The Man Who Recognized Me

The first thing I noticed the next morning was the blood beneath my fingernails, and the second was the man standing across the road who looked at me as though he had just seen a dead woman walk out of her grave.

I froze beside  Mara  old wooden gate, my fingers curling into my palms as I stared at the stranger.

The morning air was cold and damp, carrying the scent of rain and wet earth from the forest, but I barely noticed it because my thoughts were still trapped in what had happened the night before.

The claws had disappeared before sunrise, leaving my fingers almost normal again, but the skin around my nails remained tender. Every time I looked at my hands, I remembered them lengthening and darkening while Mara  watched in horror.

I had barely slept because the second heartbeat beneath my ribs had continued throughout the night. It was steady and unfamiliar, like another presence had awakened inside me and was waiting for me to understand why it was there.

Mara   had insisted that I stay inside, but the walls of the house felt suffocating, I needed air, and more than anything, I needed to convince myself that I was still human.

I had only intended to stand by the gate for a few minutes when I noticed the dark carriage across the road. A tall man stood beside it, dressed in a black coat that looked far too fine for the quiet village, and his dark hair moved slightly in the morning breeze.

There was something familiar about his face, although I could not place him. Something deep inside me reacted to his presence like an old memory pressing against the walls of my mind.

He took a step toward me, and I instinctively moved backward.

“Can I help you?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

He stopped several feet away and stared at me, I expected surprise or confusion, but instead his face went pale, and the fear in his eyes was so intense that it felt as though he had just watched a nightmare become real.

His lips parted before he whispered my name.

“Orelith?”

My breath caught because the way he said my name made the world around me seem suddenly distant. I looked behind myself, but the road was empty, so I slowly faced him again.

“How do you know my name?”

He did not answer, his eyes moved over my face as though he needed to convince himself that I was truly standing before him.

Then he whispered, “It can’t be.”

“Who are you?” I asked in a steady voice.

He looked toward the house, then toward the forest, before returning his attention to me. “You shouldn’t be outside.”

I frowned at the warning. “What does that mean?”

He stepped closer, and I moved backward again. “Stay where you are,” he said urgently.

I stared at him and said, “You know me.”

He swallowed before answering, “I knew you.”

The answer sent an uneasy chill through me, my heartbeat quickened, and beneath it, the second heartbeat answered.

I pressed a hand against my chest, and his eyes immediately widened. “You can hear it?”

“Hear what?” I asked.

He did not answer, and that frightened me more than his recognition.

“What do you know about me?” I demanded.

“You need to go back inside.” He said sharply because you’re not safe. His voice was so quiet that it almost disappeared beneath the wind.

“If you know something, tell me.”

He studied me before saying, “They told us you were dead.”

My stomach tightened. “Who told you?”

He remained silent until I demanded the question again. “Who?”

His jaw tightened. “Everyone.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

He looked toward the forest, and I followed his gaze, but nothing moved between the trees. Even so, the hairs along my arms rose.

“You really don’t remember?” he asked.

“Remember what?”

His expression changed before he whispered, “The night you disappeared.”

My chest tightened. “I remember waking up here.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Why?”

For the first time, anger showed beneath his fear. “Because there was nothing left to remember.”

I stared at him, trying to understand the warning in his eyes. “What does that mean?”

He glanced toward Mara’s old house before lowering his voice. “It means you shouldn’t be here.”

“I don’t understand. You’re the one who came looking for me.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you telling me to leave, what are you hiding?” I asked.

His expression tightened. “Everything I know could get you killed.”

Before I could question him further, the door behind me opened.

Mara stepped outside and stopped when she saw him, the color drained from her face so quickly that I knew she recognized him.

“You know each other?” I asked.

Neither answered.

“Mara?”

She hurried toward me and placed herself slightly in front of me.

The man looked at her and said, “You shouldn’t have let her out.”

Mara lowered her voice. “I didn’t know.”

“Mara, who is he?”

She swallowed before saying, “Soren.”

I turned toward the stranger. “Who are you?”

He hesitated before answering, “Soren Varrick.”

The name struck something inside my memory, a  sudden image flashed through my mind, a candlelit room, a man calling my name, and a silver symbol carved into a wooden door.

The memory vanished, and I stumbled backward while pressing my hand against my temple.

Soren moved toward me. “Orelith!”

“I remember something.”

“What?” He said holding my hands.

“I don’t know.” I looked directly at him. “You were there, weren’t you?”

Soren said nothing, his silence made my heart pound harder.

“What happened to me?”

Instead of answering, he looked at Mara, and she shook her head slightly.

“Stop looking at each other like I’m not standing here,” I said. “I deserve an answer.”

Soren’s expression softened. “You deserve the truth.”

“Then tell me.” I said,my voice barely above a whisper.

“I can’t.” Soren said, turning his gaze away from me.

“Why?” I asked, looking confused.

“Because you aren’t ready.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “I woke up in a place I don’t remember, I can hear things no one else can hear, something inside me has a second heartbeat, and last night my fingers turned into claws.

If there is anything else you think I’m not ready for, I would rather hear it from you than discover it alone.”

Soren looked as though he were struggling with a decision before the second heartbeat suddenly slammed against my ribs. I gasped, and his eyes immediately dropped toward my chest before turning toward the forest.

I heard a faint rustling beyond the trees, almost like footsteps moving through wet leaves.

“What is it?” I whispered.

He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Listen to me carefully. You cannot stay here.”

“Why?”

The fear in his eyes was no longer hidden, and he looked at me as though my existence had awakened something dangerous.

“Because if they find you here, he stopped, leaving the warning unfinished.

“Who?”

Soren looked toward the house and then toward the forest before meeting my eyes again, his face was so serious that my stomach twisted.

He lowered his voice to a trembling whisper.

“You shouldn’t be here.”