Chapter 5

The Man Who Disappeared

Oliver's POV

"You're staring at me."

Sebastian looked up from the kitchen counter. I quickly returned my attention to my laptop. "I'm not." "You've been looking at me for the last five minutes." "Perhaps you're standing in front of something interesting."

He glanced behind himself. "Like what?"

"An empty wall." Sebastian smiled. "You're a terrible liar, Oliver." I closed my laptop.

Ever since the pocket watch had triggered his memory, I couldn't stop thinking about what he'd said. They told me I wasn't supposed to die. Who had said that? And why?

Sebastian remembered a door slamming and someone calling his name, but nothing else. I wanted answers. More importantly, I wanted to know whether finding those answers would make him disappear. "Have you remembered anything else?" I asked.

He shook his head. "Not yet." "Do you remember your family?" "No." "Your friends?" "No." "Where you lived?" He gave me a small smile. "You're asking a lot of questions for someone who claims not to be interested in me."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm interested in solving the problem." "Of course." I picked up my laptop again. "Do you remember where you grew up?" "Not exactly. I remember a house. A garden. Someone laughing." "Was it a woman?" "I think so." "Your girlfriend?" He considered it. "Perhaps." I looked at him. "You're not helping." "I warned you. My memory isn't very cooperative." 

I searched his name online. Sebastian Reed. Several unrelated profiles appeared, but nothing that matched him. I tried different combinations. London. Seventeen years ago. Missing person. Then something caught my attention. An old newspaper archive. MAN DISAPPEARS AFTER HOUSE FIRE.

I clicked it. A grainy photograph appeared. I leaned closer. The picture showed a handsome young man standing beside a little girl. He had dark hair, a crooked smile, and familiar eyes. 

I looked at Sebastian. Then back at the screen. "Sebastian?" He came closer. "What is it?" I turned the laptop towards him. His smile disappeared. "Do you recognize him?" I asked. He stared at the photograph. "I..." His hand moved to the screen. "That's me."

I read the headline again. The article was dated seventeen years earlier. It explained that a fire had destroyed a family home in London. A thirty-year-old man named Sebastian Reed had disappeared during the incident. His younger sister had survived. But his body had never been recovered.

I read the final paragraph twice. Despite extensive searches, Sebastian Reed was never found. His family eventually accepted that he had died in the fire. I looked at him.

"Your body was never found."

Sebastian didn't answer. "You weren't officially confirmed dead?" He shook his head. "I don't understand." I scrolled down.

The article included the girl's name. Evelyn Reed, aged ten, was treated for smoke inhalation and released from hospital.

Sebastian looked closer at the name. "Evelyn." The word came out quietly. I raised my head to looked at him. "Does that mean something?" He closed his eyes.

A moment passed. Then he whispered, "My sister."

I stopped scrolling. "You remember her?" "I don't know." He pressed his fingers against his forehead. "I remember holding someone's hand. She was crying." His voice became quieter. "She kept telling me not to leave."

I moved closer. "Sebastian..." He opened his eyes. "She was alive." I nodded. "According to this, she survived." He looked back at the photograph. "Then why don't I remember her?" I had no answer.

For a while, neither of us spoke. Then I noticed something in the photograph. A silver chain hung around Sebastian's neck.

Attached to it was a small pocket watch. I leaned closer. The design was unmistakable. The same silver casing. The same shape.

I picked up the watch from the table and turned it over. The initials were still engraved inside. S.R. I looked from the watch to the photograph. "Sebastian, look."

He moved beside me. For several seconds, he said nothing. Then he touched the photograph with one finger.

"That's my watch."

I swallowed. "You were wearing it before you disappeared." He nodded. I examined the article again. It mentioned that the fire investigation had been closed without establishing how the fire started. There was no explanation of what happened to Sebastian, only a missing man, a surviving sister, and a family that had never recovered his body.

I looked at the watch in my hand. I had bought it from an ordinary antique shop, believing it was just an old piece of jewellery. But it had belonged to Sebastian before his disappearance. It had stopped at the moment he died. And somehow, it had brought him into my home.

"Maybe this watch is the only thing connecting you to that night," I said. Sebastian looked at me. "Then we need to find Evelyn." "What if she doesn't want to see me?" I studied his face. For the first time, I understood that finding his past might be frightening for him too.

"Then we'll respect that. But you deserve to know what happened." He looked at me for a moment. "Why are you helping me?" I almost gave him my usual sarcastic answer. Instead, I reached for his hand.

"Because I don't like seeing you lost." His fingers closed around mine. "Thank you, Oliver." I smiled. "Don't make it awkward."

He laughed. Then his eyes returned to the photograph. "Evelyn," he whispered again.

I squeezed his hand. Whatever had happened seventeen years ago, it had taken his life, his memories, and his family away from him.

I wasn't going to let him face the truth alone.