He was lying a few feet away from our smoldering home. I ran to his side, and fell to my knees when I got close enough. His clothes were smoldering, and blackened. His skin was blistered and burned, and heat radiated from his skin at a frightening temperature. "Christopher! My God! You're hurt!"

Christopher nodded, whimpering in pain. He reached for my hand, and I took his small one in mine, frightened by how hot his hand was. "It's going to be alright," I whispered, trying to put out the glowing embers on his clothes.

"Jasmine," he whispered, looking up at me with big, scared eyes. "Mother and Father are still inside."

I felt my heart stop, and a cold feeling settled over me. "Are you sure?" I questioned, panic beginning to build in my chest.

Christopher nodded. "Mother told me to get out, and that she would be right behind me. But Jasmine, she never came." He whimpered all of a sudden, curling up slightly. "What's wrong?" I questioned. "It hurts," he said softly, "It burns."

"I know, I know," I told him, trying to comfort him. His burns were scaring me. I was praying to God at this point, praying that he would survive.

"Are Mother and Father going to die?" Christopher asked suddenly. I looked down at my utterly terrified little brother, and made a decision. "I don't know," I whispered to him, "But I'm going to go and find them."

"Jasmine, no!" he shrieked, his grip on my hand tightening. "You can't go in there! You'll die!"

"No, little one, I promise. I won't die. I'm just going to look for Mother and Father. If I find them, I'll bring them right out here to you. If I don't, then I'll come right back and we'll wait here together, okay?" I told him, wiping at the tears that were threatening to fall from his eyes.

"No, Jasmine! Please! Don't go in there!" Christopher tried to hold on to me as I got to my feet and let go of his hand, moving towards our burning house.

"Jasmine, stop!" My brother's shouts followed me as I neared the doorway. "Jasmine! Please! Don't leave me!"

Christopher's words made me hesitate, and I looked back over my shoulder into my brother's pleading eyes. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "I just have to see if their alive." And with that, I plunged into the burning house.

...

When I returned, only about ten minutes later, without my parents, and with a terribly painful, blistering burn on the right side of my face, I stopped, horrified, several feet from my brother.

"Christopher!" I screamed, one hand clutching the burned half of my face, and I ran to my brother's side, but I knew, as I knelt by his head, that I was too late. Christopher's eyes stared blankly up at the smoke-filled sky, and they no longer sparkled. "Christopher," I whispered, as I took his rapidly cooling, lifeless hand. I dropped my hand from my face, and then I gingerly closed his eyes.

"Jasmine! Please! Don't leave me!"

Christopher's last words resonated in my head as I broke down and sobbed, clutching his body to my chest. "I'm sorry, Christopher," I whimpered. "I'm so, so, sorry."

...

"Jasmine!" a sharp voice drew me out of the memory. I was left reeling from my trip down memory-lane, and it took me a minute to realize that I was crying. Tears rolled steadily down my face, leaving glistening streaks on my pale skin, before staining the collar of my shirt a slightly darker color. I looked up and realized that Erik was staring at me intently. "Jasmine," he repeated, watching me closely as I wiped at my tears, dragging the back of my hand across my face in an effort to make them stop.

"Are you alright?" Erik asked softly, his eyes never leaving mine. I bit my lip, composing myself, and then managed to say, "Not exactly." After another moment of Erik's intense gaze upon me, he asked, "Was it something I said?"

All I could do was nod, as I heard my little brother's voice again.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Erik's offer surprised me slightly. "Why does it matter?" I asked, coming off sharper than I intended to. "Sorry," I murmured, wiping at the stray tears that still lingered in my eyes. "What you said just reminded me of someone... Someone that I loved very much, and that I lost, most likely out of my own foolishness."

Erik paused, and then he reached out and wiped away the last of my tears. "Tell me," he said quietly, and so, without really knowing why, I did. I told him the story of that night. That night that I lost my parents. The night that I lost my brother, and that night when I was given a permanent reminder of what I had lost.

When I had finished the story, my eyes were watering again, and, I noticed that Erik was misty-eyed as well. "I could have saved him," I bit out. "If I had just stayed with him. I knew, deep down, that there was no hope for my parents. They couldn't have been in the house that long and survived. I was just foolishly hoping that somehow, they had survived. Because of my rash actions, I not only lost them, but my brother too."

Erik didn't say anything at first, but then he whispered something to me that I would never forget. "The past is another land, far beyond your reach. The present is an empty space, between the good and bad. Moments lead nowhere, too pointless to be sad, but time enough to lay to waste every certainty you had." He paused, but then continued. "It does not do to dwell on the past. All you can do is love, live, and give what you can give, and take what little you deserve."

I thought about what he had just said, and then, almost without thinking, I reached out and wrapped my arms around him, hugging him gently. Erik seemed surprised, but then he hugged me back.

You love, you live, you give what you can give, and you take what little you deserve.

((Sooooo... What do you guys think? Please comment and vote and let me know! Thanks for reading! Stay beautiful, -Wolf))