All Chapters of Ashes to Dawn : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

GRACE'S POV The office building stood tall and bright against the morning sky. It was one of the tallest buildings in the area, so it was noticeable from a certain distance.I turned off the engine, pulling out the keys and stepping out. I've never understood people who casually left their keys in the ignition. Inside, everything felt calm and like the usual. The soft hum of the air conditioning steadied the rhythm of the lobby.At the front desk, the receptionist, whose name I always forget, sat, typing away on her computer. Her thinly rimmed glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, and her nails were perfectly painted in red.“Morning, Grace,” the receptionist called, sending a smile and a wave my way.“Morning.” I smiled back, feeling terrible for not remembering her name.”I said hi to my other colleagues on my way to my desk. At my desk, I took a deep breath and said a small prayer, asking for strength for the day. I opened my laptop and began sorting through emails. Numbers, sc

CHAPTER FOURGRACE'S POV April 12, 2023. 6:30 am.The alarm rang at 6am as usual, but I didn't move for the next 30 minutes.For a moment, I just wanted to lay down and forget about everything worrying me. It's like my head refused to cooperate with me and everything I wanted.The pain had already woken me again before dawn, sharper than it had been the day before. It stood low in my abdomen, steady yet heavy, like something was pressing the inside of me. I wondered if pregnancy felt that way too. I laid still, breathing slowly, waiting for the wave pain to pass. Beside me, Michael was already awake.He sat at the edge of the bed, scrolling through his phone, his back turned toward me.“You’re up late,” he said without looking. Little did he know that I'd been awake way before the alarm rang. Little did he know that I had to stay still as if the pain would disappear if I did so. “I didn’t sleep well.” I replied, pulling myself to a sitting position. I was ready to get out of the b

GRACE'S POV APRIL 12th, 2013There was a sound.It came first as a distant ringing, sharp and persistent, like something fighting to pull me back from wherever I had fallen. It cut through the quiet darkness, growing louder, closer, more insistent.“Grace?” “Grace!” I woke up with a loud gasp, breathing heavily. There was a very cold sensation on my head. I put my hands on my face to see if I had been downed with water. There was nothing on my face, except a trail of drool from my mouth. But it felt like I drowned and I'd just been brought out of the water. My head pounded and my heart raced terribly. There were voices around me, but I couldn't focus on any of them. “Grace? Are you alright?” I heard a voice ask. I shook my head, and shut my eyes, trying to calm down. “Here, have a bottle of water.” A bottle of water was pressed into my hand, I twisted the bottle open and took a long drink. Because even though I felt like I drowned and was brought out of the water, my throat wa

GRACE'S POV The moment I shut my apartment door behind me, the silence hit differently. It wasn't peaceful, neither was it comforting. It was heavy, because now that I was behind closed doors, in an apartment that belonged to me, everything weighed in on me once again.I dropped my bag on the floor, and leaned against the door, my fingers still curled around the handle, my breathing uneven. Everything felt too real, it was too detailed. No illusion or dream should hold such consistency and detailing. Dreams and delusions did not continue like this, like real life. Dreams had moments of sudden skips, some absurd features and not continuous elements.But this? This had continuity, too much continuity. And that terrified me more than anything, because what was going on?I pushed myself off the door and slowly turned around, taking in the apartment I hadn’t seen in ten years. The same couch sat there, untouched with not even a speck of dust, like someone was here the morning before I wo

GRACE'S POV I sat, caressing Susan's back, as she quietly sobbed on my shoulders. Apparently, she was done sobbing, because Susan reached for her ice cream again, scooping out a large bite like nothing had just happened. This was so like her. “You know what?” she said after a moment, her voice lighter now. “His loss.” She was eating more ice cream like it was real food. “That’s what I said, hunny” I replied, shaking my head softly. “No, like seriously,” she continued, sitting up straighter. “Do you know how fun I am? He’s going to regret this. He’ll be somewhere eating plain rice and thinking about me. I can bet you that. ”I blinked. “Plain rice?”“Yes. Utterly sad, disgustingly dry, and unseasoned, plain rice,” she said firmly, a grin appearing on her face. I couldn’t help it, I laughed. How could I not? This was my best friend in this timeline. But for a brief moment, everything felt normal again, like nothing had happened. Later that night, after Susan had fallen asleep on