Bram Last October
Bram
Last October
“Souls and memories can do strange things during trance.”
—Dracula by Bram Stoker
“Mariana?” Bram called again when he found the downstairs bathroom unoccupied.
It was very strange, the way she’d left her belongings there in the living room. And that she hadn’t told him where she’d gone. Though maybe she was being considerate; he had been rather immersed in his novel.
Bram headed toward the back door to see if maybe she’d gone for a walk around the gardens when his phone buzzed in his back pocket again. And again, it wasn’t Mariana.
It was her. The guilt returned in a wave, washing over him like sticky salt water. Leaving that filthy feeling behind. At least now he could reply without Mariana there in the room with him.
This has to end
He sent the text and stuffed his phone back in his pocket. He wanted to finally feel clean. He craved it. There was nothing he could do about the past, other than make sure it never happened again.
Another thought caused dread to rise in his chest: He had to tell Mariana. She needed to decide for herself if she would forgive Bram and give him another chance, or if she wanted to move on.
And he would never tell Mariana the other girl’s name. He couldn’t. It would create an even bigger mess out of this. And he wasn’t sure how Mariana would take it.
One step in the right direction would be to actually fix her car. After calling her name out in the gardens and getting no response, Bram decided to head to the shop and help his brothers. Hopefully, Mariana had simply gone to check their progress, and he’d meet her there.