Chapter 3-Seven days before

Chapter 3: 3-Seven days before

THUMP! THUMP!

Aymara’s heart slammed against her ribs. Her eyes snapped open and closed them again, she inhaled sharply.

The air hit her. It was warm, clean air not one tainted by the toxic clouds of the apocalypse or seawater.

She breathed in. What entered her lungs was fresh air and not the freezing ocean that had filled her lungs moments before.

Her eyes flew open when the realization dawned on her. Her eyes met with white ceiling that stared back at her.

For several seconds, Aymara didn’t move, she couldn’t. Her body was frozen beneath the sheets, while her mind desperately tried to understand what she was seeing.

White ceiling, crystal chandelier and the cream-colored curtains. The familiar painting hanging above the fireplace, she recognized the room as her bedroom in her mansion before the apocalypse.

Aymara abruptly sat up. "What in the actual hell?"

Her breath came out in ragged gasps. She looked down at her hands.

She had smooth skin with no cuts or scars from struggling to survive after doomsday.

Her hands were clean, with no sea monster blood, no bruises and were yet to be hardened by hard labour.

She touched her chest. Her heart was beating. Fast. Hard. She was alive.

"No... this can’t be possible..." her voice trembled.

She threw the blankets aside and stumbled toward the enormous mirror standing beside her wardrobe.

The reflection staring back at her was unmistakably herself. Long dark-brown hair, beautiful amber-brown eyes, soft features and youthful skin.

There was no blood running from her nose, no bruises from the explosion and no saltwater burns. If she hadn’t lived through it, she would’ve mistaken it for a dream.

She touched her face. Her fingers slowly descended to her neck, her arms and her ribs. The last she remembered,something had stabbed through her ribs and she was in a lot of pain. Now, however, her ribs were fine and with no wound.

She turned around, there was nothing of the endlessly body of water that took over the world or her ship and hostile pirate ships.

Her body was exactly as it had been before the apocalypse. Aymara’s knees weakened.

She grabbed the edge of the dressing table and glanced at the calendar. The date shocked her.

It was 15th September 2027, one week before the apocalypse started.

"I..." her lips shook. "I went back?" she couldn’t believe that something like that happened with her.

The memory returned in fragments: the endless ocean, the sharks and sea monsters, and Dylan’s expression when he sentenced her to die and the smug look on Sarah’s face when she stood beside him.

The memories that stung was the cruise ship disappearing into the storm and Nathaniel jumping into the water to save her, his arms around her and the explosion that ended both their lives.

Her final wish resonated in her head. ’If I get another chance... i’ll find him... I’ll protect him.’

Aymara’s breathing became uneven. She rushed toward the bedside table. Her phone was there, without a second thought, she snatched it up.

The date appeared on the screen again. Aymara stared at it once, twice, three times...she checked the date online and then checked the news.

Filled with disbelief, she checked the calendar again. Her hands began shaking. Her brain struggled to stomach the fact that she had returned seven days before the apocalypse.

Seven days, exactly seven days before the first catastrophic tsunami struck. She sank slowly onto the edge of the bed.

Hahaha!

A laugh escaped her lips. It sounded almost hysterical. "It’s real," she whispered. Tears filled her eyes. "It’s really real."

She pressed both hands over her mouth. Dylan hadn’t betrayed her yet, Sarah hadn’t stolen the cruise and those ungrateful survivors hadn’t been rescued by her yet.

The cities were still standing, the e roads were still crowded and the world was still moving on as though the world wasn’t just about to end. And Nathaniel? He was alive.

’Nathaniel,’ the thought hit her harder than everything else.

Aymara jumped to her feet. She didn’t even bother changing properly, she grabbed her car keys and rushed downstairs.

She needed to go to the hospital where Nathaniel was receiving treatment and see him. She had to confirm with her own eyes that he was still alive.

The hospital was less than thirty minutes away. Aymara drove faster than she should have. The traffic, red lights, and pedestrians crossing the road irritated her.

Every second felt unbearable. She had spent six years believing Nathaniel was merely a painful memory she couldn’t return to in her love for Dylan. Now, she was racing through everything to catch a mere glimpse of him.

Now she knew he was alive and he had been the only one to risk his life for her even though she had proven to be unworthy of it, every minute mattered.

When she finally reached the hospital, she parked several spaces away from the entrance.

She didn’t immediately go inside. Her feet hesitated. Her heart heavy with the guilt of abandoning him and walking away from their friendship for a man.

Instead, she stood beside her car and stared at the building. "Is it right for me to show up in front of you after everything I have done to you?"

Her fingers tightened around her phone. She couldn’t explain why she suddenly felt afraid.

Perhaps because the last time she had seen Nathaniel, he had been dying beside her or because she had spent six years avoiding him. It could be that she was terrified that this second chance might disappear if she moved too quickly.

"He didn’t hesitate to come to me and die with me... I owe him not to hold back either," she gave herself a pep talk.

Aymara finally walked inside. Her boots click-clacked on the ground as she confidently walked in, never missing a step.

When she got inside, she didn’t ask for him. She already knew his ward so her feet carried her there almost instinctively.

When she reached the corridor, she stopped. Through the large glass window at the end of the hallway, she could see him.

Her ex best friend, and the only person who hadn’t abandoned her in her bad times. And he was very much alive.

He was sitting beside the hospital window, wearing a loose white hospital gown, his dark hair slightly messy from sleep. His complexion was pale, almost translucent beneath the morning sunlight.

An iPad rested in his hands, he was busy reading something. He looked calm and quiet just like she remembered him to be on most days.

He kept reading, unaware that the woman who had abandoned him six years back was standing several meters away, staring at him as though he were a miracle that she couldn’t lose again.

Aymara’s eyes burned. She pressed her hand against the wall. "My eyes are clear now, Nathaniel..."

He was alive, his chest rose and fell slowly. His fingers moved across the screen and he occasionally frowned at an article as he read on.

It was such an ordinary sight yet to Aymara, it was more precious than anything she had ever seen.

In her previous life, she had ignored those hands. Those pale fingers that had reached for hers. She had ignored the tired eyes that had followed her when she left him behind and she had ignored the man who loved her even when she didn’t deserve it.

Aymara’s lips parted. "Nathaniel... I am here."