SWNOVELS Chapter 13
As I lay awake in bed, I couldn't help but think of the sad expression that I had seen on Paxton's face. It was heartbreaking and it didn't sit well with me, but I couldn't convince myself to get off the bed and go to Paxton because I felt like it would cause more pain for him to see me right before I left than if I just disappeared. After a couple of tosses and turns, I was finally able to will myself to fall asleep. It, however, was far from peaceful as Paxton's sad features insisted on haunting my already haunted mind in the dream world.
For once, I woke up in the early hours of the morning and sadly couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to wake up and freshen up. After bathing, I wore the clothes that I had come here with because fortunately for me Paxton had washed them for me. After dressing up, I took out the bracelet from the box to find that, unlike the other bracelets that I had seen at the workshop, this one was silver with a small black screen and the ones at the workshop were a purplish colour. I paced around my room and contemplated for a bit on whether to go to Paxton's bedroom where I guessed he would be or just without telling him, that would cause him less pain, wouldn't it?
I finally decided that it would be better to leave, this would spare him the pain and sight of watching another soulmate of his as they walked out on him. Wow, that stung to think of. It made me feel like such a heartless person. Before I could think more on everything, I swiped my finger over the screen on the bracelet. I felt myself flow upwards before my body was pulled into a purple-like whirlwind, before I knew it I landed in my room where I found my duplicate sitting looking into thin air, and then it just disappeared leaving a memory stick behind. I picked up the memory stick, and right at the back of it, I saw the message 'duplicate's memories' written in small letters.
Feeling some minor tiredness, I just plopped myself onto my bed, and with a smile on my face, I let myself enjoy the comforts of my bed. This was short-lived, though, as the image of Paxton's sad face flashed onto my face, making my heart shatter into a million pieces. Deep down, I knew what I was doing of his heart. I felt like I was nowhere different from his first mate. How could I do this to him? The least that I could have done was to at least say goodbye. I stayed on my bed and allowed the guilt to eat me from deep within. Sleep refused to come be instant but after a while of trying to wield my body to sleep, it finally cooperated with me and before I knew it, the warm embrace of sleep pulled me in and protected me from my taunting mind.
"Honey, wake up before you're late for work." I heard the motherly voice of my mother as she woke me up, making me almost tear up in joy at the familiarity of her voice. I didn't notice until that very moment how much I had actually missed her.
"I'm up," I responded as I jumped out of bed even though I still felt like sleeping, I couldn't help but to pull my Mom into a hug surprising her for a bit, but she still returned my hug without any question. With my arm muffled by her shoulder, I muttered. "I missed you."
"I wonder why because we last saw each other last night." Mom said with amusement dancing in her eyes as she let out a chuckle of amusement but caressed my hair in a comforting motion nonetheless.
"A couple of hours can sometimes feel super long." I said with a shrug and watched as my mother laughed in amusement.
"Okay then, go and shower, and then come and eat before the food gets cold. I'm sure that you don't want to keep Renee waiting by the way," Mom said. "Even though it's actually always the other way around," I heard my mom quietly mutter as she made her way out of the room. "And Sweetie, something looks different about you today. You remind me of myself when I was younger, except I was slightly older," Mom said as she tried to rack her head to find the answer. "Oh yes this is the same way that I looked when I was with your father. My mother called it the 'look of love', I just hope that the person that you have fallen in love with or if it's not love yet then the person that you're falling in love with loves you just as much or more and not less, my mother said as she remembered her sadder love story. My mother had loved my father, but he had only used her as a rebound, and then he went back to his girlfriend, leaving my mom to raise me by herself.
"I think that he loves me more." I admitted and watched as my mother's face softened before she came over to me and gestured to my bed for me to sit as she followed.
"Okay, so I feel like there is more to this story. Is he a married man?" My mother asks, almost making me choke on my spit in surprise that this is what had gotten to her mind first, but then she laughed probably from seeing my facial expression. "Okay, I guess that this is not it. What is it, then Sweetie?" My mom asked, looking at me with curiousity and patience. Giving me all the time in the world to find a way to phrase my answer.
"Well, he is not your normal typical guy, and I guess that for him, it was kind of love at first sight." I explained and looked at my mother from the corner of my eye.
"He definitely can't be typical for him to catch your eyes, Annie, and there is nothing wrong with love at first sight, Honey. When did you meet this guy, because yesterday you didn't look like this?" My mother said, being the very observant mother that she was.
"That's an even more interesting story, Mom," I told my mom as I released a loud sigh.
"Well, I still have time to spare, and so do you." Mom said as she gave me a smile of encouragement. One thing that I adored about my mom was exactly this, she was nothing short of patience. She was always willing to give anyone all the time that they needed to talk, and when you spoke, she listened and knew how to make you and your thoughts feel heard and understood.
"Well, first of all, I wasn't home for the past couple of days, I met the man on Monday while I was away." I explained.
"Okay?" Mom said, sounding both convinced and unconvinced at the same time. " I guess that would explain why you were a little off. But if you weren't here, then who was here then?" Mom asked with confusion.
"A kind of duplicate, I know that this all sounds crazy Mom, but I promise that I'm being as honest as I can be with you." I explained to my mother, not wanting her to think that I was losing it. But to be honest, even if she thought that I was losing it, I wouldn't blame her. She had been living with the exact replica of her daughter for the past couple of days after all.
"Well, Sweetheart, your cousin Riley, the one that had gone missing, came back on Monday. Now the interesting thing is that when she came back she came back with a man. A man that she said that she was marrying next week and according to her mother she is the happiest that she has ever been and anyone would be able to tell that she loves him and he loves her, but her family wants her to slow down a little, before marrying the man who is basically a stranger. But you know Riley and she insists that she is not letting anyone stop her from marrying the man that she loves, so I'm suspecting that you had a similar experience to hers but you are more stubborn and reluctant to fall in love with the man that kidnapped you, which is understandable since he did kidnap. But anyway, you are already smitten with him, thus making this barely different." Mom said as she massaged her temples, leaving me shocked by how quickly she had thought this out.
"It's something like that, Mom." I said, standing up and stretching my body as I prepared to go and take a shower.
"Well Sweetie it's all up to you. If you want to be with him I would love to meet him and if not that is also fine as long as if you know that you won't regret leaving him," Mom said as she also stood up from my bed. "I know that you'll make the right choice, Annie. You always do. Just follow your heart and your gut." My mom said tossing me a gentle motherly smile as she made her out of my bedroom, leaving me to my thoughts and my worries as I stepped into my bathroom and made my way to the shower to take a much-needed shower. A shower that I wish would wash away the bad nagging feeling that I had started feeling as well as the guilt that I had with the way that I had decided to leave things. But I, of course, knew that it wasn't that easy. Nothing ever was to be quite frank.