This was the first time I’d mentioned my past life to Axel.]
The line went silent for so long I nearly hung up before he finally responded.
“Ember… you were reborn too?” His voice was barely audible
“Seems like there’s a lot you missed.
I laughed coldly and was about to end the call when I caught his whispered “I’m sorry.”
Sorry. The most worthless word in existence.
my
He’d killed my baby and burned me alive, and thought a simple “sorry” would fix things?
Fat chance.
Once he realized I shared his knowledge of the past timeline, Axel stopped reaching out.]
Not that he could focus on me anyway. Derek and the other firefighters reported him for abusing his position to rescue his fake–depressed ex while abandoning actual emergencies.
Someone overheard our hospital confrontation and posted it online, where it quickly went viral
Public opinion turned viciously against him. His superiors, who initially planned just to suspend him, ended up firing him and blacklisting him from emergency services.]]
No more power trips in uniform for him.]
I moved on with my life. Used my half of the apartment money to open a cozy dessert café in my hometown.
With its stylish decor and lush plants, it became the town’s Instagram hotspot. I wasn’t getting rich, but I was doing fine.
Months later, Barbara called me, sobbing.]
She begged me to see Axel “one last time.”
After losing everything, he’d fallen apart completely. Locked himself away, drinking himself to death.
His parents had dragged him to a doctor the week before. At barely thirty, years of alcohol abuse had left him with end stage liver cancer
In what I could only see as poetic justice, he’d tried to burn himself alive in our old apartment after sending his parents away
They’d saved him from the flames, but he was already dying
“Mom? Is that her? I heard his weak voice in the background
The phone changed hands.
nber,” he wheezed, each breath clearly painful. “Now I understand… how much it hurts.“]
Im so sorry… truly sony.”
“Don’t come… I don’t want you to see me like this.“]
He rambled on, not realizing I’d already hung up. Barbara only discovered she was talking to dead air after he’d taken his final breath.]
Who needs that kind of negativity in their life?|[]
me.]
1 calmly watered my thriving succulents, enjoying the life he’d tried to take from me.
This was my second chance, and I wasn’t wasting it on ghosts.
