[Back to reality]
"That was the night it changed," I told the empty kitchen. "The night we stopped being 'the rich kid and the orphans' and became... us."
I finished the eggs and pushed the plate away.
"The romance didn't happen overnight. It wasn't a fairy tale. It was a slow burn. The kind that sneaks up on you. It was in the little things."
I stood up and walked to the sink to rinse the plate. The water ran warm over my hands.
"It was in the way she started cooking with me. She was terrible at it, by the way. Truly awful. She thought paprika was a substitute for every other spice. But we'd stand in the kitchen, shoulder to shoulder, chopping vegetables and sometimes our hands would brush."
I turned off the tap.
"It was in the way we watched movies together. She loved the idea of a simple life. A husband, a wife and a peaceful garden."
I leaned back against the counter, drying my hands on a towel.
"God, the irony is suffocating, isn't it? She wanted a peaceful life in that universe too. It's a constant. A universal constant."
I looked down at my hands.
"I fell in love with her. We were in the library. She was reading ancient folklore. She looked up and caught me watching her again. But this time, she smiled. And in that smile, I saw a future. I saw a life where I wasn't the lonely boy in the big house anymore."
"We started dating a week later. Karl was furious, of course. He gave me the 'shovel talk.' Literally. He was gardening at the time and pointed a trowel at my throat. 'You break her heart, I break your legs,' he said. And he meant it."
I laughed, a hollow sound. "I miss that stubborn bastard."
I walked into the living room of the Yellow Springs house. It was furnished in a bland style. I sat on the beige sofa.
"Those years... they were the best years of my life. Both lives. We were happy. I was running the pharmacy business. Vara was finally smiling more than she cried. Karl was finding his own path."
I stared at the blank TV screen.
"I remember her birthday. I bought her a locket. Inside, I put a picture of the three of us. She cried. She said she'd never take it off."
"We talked about marriage. Not in a 'pressure from my mother' way, but in a 'I can't imagine breathing without you' way. I was going to propose."
I rubbed my thumb over the ring finger of my left hand. There was nothing there.
"It was 2016. The snow was melting. We danced in the living room to old vinyl records."
I closed my eyes, summoning the memory.
[Flashback]
Spencer Estate, Germany, Spring 2016
The living room was bathed in the golden light of the setting sun. The record player was scratching out a soft waltz.
Vara was in my arms. We were moving slowly, swaying more than dancing. Her head was resting on my chest.
"You know," she murmured, looking up at me. "I never thought I could be this happy. I thought happiness was something that happened to other people. People who didn't lose everything."
I tightened my hold on her waist. "You deserve it, Vara. More than anyone."
She reached up and touched my cheek. Her fingers were warm. "You saved us, Aryan. You know that? You gave us a life."
"You saved me right back," I whispered, leaning down.
We kissed. It was sweet and filled with a promise of forever.
"I love you," she said against my lips.
"I love you too," I replied. And I meant it with every fiber of my being. Somewhere deep within, my sealed memories rejoiced. The fanboy in me was silent, only the man who loved her existed.
[Back to reality]
I opened my eyes in the Yellow Springs living room.
"That was the last calm moment," I whispered to the audience. "The calm before the sky fell. Before the Witch Hunters kicked down our doors. Before Karl died protecting her. Before she died..."
I stood up, shaking off the heaviness of the memory. I couldn't stay in that headspace. If I thought about what came next I would lose control. And if I lost control here, in this fragile world... well, let's just say Earth wouldn't exist anymore.
"So," I said, forcing a lighter tone, clapping my hands together once. "That's the backstory. The prequel. The tragic origin of Aryan Spencer. Boy meets girl. Boy saves girl. Boy loves girl. And boy loses girl. And boy accidentally destroys the universe."
I walked to the front door and opened it. The morning sun of Yellow Springs hit my face. It was a beautiful day. The birds were chirping. And the neighbor, Mr Jones was retrieving his newspaper.
"Good morning!" Mr. Jones waved.
"Morning, Arthur!" I called back, putting on my mask. The mask of the friendly neighbor. The mask of the human.
I stepped back inside and closed the door, leaning against it.
"I'm here for a reason," I told the hallway. "I stumbled upon this universe and its version of Vara by accident. She's alive. But she's grieving Karl. She spent the last decade slaughtering Witch Hunters to avenge him, and now she's here in Yellow Springs, trying to bury her past and hide the fact that she's a witch."
My eyes glowed for a fraction of a second… before fading back to brown.
"I couldn't save my Vara," I said, my voice dropping to a whisper that the audience would have to lean in to hear. "I was helpless. I was just a human. But now?"
With just a thought, I willed the vase of flowers on the entry table to change.
In an instant, the fake yellow daisies transformed into fresh deep blue Cornflowers. The scent of paprika ghosted through the air for just a second.
"Now, I'm a god," I said, the bitterness coating my tongue like ash. "And I'm not going to let her die again."
I walked back into the house, leaving the blue flowers blooming in the silence.