Goodbye. And Never Again

"Take everything out of your bag!"

"I didn't steal anything."

"We saw it on the security footage! And you still deny it? Don't force us to call the police!"

…

The shouting yanked me out of my sleep. I forced my head up, and the scene in front of me froze me solid.

This was my family's supermarket—more than ten years ago.

Back then, just so I could marry Samantha, my family sold this place. They sold every memory I had in these aisles just to buy me an apartment downtown.

I turned toward the noise.

Two cashiers were yelling at a girl in a school uniform.

That girl was my wife from my past life. Samantha Creighton.

But this time, I didn't step in to protect her. I pulled out my phone and called the police.

"Hello, 911? I have a shoplifter."

The police arrived fast. They reviewed the footage, took statements, and escorted Samantha out.

She didn't steal much. The officers said fifteen days in detention should do it.

Even Jeffrey Muller, one of the store employees, couldn't help speaking up for her.

"Blake, isn't this a little harsh? She's still a student. A warning would've been enough. If she gets arrested, how's she supposed to finish school?"

"It's fine, Jeffrey." I didn't waver. "This is the only way she'll learn. You steal things as a kid, you'll steal people as an adult."

With that, I turned and walked out of the supermarket. I didn't look back.

As I made my way down those familiar streets—streets burned into my memory—thoughts of my past life came flooding back.

Samantha had come from a poor family. Back then, after I caught her stealing from us, I pulled her into the back storage room and gently asked about her situation.

Later, I told my parents everything. They felt sorry for her, so they sponsored her education—all the way through university.

And I looked after her for years, treating her like a little sister.

After we graduated, her disabled mother urged us to get married. Eventually, Samantha became my wife.

But I never in a million years imagined that the woman sleeping next to me believed I had forced her into marriage—that I had torn her apart from Luther Reese.

Even the daughter I cherished so deeply — under Samantha's influence — came to see me, the father who raised and provided for her, as a monster.

So much so that when I burned to death trying to save the two of them from a fire, all they could talk about was how close they'd come to losing Luther.