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The voices woke her.
One voice had a thick accent that was cute and caused her to smile. Another one spoke in a language she couldn't understand. The last voice caused her to warm from the inside out.
Jay
Who was he talking too and why were they talking about her?
She______ gasping, she gripped her head in her hands and she screamed as her mind threaten to_______.
"Shh. Paisley, concentrate on me. Only me. Only you. Hush, Paisley. Listen to the sound of my voice and only the sound of my voice."
"I don't know. I don't know."
"Yes, you do. Who am I, Paisley?"
"I don't know." She screamed so loud that it hurt her throat.
"You know. Ten, nine, eight, seven...."
She felt his hands on either side of her face and remembrance swirled deep inside of her.
"Six, five, four...."
He was so close that she felt his breath against her lips.
"Three, two, one. What's my name, baby?"
"Jay."
"That's right. Cling to that. Cling to our story and only our story. You found me when we were young. You saved me. Remember me in that pink coat? Remember______."
"She was bigger than you. Together you used to steal peoples lunch money so you would have food for______."
"No, Paisley. That didn't happen. You found me."
"You married her and had two kids and_____."
"No! Listen to me. That didn't happen. You have to put that thought away. Make a folder and put it away. Find______."
"Four grandchildren and six great grandchildren. One of them find the cure for______."
He pulled her into his lap and caught her face again. "Help me, Paisley. None of that happens. Put all those memories away because they don't exist anymore. You found me. Everything else gets put away because it doesn't belong in this life. That's not our life."
"Put it away?"
"Yes. Tell me how we met?"
"You found me. You stayed with me when I was afraid of the dark. You were always with me then one day you weren't. That monster took me. We lost Mia."
"Yes, baby. It's horrible, but it happened. That's our life, the rest isn't real."
"Seth is real."
"He is, but not all of your memories of him are. Help me, Paisley. Stay with me."
Tears ran down her face. "He never kissed that girl. We loved each other."
"No! He did kiss someone else. You were in a car accident with all of your friends_____."
"I married him."
"No. You're with me. We found each other again. Do you remember our first kiss?"
"The world changed."
"It did. That other stuff never happened. We changed all of it. You found me and we changed it. I'm putting all those memories away because we don't need them. They aren't real."
"They were supposed to be."
"No. I don't believe that. I believe if it was meant to be then nothing could have changed it. We are meant to be."
"The future_____."
"Is what we make it. You're looking at it all wrong. Think of it like a book. In one book, a sad book, you, another you, marries your high school sweetheart and that Paisley is even happy for most of that marriage."
"I die."
"She does. A drunk driver takes her away from her family. Takes her from this world. Her wedding was small, can you see it?"
"Yes. I have a white dress with flowers on it."
"She did. That Paisley did. Who's her maid of honor, Paisley?"
"Mia. She's wearing pink and_______."
"Could she be your maid of honor, Paisley? Could she be at your wedding?"
"No. She's gone. We lost her."
"We did. That's a different story. Different people. Close that story because it doesn't exist."
She took a deep breath as it closed.
"Now close Jay's story, Paisley."
"You're Jay."
"Your Jay. You found me. You saved me. Can you see it clearly now? Shut the book on that other Jay's story. Look at me, baby."
She was crying, and she shook so hard that her body hurt with it, but she did as he told her to do. "There's still so much. Too much."
"I know. Let me take it away. Let me_____."
"No! If you do that, I'll lose some of you. I can do it. I'll do it."
"Okay, I won't take it away. We'll just put it all in folders and you'll be able to take them out whenever you need them. Everything will still be there but this way you'll be able to think straight."
"Is that what you did?"
"I did."
"We changed the future."
"We did."
She laid her hands over the hands that still framed her face. "Are you happy that we changed_____."
"I'm still me, aren't I? Of course, I'm happy we changed it. No way is pretty ass getting my girl."
Sighing, she let some tension eased from her body. She stopped crying and she let him mop up her face.
"Never in a million years was I expecting something like this."
He tried to give her a smirk. "Really? You didn't expect time travel?"
