Chapter 134: Memory Loop

ADRIAN'S POV

The cold, damp mud seeped through my thin clothes, clinging to my skin, I was on my knees, knuckles digging into the earth, by the dark, swirling waters of the river. It was the same river, the very one that had snatched my mother away from me, leaving a gaping void that time had never managed to fill.

Every ripple, every whisper of the current, was a cruel, mocking replay of that day. I was trapped, stuck in a loop of the past, the painful memories flickering like old, worn-out film reels behind my eyes. I wanted to scream, to tear myself free, to just wake up. But escape felt impossible.

Maybe fate had other plans. The last thing I remembered, before this endless torment of memory, was the sharp, metallic tang of blood and the crushing weight of twisted metal. I was trapped inside something mangled and broken, a cage of steel that used to be a car.

Outside, through a jagged crack in the windshield, I saw Damien. His face was a mask of raw grief, tears carving shiny pa