Why was she smelling smoke? She wheezed as she got up and when she took in a breath, she'd instantly choke. She tired to open her eyes but couldn't see because when she did, they burned ferociously. It felt like her lungs were clogged, being filled with something toxic that was enabling her from breathing right. She took in deep breaths, feeling weaker and weaker with each one, the scratching in her throat caused her to gag as she fell to the floor. Where was all this smoke coming from? She could hear the hear the roaring of the flames growing around her and she knew right away that she needed to get out. She stumbled across the floor, feeling in front of herself to find the way out. But all she could manage was to knock things over as she tried to search through the clouded smoke.
"William!" She called out through the strangling pain in her throat, "WILLIAM!"
Of course, nobody had heard her. She was home alone. Her parents had left to town and she'd stayed back to spend any secret moment with William that she could. He was coming, she knew he'd find her. He would save her and she'd have fresh breath in her lungs soon. She couldn't wait for that.
"William!" She heard herself call out again, weaker this time. She was almost inaudible over the sound of the cackling flames around her. They were getting closer and she could smell the burnt smell of the things around her. She laid against the floor, waiting for the arms of William to find her. She couldn't breathe anymore. She was suffocating slowly. And before she knew it, she'd closed her eyes, and it was over.
Clare woke with a horrible cough. She bolted right up into the sitting position and her hands instinctively went to her throat. She held onto it as she gasped for air, welcoming the relief of freshness against the raw scratched feeling. She calmed her breathing and looked around, confused to as where she was and fear washed over her.
"Are you okay?" A panicked voice from beside her asked and she felt a soft pair of hands touch her arms. She turned quickly, her heart still beating rapidly and saw Eli, then let out a sigh of relief.
"Where are we?" She asked and looked around. It was dim lit and she felt the pang of worry.
"Calm down." he smiled, "We're in the back of Morty."
"…Why?" Clare asked and scooted back an inch.
"You fainted again." he told her, "I didn't want to have you just laying on a bench in the park, so I brought you here. You weren't out for very long."
"Oh, well that's actually kind of sweet." she said, feeling her heart calm.
"What did you think I brought you here for?" he chuckled, "Afraid I'd take advantage of you?"
"I know how to take care of myself Eli." she scoffed and pushed her hair behind her ears.
Silence fell around them and she watched as he looked at her. It was comforting, like he was making sure she was alright. She felt safe around him, though she didn't know him much better than a stranger walking down the street. But she couldn't deny that there was something about his eyes that had recalled the vivid green of William's. There was something about him that drew her to him, and she couldn't doubt that at this second she wanted to kiss him very badly. But what had that vision been about? Had something terrible happened to Alice?
"Clare…" he began, his voice quieted to almost a whisper, "Can I ask you something?"
"That depends…" she spoke in just as soft of a reply.
"I was just wondering what you were dreaming about?" he asked, "When you fainted."
She froze, her eyes locking with his, "How do you know I dreamt about anything?"
"You were yelling while I was carrying you."
She could feel her cheeks rage with the warmth of her blush. She looked down at her hands and spoke, "I, uhm… it was nothing."
"Sure didn't sound like nothing."
She looked up at him and felt his eyes scrutinizing her. She didn't like it much, but the over protective feeling coming from him was too overwhelming to continue lying. "What exactly did you hear me say?"
He smirked and looked down, then back up at her, "You were yelling 'William' and coughing."
"Oh…" she whispered, "Well… Alice… she was stuck in smoke."
Eli gasped softly and held his head in his hand, "I was hoping you hadn't seen that yet. I was hoping you never would."
"What do you know?"
"Clare… Alice…" he began and scooted closer, taking her hand in his own, "Alice died in a house fire."
Her heart sunk, though she'd had a feeling that was what had happened. She hadn't doubted that for one second, "How… do you know all of this?" She asked.
He paused, assessing her emotions and then spoke, "I remember almost everything."
"Everything?"
"Almost. I still have blind spots, but my mind remembers practically everything about my life as William."
"So… you're telling the truth."
"You didn't believe me?"
"I'd like to believe that there's a heaven when you die."
He chuckled softly and shook his head, "There still might be. Nobody knows anything. I've done some studying about it, and some people think that when you come back, you come back because there's something still holding you here. In our case, it was each other."
"So… I was Alice in my past life, and you were William..."
He nodded and smiled, "I know this is probably overwhelming. I didn't want to push this on you, but you keep fainting…"
"I've been fainting since I saw you that time in the park when we were younger."
He blinked, "You didn't have any memories until then?"
"Nope, you brought them along."
"Wow."
"It's not so bad."
"I'm sorry. That must have made your life hell."
"It wasn't all so bad. I've started writing a book."
"About us?"
She nodded."Is it good?"
"It's a love story. I don't know where it's going yet, but it's good so far."
He smirked, "So you're saying we've made a good love story?"
She glared playfully, "Alice and William did."
"Same thing."
She stayed quiet, and in return he did the same. She looked up at him, and stared into his eyes. Imagining the brunette from her memories and it all fell around her so easily. She could find William's face perfectly in Eli's. It was like everything finally made sense, and she was where she belonged. She looked out the front of the hearse and realized the sun was going down outside around them and panic set in.
"Eli, I have to get home." she gasped, knowing she'd be in a mess of trouble for staying out so late without a word.
He sighed and she could hear the sadness in it and she looked back at him to see him scooting in closer. She felt her body tingle and ever nerve ignited with the feeling of his closeness. She looked away, then felt the warmth of his soft hand on her cheek and she looked back.
"As confused as you are right now, you did love me before and I think you could again. I didn't get nearly enough time with you in our past life."
She nodded and bit her lip. He was more than right. She felt her heart stutter, beating off course as it thumped in her chest, yelling at her erase the space between them.
"I'll do anything I have to do to get back to that."
She blinked and when she opened her eyes, he was closer to her before and every neuron in her body told her to kiss him. She tried to fight it, tried to pull herself back. But the further she tried to pull away, the closer her body leaned to his and within seconds their lips were against each others. She was sure she hadn't been alive before that moment. Everyone of her senses screamed with pleasure as he kissed her back and she was sure that this was what she was meant to live for.
(Sorry if it seems a bit rushed! I wanted to get something out here for you guys so you didn't lose interest (; But it was neccesary and the next chapter will be better I promise!)
