My Heart Is Yours

Chapter 116

Richard woke up to find himself back in Central Park. He was standing by the pond along the North Meadow where he and Maine stopped for a breather when he took her there. But it wasn't Maine who stood beside him now.

"Rich?" Richard looked at his companion in shock and disbelief.

His twin hadn't changed since he last saw him eight years ago. He was still seventeen, wearing glasses and has that mischievous glint in his eyes indicating that he was up to something. He was a few inches shorter, being perpetually seventeen. All the scratches and bruises from his accident were gone, and he looked the same as he had always been before he died. He was wearing his favorite blue shirt and jeans, but he was barefoot.

"Hi, Arge," Alden replied with a smirk. "Been a long time. You look terrible, by the way."

"Is it really you?"

"In the...proverbial flesh?" Alden snickered as he opened his arms out for Richard to see him clearly.

Richard still couldn't believe he was looking at his twin.

"Where are we?"

"Let's just say that we're stuck in the 'in between'," Alden replied.

"So," Richard remarked as he tried to make some sense into what he was seeing. "I'm just dreaming? None of this is real?"

"To quote Albus Dumbledore in 'Deathly Hallows'," Alden said. "'Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?'"

"Why are we here then?"

"You know why."

"Maine."

Alden nodded and added, "I needed to whack some sense into you."

"Whack some sense into me?" Richard said. "You did this to her."

"No, Arge," he replied. "You did this to her."

"Me?!?"

"You didn't keep your word to me, Arge," Alden stated.

"Which one?"

Alden faced his twin and reached out to place a hand on Richard's chest, near his heart.

"'This heart beats for the both of us now'," Alden said, repeating the words Richard declared eight years ago when he died. "I have to admit, I was amazed that you did very well on your math subjects. But you weren't really living. Maine on the other hand made the most out of life."

"I have done what I can to move forward after you died, Rich," Richard said. "I couldn't grieve. It was only recently that I've just started."

"That's the problem," Alden said. "The both of you promised to live your lives so that I can be proud. Maine won that battle, but she's now suffering for it."

"She's suffering?"

"I'm tied to Maine's heart, Arge," he replied. "It was my heart after all. But while my heart is strong, it can't sustain two entities. One of us has to go. And it's pretty obvious who it should be. The question is, can you finally let me go?"

"Let you go?"

"Is there an echo in here?" Alden looked about and then faced his twin once again.

"Rich!" Richard said with a stern face.

Alden sighed and said, "I should have moved on now, Arge, but something is holding me back. Or maybe, someone. It's not Maine, so who else would it be?"