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Chapter 4

Eloise Brooke 

"Eloise... Eloise... Are you ok?" My head banged with a headache as I forced my eyes open to the faint masculine voice calling out for me.

The first thing I saw was the white blurry ceiling above my face.

'Finally! I have been reunited with my parents'

That was the first thing that came to my mind as I breathed out in relief. Thankfully , I didn't wake up to find myself burning in the pit of hell. I guess my creator was merciful enough to bring me here instead, after all the pain I've been through.

"Eloise... Are you awake?" A blurry figure towered over me as the same voice called out my name again. 

If the person wasn't young, I would've presumed he was my late dad.

'What if people grow younger when they die?' 

"Doctor, thank goodness you are here. I think she's trying to wake up." The voice came on again, disrupting my thoughts. 

Wait! Am I really in the other world, or did I survive the fire outbreak?

I tried to figure out what was happening, but the last thing I remembered was a sting in my arm, and darkness took over again.

I woke up to myself on the hospital bed, an IV drip bag attached to my arm.

I groaned as I sat up on the bed, checking myself for any burn, but there was none. Not even a single bruise, when I was supposed to be burnt beyond recognition.

I ripped the drip from my body and got off the bed, but a sharp pain tore through my abdomen, and I paused to wince. 

My eyes darted to my phone lying on the table beside the bed, and I grabbed it, opening the camera to check my face. 

My face didn't even have a trace of a bruise either.

"What is happening?" I muttered, but then noticed something. The phone in my hand. It was different from my phone, yet looked familiar... It was the phone I lost twenty months ago, on the day I had a miscarriage.

"Wh...what is this?"

I dropped the phone on the bed quickly... Like it was burning my hand. 

I lifted my hands to my head, dragging my fingers through my hair, trying to figure out what was happening, but I was disrupted as the phone started ringing.

I drew back hesitantly. For a second, I didn't want to take the call, but I found myself picking it up. 

'Husband' was displayed on the screen as the caller.

My grip tightened around the phone as I watched the call ring until it disconnected.

It wasn't up to a minute before the call came on again, and I swiped the answer button. Just to confirm it really was Lucas.

"You leave the house without my permission now, huh?!" Even if I was in a coma, Lucas's voice was the last thing I'd recognise.

"I don't care where the fuck you went, but if you don't want to see the other side of me, then come back here and clean up this blood. My house is in a mess." He yelled again, but I stood on the spot, confused. 

"Are you there? Eloise!" 

My fingers trembled as I hit the red button, disconnecting the call, before tossing my phone away.

"What in the world is..." My voice faded as the remaining words got stuck in my throat.

My phone chimed with a text at that moment, and I picked it up.

'You couldn't talk because you were hanging out with another man, yeah? You had a mere miscarriage hours ago and you are already hanging out with another man? You are going to regret this, I promise' 

The message... the date..., and the time it was sent, had me frozen on the bed. I remembered this day. It was February 15, 2023... The day that I had my first miscarriage.

My jaw dropped, and as my eyes scanned around the room, every piece started coming together slowly. The walls of the room... The settings and everything. I remember all of the details. It was the same hospital I had ended that day after I had a miscarriage.

My hand trembled as I reached for the phone, and with my heart pounding hard in my throat, I clicked on 'call logs', revealing the many times that I had tried to reach Lucas. 

Then to the 'message' icon. My texts that were read yet left unanswered.

'Babe, please help me. My abdomen is hurting'

'Lucas... Please pick my call. I'm in pain. I'm bleeding'

'Honey, please... I need to go to the hospital. I think I'm having a miscarriage'.

My vision went blurry with tears as I slowly read through the texts, my chest tightened as pain shot through it.

Then my eyes dropped to his only reply. The one time he replied to me before he went MIA. 'Don't bother me, Eloise. If you are looking for a way to get my attention, then this won't work'.

Tears trickled down my cheeks, my grip tightened around the phone, and my jaw clenched tightly.

I didn't know what was going on right now, and why I was seeing this day again after almost two years instead of being dead after the fire outbreak, but I guess it was for a reason. As much as I wanted to conclude that I was given another chance and had been reborn, I didn't want to give myself so much hope. Besides, that was never possible.

The door flung open, drawing my attention from my phone, and I froze on the spot, my eyes widened in shock at the person that welcomed me. 

"Justin?"