Building bridges [Vikklan]

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(Secret chapter) I felt like this book ended too happily, so i thought i'd add a bonus chapter. you don't have to read this, though. The story finishes at the purple chapter, officially.

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I wake up, gasping for breath. My heart races; I cannot calm it.

"Lachlan? Lachlan!" I yell, alone in the darkness.

We stand on the bridge, hands intertwined.

"Away from this place."

"Away from this place."

"Please, Lachlan... where are you?"

I whimper into the darkness. Please, please be okay. I love you so much.

I stumble around, in the cold and the dark.

My memories are blurred. I picture him, standing in his hoodie, with me, in the meadow. What happened to us? What happened to me?

A cold breeze alights on my neck, and I quickly turn, trying to locate where it came from.

He gazes at me, and I gaze back.

"I love you."

We step forward.

A tiny speck of light appears, shimmering in the darkness. Hope flares in my chest as I run towards it.

I draw nearer, as it get wider.

A door.

The light forms a door in the darkness.

I look behind me, into the shadows, then look back towards the door.

I step through.

The light immediately surrounds me, lifting me up and away. I look around, trying to make anything out but all I can see is blinding whiteness.

My feet touch the ground. I spin my head, still dazed, as shapes start to shift and move in my vision. Eventually I can see the vague shape of a house, and a blue sky behind it.

I blink, and my vision forms entirely. I stand in a village. Thatched roofed cottages line cobbled streets, charming old-fashioned lampposts on every street corner.

I hear voices somewhere nearby. My heart leaps once again, and I run across a street. Into my view comes a sort of market square, where there are several people standing, most having a small conversation.

I stop dead in my tracks, eyes wide.

Oh my god.

Those people.

So many faces I've missed, so many voices I used to know.

I stumble backwards, tripping on a cobblestone. My back hits the ground and I stare up at the blue sky.

No, please, no.

Not again.

And then I hear a voice. My eyes widen as I shuffle to my feet, and I turn to face the origin of the sound.

there.

on the street corner.

relief fills my chest, i run towards him.

He turns before i reach him. Skidding to a stop, I plaster a wide grin to my face and step to meet him.

And then slowly it falls away, off my face. Because he's looking at me.

But not with any sort of recognition, or happiness.

Quite the opposite.

"Lachlan... are you okay?" I ask quietly. He looks at me, confusion etched across his features.

"What?"

My heart drops into my feet. I step closer, reach out a hand.

He steps back, pulling away from me.

"What do you want? Who are you?"

Tears are pooling in the corners of my eyes. I open my mouth to answer. And then I stop.

A boy saunters up to Lachlan. Takes his hand. Kisses his cheek. Lachlan smiles at him, puts a hand around his waist.

"Who's this, Lachy?" He says, in that oh so familiar voice.

I start to choke on my tears, step back, hand up to my face. I step backwards, then turn and run.

Why was Lachlan... with... him?

How could he do that?

I run through the village, past the market, out into a field.

I'm sobbing now, great racking sobs passing through my body.

"Lachlan... why?"

the sun glares down at me, as I crouch on the soil.

The voice of Lachlan's... boyfriend... fills my mind.

"Lachy, who's this?"

One voice I had thought i'd never hear again.

Because I killed him.

I pushed him off a bridge.

Preston is dead.

And yet, he's here, with Lachlan, and neither of them remember me.

I shake my head, sniff, and run forward, leaving the village behind me.

I run, tears staining the ground behind me.

I run, even when I have no more tears to cry.

I run.

I run into the sunset.

Into the red stained sky.

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