Chapter 13
Lily
I was tired of hiding. I was tired of feeling like I couldn't move forward because of a past that was tying me down. And above all, I was tired of pretending that Kyle's presence didn't affect me, that seeing him again hadn't stirred up a decade's worth of unresolved emotions.
The truth was, he had been one of the most important people in my life, my best friend before he became anything else. Seeing him again made me realize that some conversations are too meaningful to leave unfinished, even when they're the hardest ones to have.
Kyle was one of the people I thought would be a part of my life forever. Losing him and my brother at the same time was one of the most painful things I've ever had to face when I was a teenager. So much time had passed, and no one had ever been able to fill the void his absence represented.
Some relationships are too significant to end in silence, even when they can't continue as they once were. And ours deserved a proper ending.
For this reason, when I woke up this morning, I was determined to have the conversation that should have happened years ago, not for forgiveness.
I wasn’t ready for that yet. But for closure.
For that kind of peace that only comes when you finally say all the things that have been weighing on your heart for too long.
If we were stuck in this impossible situation together, the least we could do was find a way to coexist without the constant tension that had been suffocating us. We deserved better than to spend whatever time we had here, drowning in old resentments and unspoken truths.
I didn't know how much time I had left with this second chance in life, and I wanted to make the most of it. I didn't care about the consequences if it meant giving the people I loved another chance.
"Have you seen your brother? How did you feel?" Kyle asked me, leaning against the wall where I was standing next to the bathrooms.
"Of course. I spent the whole weekend following him around the house. He thinks the accident broke something inside me and that I'm crazy. If he knew the truth, he would understand me."
"I don't know how I'll react when I see Leo, knowing that because of me, he will not have the future he thinks he will have now," Kyle lamented.
"That's why I can't let everything that happened occur again, Kyle. You must help me avoid the accident."
There was silence between us as if he felt the same thing when he saw Oliver.
Like he knew we were here not to make the same mistakes again but to fix them.
I knew, deep down, that no one with the power to change the past would just sit back and do nothing, because we all want at least a chance to never repeat the stupid things we once did, and he was finally considering it.
Then, he finally replied, "I agree with you."
"We are finally on the same page," I said, extending my hand to him, "Come on, let's skip this day of class, too; I don't think we will miss much."
He smiled and took my hand back, making something inside me realize that even though I wasn't the same, my young body still reacted the same way to his touch. How could a simple touch make me feel so at peace? Like everything was going to be alright?
I didn't want the answer to this question, so I simply started walking.
We escaped school easily, slipping through the side entrance at the gym where the security cameras had been broken for months. Some things never changed, not even in alternate timelines, and I was glad for it.
We walked in silence, both knowing exactly where we were headed. Neither of us suggested a place, and yet we both felt that was where we should go.
The park was about fifteen minutes from school, tucked away behind an old church that nobody visited anymore. There was a small clearing with a single bench overlooking the city, sheltered by oak trees that had been there longer than either of us had been alive.
We used to come here often that year to talk, laugh, and escape everything else.
It was a January day when we discovered it, just like now. We had both recently arrived at the hospital to volunteer, and we started talking about all the things we wanted to accomplish there. One conversation led to another, and by the end of the workday, we didn't want to leave each other's side.
He was the one who suggested we come here, and after that day, we came every day after the hospital for at least one hour to escape everything and just talk.
I never came back after what happened. This place held so many memories that I could not be at peace here. It was our spot. Our sanctuary. And somehow, being here now, in these younger bodies but with our adult minds, felt both right and weird at the same time.
None of us said anything when we sat on the bench as if we were both waiting to see who would speak first. Kyle took a deep breath, about to say something, but I cut him off. "First of all, never kiss me again."
I needed to protect my heart above everything, especially if we were going to figure all this out together. Ten years might have passed, but the pain still felt fresh. We never had a proper ending, and some things still hurt me deep down, no matter how much I didn't want to admit it.
"I'm sorry," he replied, his eyes dropping to his hands.
"I wasn't thinking clearly. It's just...
seeing you in that kitchen, after all those years of wondering what happened to you, what you were doing, if you were happy.
.. it was overwhelming. But you're right.
Everything is complicated enough without adding that to the mix. "
He paused, and I could see him struggling with what to say next, but then, he finally concluded, "and I'm sorry for not being able to stop anything that happened years ago."
The dam broke. All the emotions I'd been holding back for years came rushing out. The script I had in my mind disappeared, and I suddenly found myself saying everything my heart had accumulated.
"Do you have any idea what that did to me?
To my family?" My voice was low but intense.
"You were supposed to be the one person I could count on, the one person who would believe me no matter what.
I told you I was with Leo that night. I told you we watched movies until past midnight, and that we fell asleep together.
That he couldn't have been at Oliver's house.
I knew for a fact that he wasn't responsible. "
"I know, Lily—"
"No, you don't know!" The words burst out of me. "My brother has spent ten years in prison for something he didn't do. Ten years, Kyle. Do you know what happens to a sixteen-year-old kid in prison? They broke him. They took everything from him."
I was shaking now, tears streaming down my face.
"Leo lost everything because of what happened at that party.
Because Oliver couldn't mind his own business.
Because he had to destroy my brother's life for his own selfish reasons.
And then, when someone finally gave Oliver what he deserved, my brother took the fall. "
I stood up from the bench. I couldn't just sit there with everything I was feeling inside me.
Ten years ago, Oliver threw a Valentine's Day party at his house. Something happened that night that changed everything. By Monday morning, my brother's world had completely fallen apart. Oliver had made sure of that.
That week, Leo's life became a living hell.
Everyone was talking about him, whispering in the hallways, looking at him with pity and disgust. My family was in shock.
Leo fell into a depression so deep I barely recognized him anymore.
He stopped eating, stopped talking, stopped being the gentle, caring brother I'd always known.
Then, a week after the party, Oliver was found dead on the street in front of his house. And suddenly, everyone looked at my brother—the boy who'd been publicly humiliated, who'd been visibly broken and angry all week. And saw an obvious suspect.
Kyle looked stricken. "I didn't know what to believe back then. Oliver was my friend, too. The evidence—"
"The evidence was planted! Someone drove to Oliver's house, ran him over, and left him there to be found. Someone who knew Leo had a motive, who knew about the fight in the locker room, who knew he'd been suffering all week, and who wanted Oliver dead. And that was not my brother."
In the past, I told Kyle that my brother was with me until he fell asleep.
That there was no way it was him. I begged him not to testify against Leo.
And he didn't believe me. He chose to tell the jury about what Oliver had done to my brother at that party, about how destroyed Leo had been that week.
About the confrontation they'd had in the locker room.
Kyle's testimony was key to putting my brother in jail. So I lost them both in the process.
"You have to understand," Kyle said softly, "from where I was standing, it looked—"
"It looked like my sweet, gentle brother suddenly became a cold-blooded murderer? The same brother who couldn't even kill spiders in our house? Who volunteered at the animal shelter every weekend? That brother?"
I started walking in circles, unable to sit still with all this emotion coursing through me. I paced in front of the bench, my arms wrapped around myself like I was trying to hold all the pieces together.
"You have no idea what it's been like. My mother's cancer went untreated because she was so focused on Leo's appeals. My father started drinking. And me? I couldn't trust anyone after that. Not a single person. Because if you, the person I trusted most, couldn't believe me, then who would?"
Kyle stood up, too, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Lily, please don't be so hard on me, it's not fair. I was eighteen and terrified. One of my friends was dead. Another was accused of killing him. Everything was chaotic. And yes, I made the wrong choice. I've regretted it every day since."
I was filled with regret for everything that had happened during that time. But one thing I'd accepted all these years was that regret didn't change anything. It just didn't allow you to move forward as you should. "Regret doesn't give Leo back those ten years."
"No, it doesn't," he agreed, putting himself in front of me to look at my face, causing me to stop my walk.
"I don't know why the universe brought us to this exact moment, but I don't think any of this has been a coincidence.
I've been thinking about everything you said at the hospital, and I think you're right about wanting to change things. "
I looked at him, but didn’t say anything. So he continued, "This, whatever this is, this second chance, means we can change it all."
He stepped a little closer, not touching me but close enough that I could see the flecks of gold in his blue eyes. "We can prevent what happened at the party. We can protect Leo. And we can remove all the situations that put Oliver in danger in the first place."
"How?" I asked, unsure if I should have hope. Even though I was back in the past, I still didn't understand how everything that happened happened the way it did. Changing our mistakes means first being aware of what went wrong the first time, and I was not sure where to start.
"I don't know exactly yet, but we'll figure it out.
" He took my hands, pressing them against his chest as if he needed something to hold on to.
I don't know if it was to reassure me that he was serious or if it was an excuse to get closer to me.
"I'm sure Leo didn't do it. I thought I had done the right thing by blaming him, but all these years have made me realize the mistake I made. "
"You believe me now? After all this time?" I couldn't believe those words. I spent years wanting to hear this, and yet now it means nothing without action.
"I do," he said firmly. "And I swear to you, Lily, I will help you fix this. Leo won't go to prison this time. We'll make sure of it."
I wanted to believe him. I wanted it so badly it hurt. But I'd spent ten years building walls around my heart, training myself not to trust, not to hope. "Why should I believe you now?" My voice was barely above a whisper.
"Because I have nothing to gain by lying. Because we're both stuck in this impossible situation together. Because..." he took a deep breath, "because despite everything, I never stopped caring about you, Lily. And I never stopped feeling guilty about what happened."
I released my hands from his touch and fell back down onto the bench, suddenly exhausted.
I've spent most of my life trying not to forgive Kyle for testifying against my brother, never considering the possibility that he could come back and fix everything, and now we are here with the chance to not let everything happen.
"I don't know if I can forgive you," I said honestly.
"I'm not asking for forgiveness. Not yet." He sat beside me, careful to leave space between us. "I'm asking for a chance to make things right. To be the person I should have been ten years ago."
But could he?
I didn't know whether to give him the benefit of the doubt, but it wasn't as if I had any other choice. No one but him would believe the situation I'm in now, and despite everything, I needed an ally to save my brother. "Okay," I said finally. "Let's make things right. For Leo."
"For Leo," he echoed. "For Oliver. For your family. And for us."
I didn't respond to that last part. I couldn't. Some bridges were too badly burned to cross again, and I wasn’t sure I would be able to forgive him yet.