Asher's POV
The address led me to iron gates. Tall. Old. Wrapped in vines.
Hawthorne Estate.
I parked and walked to the entrance. The gates were locked. But beside them, a smaller door. I tried the key Selene gave me.
It clicked open.
The path curved through overgrown gardens. Dead leaves. Untrimmed hedges. No one had cared for this place in years.
Then I saw it.
The garden from my sketches. The fountain. The roses climbing stone walls. The bench beneath the oak.
Exactly as I had drawn it.
I walked slowly. Touched everything. The cold stone of the fountain. The dry roses. The weathered wood of the bench.
Nothing came. No memories. Just the ache.
I sat on the bench and closed my eyes. Tried to feel something. Tried to find whatever was missing.
And then I saw it.
Carved into the wood beside me. Two sets of initials.
*AV + SV 4.12.16*
My hands trembled.
Asher Vale. SV. Selene Vale.
April twelfth, two thousand sixteen. Seven years ago.
I traced the letters with my finger. They had been carved deep. Carefully. Like someone wanted them to last forever.
A flash.
Laughter. Her hand holding mine. A small knife in my other hand. Her voice: "Carve it deeper. I want it to stay forever."
Another flash.
My voice: "AV plus SV. Asher and Selene Vale. Sounds right."
Her smile. "Sounds perfect."
Another flash.
A kiss. The stars above us. Her whisper: "I'm yours. Forever."
Then nothing.
I gasped. Grabbed the edge of the bench.
Memories. Real memories. Coming back.
Selene's POV
I watched him from the tree line.
I should not have come. But I could not stay away.
Asher sat on our bench. Touching our initials. The ones we carved together on our wedding night, after the guests left, when it was just us and the stars.
Seven years ago. Had it really been that long?
I remembered his hands guiding mine. Teaching me to carve. His lips on my neck while I worked. His voice saying my new name. Selene Vale. His wife.
I wanted to go to him. To hold him.
But something held me back. A feeling. The hairs on my arms rising.
I looked around. The trees. The shadows. The overgrown walls.
Nothing moved. No one there.
But the feeling would not leave.
Asher's POV
I stood. Walked around the garden. Near the fountain, hidden behind overgrown roses, I found it.
A small metal box. Rusted. Wedged between stones.
I pulled it free. The lock was broken. I opened it.
Inside: photographs. Dozens.
Me and Selene. Laughing. Kissing. Happy.
A wedding invitation. Our names. Selene Hawthorne and Asher Vale. The garden. The date.
April twelfth, two thousand sixteen.
Our wedding day.
Underneath, a napkin. Something written in her handwriting.
Tonight I became Selene Vale. His wife. His forever. Two years of dating, and now a lifetime ahead. I never knew I could be this happy.
Underneath that, another note. My handwriting.
Two years married. Three years together. I want fifty more. I love you, Mrs. Vale.
I stared at her words. At my words. At the photos. At us.
We were married. We were in love. We had years together. She took my name. We planned a lifetime.
And I forgot her.
The ache in my chest became pain. Sharp. Crushing.
And then, behind my eyes, something shifted.
A flash.
White dress. Her walking toward me. Her smile through tears. My heart so full I thought it would burst.
Another flash.
My voice: "I, Asher Vale, take you, Selene Vale, to be my wife. For better or worse. Till death do us part."
Another flash.
Her hand in mine. Carving the bench together. Her laugh in the dark. Two years of mornings waking up next to her.
Another flash.
Anger. Papers in my hand. Shouting. "Your family destroyed mine! Two generations of lies!"
Another flash.
Her crying. Reaching for me. "I didn't know, Asher. I swear I didn't know. Please don't leave."
Another flash.
Me pulling away. "I can't look at you without seeing what they took from me."
Another flash.
A door slamming. Her screaming my name. Me not looking back.
Then darkness.
Selene's POV
I saw him collapse.
One moment he was standing. The next, he was on his knees. Hands gripping his head. Sobbing.
I ran.
"Asher!"
I reached him. Dropped beside him. Grabbed his face.
"Asher, look at me. Look at me."
His eyes opened. But they were not empty anymore.
They were full.
Full of pain. Full of memory. Full of five years of lost time crashing back all at once.
He looked at me. Really looked. For the first time in five years.
"Selene," he whispered.
Not like a stranger. Like a husband.
I started crying.
"You remember."
He reached up. Touched my face. Traced my tears.
"I remember everything." His voice broke. "I remember dating you. Marrying you. Carving our names. Two years of being your husband. Three years of loving you."
I sobbed.
"I remember leaving you too." His hand shook. "I remember why."
I closed my eyes. Waited for him to pull away. Waited for the hatred to come back.
But he did not pull away.
"And I remember," he whispered, "that even as I walked out that door, I loved you. I never stopped. Not for one single day."
I opened my eyes.
He was crying too.
"What happened after I left?" he asked. "Five years. What did I miss?"
I opened my mouth to answer.
But then I felt it again. That feeling. The hairs on my arms rising.
I looked past him. Toward the trees. The shadows.
Nothing moved. But something was there. I knew it.
"We have to go," I whispered.
Asher frowned. "What?"
"Now." I pulled his arm. "We need to leave. Right now."
He saw my face. Did not argue. He stood and grabbed the metal box. We moved quickly through the garden, back toward the path.
At the gate, I stopped. Looked back one last time.
The garden was empty. Still. Silent.
But in the shadows near the oak tree, something shifted.
A figure? Or just branches moving in the wind?
I could not tell.
I hurried through the gate and did not look back again.