Crossing Destinies (A Pretender Story) #Wattys2019 #Wattys2021

Chapter XIII: Grand Finale Part 1

Chapter XIII: Grand Finale Part 1

Tuesday, July 23rd, 06.55 a.m.

The morning after, Jarod awakened before Erin. Like he often did in this case, he propped on one elbow and contemplated her as she slept, relishing in her beauty, which was internal even before external, and in the marvellous feeling coming from the knowledge of their shared love.

Now to that feeling added the fact he kept no more secrets from her, and this made him euphoric: finally he hadn't to pretend any longer, or devise on the spot some plausible background.

How great it would be spending the rest of his life with her... but Jarod was bitterly aware that, as long as the Centre existed, this wouldn't be possible. Feeling suddenly, painfully guilty, he realised he had been deeply selfish: even knowing how much afraid she was to get back in the game, after the terrible disillusionment she had suffered, he had done everything to completely win her heart, even if he was perfectly aware that for the two of them there wasn't a future together...

No, no! Jarod stopped abruptly that chain of thoughts: there had to be a solution, even if he hadn't found it so far. He simply needed to think straight, and now that he had nothing to hide anymore, it would be easier.

He hadn't noticed that Erin had waked up and was watching him. One single glance at his expression was enough for her to sense his mood: since the beginning, she had been very sensitive to his torment, and now that he had told her the reason of it, her perception had become even sharper. Her heart swelled up with intolerable pain: she couldn't stand seeing him suffer this way.

She sat up.

"Stop it, Jarod", she exhorted him, worried, "Stop it."

Jarod jerked and came suddenly back to his senses. He sat up in turn, looking at her in confusion:

"What?"

"You must stop allowing the past to haunt you!" Erin explained, clasping his hands, "Whatever happened, happened. You cannot go on thinking of the Centre, of the terrible things they've done to you... it's over! You are free now, free to live your life, to use your extraordinary skills for the good of other people, to enjoy your present, to plan your future... but you cannot, if you don't get rid of the past!"

Jarod frowned:

"You cannot understand... How can I plan my future if I don't know my past?"

For a moment, Erin stared at him completely confused:

"What do you mean? Of course you know it!" she contradicted him, animatedly, "You know who your parents are, that you have a sister, a half-brother, that you've been kidnapped at the age of four and spent your whole life at the Centre, until you escaped..."

"They've deleted my identity!" Jarod cried, interrupting her with a kind of desperation in his voice, "Do you realise that there isn't even a birth certificate proving my existence?"

"It's not a piece of paper that defines you as an individual", she retorted, passionately, "but the sum of your actions, good and evil, the heroic acts as much as the cowardice, and your thoughts, dreams, purposes, wishes! These things make persons, not a stupid certificate!"

She took a breath to calm down, trying to put in words her chaotic thoughts, to make Jarod understand what a mistake he was making, letting the past to haunt him... a mistake that she, too, had made, and that she had been able to overcome with his help.

"Leave the Centre back, forget it... or destroy it!" she concluded, in a sharp tone that was rarely to be heard in her voice, a tone that didn't allow objections.