Jack feels desperate to have something click, for the name to trigger something, but he remembers nothing. The name is foreign to him.
"Marie." He feels the name roll around in his mouth, savors it. "I don't remember." He takes a deep breath in, trying to stave off the impending grief for the loss of a love he can't remember. "Okay, so Marie. I loved her." He looks sideways at Gabriel. "Was in real love, true love?"
Gabriel smiles, looking off at nothing. "It was as real to you as anyone else's is to them. Emotions are facts, Jack. Feelings are real. Just because some people don't think they're necessarily 'right' doesn't make them go away."
Jack's brow furrows. "Did somebody think our love wasn't right?"
Gabriel shrugs indifferently, stowing his hands in his pockets again. "People like to judge other people, Jack. They think there are rules about right and wrong. Really, the world's just chaos," he confides, and Jack's eyebrows shoot up. "It's all going to unfold the way He meant it to. There's no sense trying to stop it, fight it, label it good or bad. He has a plan, and it'll all come to fruition eventually."
"So everything does happen for a reason, huh?" Jack scratches his head. "God has a plan, He has His reasons and all that?"
Gabriel just smiles.
Jack gusts out a sigh. "So. I was in love, with Marie. Did we have children?"
Gabriel shakes out a silent 'no.'
Jack lets out a breath. He's almost relieved; he wonders if his heart could take losing a child to this empty void of nothingness.
He thinks a minute. "What did I do for a living?"
Gabriel lets out a quiet laugh. "For money? You didn't need to do anything for money."
Jack frowns. "I was rich?" He looks down at his clothing.
Gabriel laughs. "The first time around, anyway."
Jack stops and openly stares. "What are you talking about? The first time? Am I reincarnated or something? I thought Christians didn't believe in that."
Gabriel waves a hand impatiently. "No, you're not. You've only lived once. Come on. It's getting late."
Jack huffs. "Late for what?"
Gabriel smiles over his shoulder. "The Journey."
YOU ARE READING
The Ones Among Us (#The2017Awards)
Ficción General"But what is Here?" Jack asks, frustrated. "I don't remember anything about.... ANYTHING. Am I alive? Did I die?? Have I lived yet?" The stranger smiles at Jack. "Does it really even matter if you don't remember? You don't have any memories. What's...
